Publishing Without Perishing: A Guide to the Successful Reporting of Clinical Data

Abstract

Many researchers find writing a scientific manuscript a highly discouraging task. This problem may be partly responsible for the fact that approximately half of completed clinical studies worldwide remain unreported or unpublished. Therefore, we aimed to create a user-friendly guide with helpful recommendations, which are complementary to the many existing reporting guidelines for quantitative clinical data. This article has been prepared with clearly defined subheadings, to facilitate quick identification of any specific sections/topics. We encourage the use of the IMRaD model (ie, Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion), providing guidance on the key information required, as well as the dos and don’ts. We also comment briefly on feedback and rejection, proposing the I AM approach (Ignore, Address, and Move on).