Authorship and writing guidelines
10 April 2008
Introduction
The newly located BMA Library features a Careers Zone with an updated collection of resources which support doctors' careers. It includes style guides, writing guides, and statistical workbooks as well as a wealth of other resources which can be browsed in our comfortable new library. A selection of these books is given below but BMA members who need guidance in this area should contact the library or browse the collection at our online catalogue.
The uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals are issued periodically by the International Committee of medical journal editors. They are often called the Vancouver Group because they first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The latest version is an October 2004 update.
Print resources
Albert T. Winning the publications game : how to write a scientific paper without neglecting your patients 2nd ed. Radcliffe Medical P., 2000
BMA location: T 11.4
Goodman N W. Medical writing : a prescription for clarity. Cambridge Univ. P., 2006.
BMA location: T 11.4
Greenhalgh T. How to read a paper : the basics of evidence based medicine.3rd ed. Blackwell, 2006
BMA location: W 99
Hall G. How to write a paper. 3rd ed. BMJ Books, 2003
BMA location: T 11.4
Johnstone M-J. Effective writing for health professionals : a practical guide to getting published. Routledge 2004
BMA location: T 11.4
Peat J. Scientific writing: easy when you know how. BMJ Books, 2002
BMA location: T 11.4
Richardson P. Guide to medical publishing and writing. Quay Books, 2002
BMA location: T 11.4
Stuart M C. Complete guide to medical writing. Pharmaceutical P., 2007.
BMA location: T 11.4
Web resources
Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. Updated Octpber 2007http://www.icmje.org/
BMJ resources for authors
Instructions to Authors and other guidance on writing style
http://www.bmj.com/advice/
Committee on publication ethics (COPE)
"COPE was founded in 1997 to address breaches of research and publication ethics. A voluntary body providing a discussion forum and advice for scientific editors, it aims to find practical ways of dealing with the issues, and to develop good practice." The site links to the most recent COPE guidelines on good publication practice, a code of conduct for editors, and yearly reports.
http://www.publicationethics.org.uk/
Instructions to authors in the health sciences
The Raymon H. Mulford Library at the Medical College of Ohio links to instructions to authors for over 3,000 health journals:
Go to Instructions to authors in the health sciences website - http://mulford.meduohio.edu/instr/
Other organisations and libraries
BMA conference unit and BMJ publishing
Go to BMA conference unit here - http://www.bma.org.uk/conferences
Occasionally run courses on writing skills sometimes in conjunction with TAA Training (tel: 020 8541 0093).