Overview

Need to transform your ideas into a publishable manuscript? Finding it difficult to write alone without assistance and feedback?

Join Tufts CTSI this fall to begin writing and refining the core sections of your manuscript draft with your colleagues and with an experienced editor.

Commit to attending four working sessions and getting your own manuscript draft, and those of your peers, reviewed before each session. Optional service requests are available for one-on-one consultations on general English writing and peer review.

Dates and Location

All sessions will take place online via Zoom (a link will be provided to those who register), on Wednesdays from 10:30AM-noon.

  • Session I: Wednesday, October 28, 10:30-12:00PM
  • Session II: Wednesday, November 11, 10:30-12:00PM
  • Session III: Wednesday, November 25, 10:30-12:00PM
  • Session IV: Wednesday, December 9, 10:30-12:00PM

Registration and Requirements

Ten slots are available for those who commit to attending and submitting their manuscript drafts prior to all four sessions. You do not need to have your actual final study results or references available to get the essential work done, but it would be beneficial for you to have some elements of a work in progress available for review such as the introduction, methods, or results section of a clinical/translational research paper.

Please register here.

The first assignment is due by Wednesday, October 28:

  • Reading: Welch HG (1999) Preparing manuscripts for submission to medical journals: the paper trail. Eff Clin Pract 2:131–137
  • Submit your first draft in Word to ctsitraining@tuftsmedicalcenter.org. Minimum requirements:
    • One- two paragraphs for the Introduction section
    • Several paragraphs for the Methods and/or Results sections, with subheadings
    • Two to three draft tables or figures that illustrate your principal study findings, even if you don’t have the actual final data available at this time
  • Subsequent drafts and peer review are due three business days prior to each session.
Details

Tufts CTSI is excited to recruit up to 10 motivated biomedical and clinical researchers to join a hands-on workshop series designed to get you started on efficient manuscript writing. Don’t miss this chance for face time with Robert Goldberg, PhD to hear his advice on the elements of preparing successful manuscripts for peer reviewed scientific journals including  navigating major journals, scientific writing style, and approaches to sentence composition.

The program is focused solely on hands-on writing exercises and peer review with expert coaching on manuscript style and content. The participants will incorporate class feedback and submit a new draft each session with a goal of polishing each section of their scientific manuscript in the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format.

By the end of the series, you will have completed a solid working draft of a manuscript that will be either ready for peer reviewed submission to a journal, or will be close to submission with some additional final polishing needed.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop series, you should be able to:

  • Discuss the core components of a successful scientific manuscript.
  • Identify strategies and steps for completing a full manuscript for peer review submission.
  • Anticipate reviewers’ concerns in discussing and presenting your research and how to best respond to these concerns.

Workshop Faculty

  • Instructor: Robert J. Goldberg, PhD, Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences
  • Guest instructor: Nicholas Moustakas, MA, Research Development Specialist, Tufts CTSI

Expectations for Homework and Your Commitment

Registration is on a first come, first served basis and priorities are given to members of Tufts CTSI partner institutions. Once the course is full, additional registrants will be put on a waitlist and invited to the next available opportunity. We will confirm your enrollment as soon we finalize the registration list.

Class attendance is critical to this peer review-based format. If your participation in these workshops needs to be approved by your supervisor or a person responsible for your time release, you may optionally provide their contact information when you register for the workshop program.

You will be expected to be actively engaged in classroom discussion. We ask participants to come open-minded and be receptive to constructive feedback.

Tufts CTSI Professional Education & Expectations for Course Participants

Tufts CTSI’s Professional Education programs provide non-degree continuing education and training for clinical and translational research professionals from all Tufts CTSI partners and beyond.

Course enrollment priority is given to researchers from Tufts CTSI partner institutions. If your participation needs to be approved by your supervisor or a person responsible for your time release, you may provide their contact information when you register for the program.

This course is provided free of charge and is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Award Number UL1TR002544.  The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.