Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Publication of Manuscript in a Scientific Journal

Abstract

Objective: To understand knowledge, attitude, and practice of health-care professionals related to the publication in a scientific journal. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, health-care professionals responded to a questionnaire consisting of 14 close-ended questions related to manuscript writing and submission. Results: One fifty healthcare professionals were included (mean standard deviation age 38 (8.8) years; clinical 79 (52.7%); nonclinical 20 (13.3%) and para-clinical 51 (34%). One hundred and eight (72%) participants were postgraduates by education. A total of 19 (12.7%), 85 (57.4%), 60 (40%), 31 (20.7%), 42 (28.8%), 115 (77.2%), 133 (88.7%), 59 (39.3%), 82 (55.4%), 125 (85%), 125 (84.5%), 141 (94%), and 97 (64.7%) were aware about quantitative indices other than impact factor, need of registration of clinical trial in clinical trial registry, guest author, ghost author, reporting standards, referencing styles, plagiarism, redundant publication, declaration of conflict of interest, need for permission for reproducing images/tables/figures, need of ethics committee permission for clinical studies, and open access journal, respectively. A total of 64 (43%) think about journal before writing the article. Sixty-three (42%) reported preference for open access journal and 93 (62.8%) favored online submission. Sixty-four (42.7%) respondents training for improving quality of manuscript, whereas 81 (54%) reported both training and inclusion of a chapter on manuscript writing in curriculum will be useful for improving quality of manuscript. Conclusion: There is a need to improve the awareness related to manuscript writing among health-care professionals.