Abstract
BackgroundScience involves publishing results, but many scientists do not master this. We introduced dictation as a method of producing a manuscript draft, participating in writing teams and attending a writing retreat to junior scientists in our department. This study aimed to explore the scientists’ experiences with this process.MethodsFour focus group interviews were conducted and comprised all participating scientists (n = 14). Each transcript was transcribed verbatim and coded independently by two interviewers. The coding structure was discussed until consensus and from this the emergent themes were identified.ResultsParticipants were 7 PhD students, 5 scholarship students and 2 clinical research nurses. Three main themes were identified: ‘Preparing and then letting go’ indicated that dictating worked best when properly prepared. ‘The big dictation machine’ described benefits of writing teams when junior scientists got feedback on both content and structure of their papers. ‘Barriers to and drivers for participation’ described flow-like states that participants experienced during the dictation.ConclusionsMotivation and a high level of preparation were pivotal to be able to dictate a full article in one day. The descriptions of flow-like states seemed analogous to the theoretical model of flow which is interesting, as flow is usually deemed a state reserved to skilled experts. Our findings suggest that other academic groups might benefit from using the concept including dictation of manuscripts to encourage participants’ confidence in their writing skills.
Highlights
IntroductionBut many scientists do not master this. We introduced dictation as a method of producing a manuscript draft, participating in writing teams and attending a writing retreat to junior scientists in our department
Science involves publishing results, but many scientists do not master this
The participants were 7 PhD students, 5 scholarship students and 2 clinical research nurses with a median age of 30 years. They produced manuscript drafts for a range of article types including original articles, narrative and systematic reviews, and case reports, and they all dictated a full manuscript draft in one single session lasting 1.5–7.0 hours. Their scientific writing experience comprised a median of 4 articles submitted to peer-reviewed scientific journals and most dictated a scientific article for the first time during the first course
Summary
But many scientists do not master this. We introduced dictation as a method of producing a manuscript draft, participating in writing teams and attending a writing retreat to junior scientists in our department. Cited barriers to publishing are lack of momentum, lack of available time, and lack of confidence in writing [1] This is often referred to as “writer’s block”, meaning that it is difficult to get started and produce the first manuscript draft [2]. Different initiatives have been tested to help academics overcome writer’s block including peer writing teams [2,3], writing retreats [4], and combinations of the two [5,6,7]. All these initiatives have proved effective in raising the publication rate of the participants
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