Manuscripts For Publication Research Articles

Platform study of genotyping-guided precision medicine for rare solid tumours: a study protocol for a phase II, non-randomised, 18-month, open-label, multiarm, single-centre clinical trial testing the safety and efficacy of multiple Chinese-approved targeted drugs and PD-1 inhibitors in the treatment of metastatic rare tumours

IntroductionLimited clinical studies have been conducted on rare solid tumours, and there are few guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment, including experiences with targeted therapy and immunotherapy, of rare solid...

A pragmatic health centre-based evaluation comparing the effectiveness of a PCV13 schedule change from 3+0 to 2+1 in a high pneumococcal carriage and disease burden setting in Malawi: a study protocol

IntroductionStreptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is commonly carried as a commensal bacterium in the nasopharynx but can cause life-threatening disease. Transmission occurs by human respiratory droplets and interruption of this process...

Impact of a 12-week open-label placebo treatment on headache days in episodic and chronic migraine: a study protocol for a parallel-group, multicentre, randomised controlled trial

IntroductionMigraine is the most common neurological disorder and one of the major causes of years lived with disability. Its treatment (especially of chronic forms) is often challenging and accompanied with...

News, Events, Publications, and Awards

News, Events, Publications, and Awards

Online Manuscript Editing Services for Multilingual Authors: A Content Analysis Study

ABSTRACT Online writing and editing services can help overcome obstacles faced by researchers seeking publication of their manuscripts. As professional services providers, they have business acumen, experience, and insight about the publishing industry. They supply their editing services for a fee and make additional services available to writers who seek to publish their work. Multilingual authors sometimes face challenges when publishing their research in English language journals. These challenges might have to do with the intricacies of technical writing; or how to find the best journal to submit their manuscript; or even how to explain their datasets in a more visual manner. Writing and editing services help multilingual authors with the creation of a publishable manuscript; give advice about the submission process; and provide other services to enhance the visibility of the published article via social media or other outlets. In this study, the author applied the content analysis method to identify online editing organizations (n = 16) that provide their services to authors. The author then divided these editing organizations into two main categories: seven are commercial publishers and nine are editing companies. It was found that Emerald Publishing Services, a commercial publisher, is the most prominent among the organizations that offer manuscript preparation services, followed by Elsevier, Hindawi, SpringerNature, and Taylor & Francis. As for the online editing companies, the study revealed that Enago has the most service offerings, followed by ManuscriptEdit, Editage, and Sirius Interactive. The study identified 15 distinct editing services offered by these organizations. The results show that the 16 online editing organizations offer four key services: language editing, manuscript formatting, figure preparation, and translation with language. The study recommends that multilingual authors consult editing services to improve the quality of their manuscripts before submitting them to journals.

Manuscript Rejection in Public Health, Nutrition and Dietetics Research

It is evident that each century and decade has unique challenges and inquiries that require answers to ensure the survival of humanity on Earth. The advent of modern technologies has significantly transformed the scope and purpose of research inquiries in the fields of Public Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics. These advancements have empowered us to pose more profound questions, leading to more comprehensive outcomes and larger insights. These research questions in the fields of Public Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics accurately depict the current state of affairs. By asking the appropriate questions, we can expect to obtain the correct answers that will have a significant impact on people's lives. The writers aim to publish these answers to get the stakeholders' attention. Why, in certain cases, may this great act and display of generosity be declined? This review examines the manuscript rejection process in Public Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics Research. The fundamental elements determining whether a Public Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics Research paper is accepted or rejected are its quality, conciseness, clarity, verifiability, uniqueness, and appeal. Authors should collaborate with editors to effectively accomplish this goal, while editors and publishers should carry out their responsibilities with impartiality, avoiding any kind of prejudice in this honorable task. Effective acceptance and publication of well-executed manuscripts would greatly propel the progress of human existence on Earth by satisfying our curiosity as we explore the vast expanse of the planet, while rejection would regress us to the prehistoric era before the advent of civilization. The decision lies in our hands to opt for either sustainable development or face extinction.

Magnetic Resonance Guided Radiation Therapy for Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma, Advantages, Challenges, Current Approaches, and Future Directions.

IntroductionPancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) has some of the worst treatment outcomes for any solid tumor. PAC creates substantial difficulty for effective treatment with traditional RT delivery strategies primarily secondary to its location and limited visualization using CT. Several of these challenges are uniquely addressed with MR-guided RT. We sought to summarize and place into context the currently available literature on MR-guided RT specifically for PAC.MethodsA literature search was conducted to identify manuscript publications since September 2014 that specifically used MR-guided RT for the treatment of PAC. Clinical outcomes of these series are summarized, discussed, and placed into the context of the existing pancreatic literature. Multiple international experts were involved to optimally contextualize these publications.ResultsOver 300 manuscripts were reviewed. A total of 6 clinical outcomes publications were identified that have treated patients with PAC using MR guidance. Successes, challenges, and future directions for this technology are evident in these publications. MR-guided RT holds theoretical promise for the treatment of patients with PAC. As with any new technology, immediate or dramatic clinical improvements associated with its use will take time and experience. There remain no prospective trials, currently publications are limited to small retrospective experiences. The current level of evidence for MR guidance in PAC is low and requires significant expansion. Future directions and ongoing studies that are currently open and accruing are identified and reviewed.ConclusionsThe potential promise of MR-guided RT for PAC is highlighted, the challenges associated with this novel therapeutic intervention are also reviewed. Outcomes are very early, and will require continued and long term follow up. MR-guided RT should not be viewed in the same fashion as a novel chemotherapeutic agent for which dosing, administration, and toxicity has been established in earlier phase studies. Instead, it should be viewed as a novel procedural intervention which must be robustly tested, refined and practiced before definitive conclusions on the potential benefits or detriments can be determined. The future of MR-guided RT for PAC is highly promising and the potential implications on PAC are substantial.

Fostering Innovation in Teaching via an Innovation in Publishing

Change can be manifested via evolutionary steps, or revolutionary leaps. Although higher education might benefit from rapid adaptation, it effectively blocks it by encouraging and rewarding only 'safe' and incremental thinking. For example, journals generally limit themselves to manuscripts that present a successful idea, an appropriate protocol for delivery, and a careful assessment of the impact of that approach. This may be inherently flawed. That is, by publishing only those papers that demonstrate positive results, people are rewarded/encouraged to try only “safe” experiments, that is, ones that build only incrementally and are likely to be successful. In the academy, people are often hired and promoted based on their research productivity. And, since a metric of that productivity is their volume of published work, we de facto encourage people to be “safe” in their choices, and perhaps also selecting against people who are inclined to invest themselves in truly innovative, high-risk, and potentially transformative projects. Publishing only “successful” protocols has another, perhaps more problematic, implication. That is, by not publishing well-researched projects that yield statistically insignificant or negative results, we may be allowing numerous people to try the same thing—after all, nowhere in the literature would they find evidence that the approach does not work. In addition, it is expected that including a wider range of manuscripts may allow for comparison of successful and unsuccessful attempts with similar techniques, which may allow for a better understanding of which parameters are critical. The discipline-based education research (DBER) journal Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBEd; www.BAMBEd.org), for which Dr. Ortiz serves as Editor-in-Chief, has recognized this inherent limitation. BAMBEd's Editorial Board recently announced that manuscripts that demonstrate “negative” or inconclusive results will be considered for publication. BAMBEd has not and will not lower its standards for peer review and publication. We will continue to expect all manuscripts to be well thought out, provide meaningful insights, be carefully written, and include a thorough assessment. The only difference is that we now also allow for manuscripts to demonstrate that a pedagogical method is not proven effective. We believe that BAMBEd, as we declare ourselves open to publishing manuscripts that include well-designed and carefully assessed research that show positive and neutral or negative outcomes, is setting itself as an example of the value we place in creative and innovative thinking. There is no doubt that BAMBEd will continue to be an innovative leader in discipline-based research and academic publishing.

Diversity in Surgery: A Historical, International, and Contemporary Perspective

The major challenges to entry and advancement in surgical careers encountered by women and by underrepresented minority (URM) groups are sadly centuries old problems. Despite relatively recent recognition of significant disparities in equity and equality and under-representation in surgery, these unacceptable problems persist. The traditional lack of diversity seems to have persisted longer and in a more apparent way in surgery than in other disciplines within medicine and as compared to other professions. It is well recognized that diversity is a major workplace asset as attested to by a myriad of objective metrics. Some of the disturbing inequities experienced by women and by other URM groups include income, career promotion, and academic recognition, despite adjusting for age, specialty, productivity, and years of experience. While some improvements have been made, much work remains to be done to address and rectify these inappropriate and unacceptable disparities. Success is contingent upon delivery of this crucial message. The traditional channels of dissemination of such information including the publication of peer-reviewed manuscripts, the delivery of lectures, and the establishment of organizations have been augmented by the use of social media platforms. Social media has emerged as a democratizer, giving voice to all surgeons regardless of gender identification, race, nationality, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual preferences, or other demographic factors. Furthermore, the immediacy of social media allows surgeons all over the world to connect and share these issues regardless of location or time zone. Success in increasing diversity will benefit surgeons, surgeons’ workplaces, and patients, representing a rational and wise use of social media to catalyze and expedite this success.

Valve Academic Research Consortium 3: updated endpoint definitions for aortic valve clinical research.

The Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC), founded in 2010, was intended to (i) identify appropriate clinical endpoints and (ii) standardize definitions of these endpoints for transcatheter and surgical aortic valve clinical trials. Rapid evolution of the field, including the emergence of new complications, expanding clinical indications, and novel therapy strategies have mandated further refinement and expansion of these definitions to ensure clinical relevance. This document provides an update of the most appropriate clinical endpoint definitions to be used in the conduct of transcatheter and surgical aortic valve clinical research. Several years after the publication of the VARC-2 manuscript, an in-person meeting was held involving over 50 independent clinical experts representing several professional societies, academic research organizations, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and industry representatives to (i) evaluate utilization of VARC endpoint definitions in clinical research, (ii) discuss the scope of this focused update, and (iii) review and revise specific clinical endpoint definitions. A writing committee of independent experts was convened and subsequently met to further address outstanding issues. There were ongoing discussions with FDA and many experts to develop a new classification schema for bioprosthetic valve dysfunction and failure. Overall, this multi-disciplinary process has resulted in important recommendations for data reporting, clinical research methods, and updated endpoint definitions. New definitions or modifications of existing definitions are being proposed for repeat hospitalizations, access site-related complications, bleeding events, conduction disturbances, cardiac structural complications, and bioprosthetic valve dysfunction and failure (including valve leaflet thickening and thrombosis). A more granular 5-class grading scheme for paravalvular regurgitation (PVR) is being proposed to help refine the assessment of PVR. Finally, more specific recommendations on quality-of-life assessments have been included, which have been targeted to specific clinical study designs. Acknowledging the dynamic and evolving nature of less-invasive aortic valve therapies, further refinements of clinical research processes are required. The adoption of these updated and newly proposed VARC-3 endpoints and definitions will ensure homogenous event reporting, accurate adjudication, and appropriate comparisons of clinical research studies involving devices and new therapeutic strategies.

Telehealth Transition Assistance Program for Acute Spinal Cord Injury Caregivers: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods, Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundWhile spinal cord injury (SCI) caregiving can be a rewarding experience, caregivers often experience reduced mental and physical health.ObjectiveThis article describes the methodology of a study examining the efficacy of a newly developed telehealth Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for caregivers of individuals with acute SCI.MethodsA mixed-methods, randomized controlled trial is comparing TAP outcomes to that of a standard-of-care control. The study is recruiting for 48 months and incorporating quantitative outcome measures.ResultsThis study was funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation in April 2017. It was approved by the institutional review boards at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center that same year. Participant recruitment and data collection began in 2018.ConclusionsThis study is implementing and testing an SCI caregiver intervention unlike any created before, targeting a critical time period that, until now, other SCI caregiver interventions have overlooked. Research personnel intend to disseminate the intervention and study findings through the publication of manuscripts and presentations at conferences. If the current study shows improvements in caregiver or patient well-being, the TAP for SCI caregivers could become part of the standard of care for acute SCI.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03244098; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03244098International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/28256

Continuous Publication

Continuous publication is defined as the publication of manuscripts in a scientific journal without periodicity and continuously, in order to accelerate the publication of results from author’s research. In this edition model, the manuscript is published immediately its acceptance and after being evaluated by peer reviewers. This way of edition has been used since 2013 by several scientific journals world wide, and have been accepted by editors with high satisfaction in terms of improved production workflow, decreased dependence on production deadlines and increased speed of research dissemination.

Perceptions, Challenges, and Suggestions for Improvement Research Production

There is a dearth of empirical research conducted to investigate the challenges of research productivity among faculty members at universities. This study aims to explore perceptions and challenges of research production. This research is quantitative. Data was taken using an instrument in the form of a questionnaire. The population and sample in this study amounted to 55 people. The results of this study indicate that long waiting periods for manuscript publication, lack of time allocation for research, and lack of research training programs are the most prominent challenges in research production. The participants have also submitted several suggestions to increase research products such as conducting research training programs, providing research incentives, and providing adequate research facilities. So, it can be concluded that members are aware of the importance of research publications in their career advancement. They also provide some of the challenges faced when writing research such as insufficient time allocation for research, lack of research training, and lack of research facilities.

Best Practice Guidelines for Publishing Rigorous Research in Counseling

Publishing rigorous research is a critical task for advancing the field of counseling, ensuring effective client services, and can serve as a means of advocacy. Writing publishable manuscripts is a skill that develops over time. The purpose of this article is to provide guidance for writing rigorous research papers for publication in counseling journals. We describe considerations for each section of the manuscript as well as pitfalls for authors to avoid. We conclude by describing the importance of disseminating one's work to the intended audience.

News, Programs, Publications, and Awards

News, Programs, Publications, and Awards

Years in Cultural Studies: 1986

Since its infancy, the pluralistic tendencies of the cultural studies project denied methodological and procedural consistency and resisted any disciplining of cultural studies as an attempt at authoritarian policing. Over the course of the 1980s, cultural studies continued to spread beyond the United Kingdom to Australia and the United States, initially, and the rest of the world soon thereafter. Movements towards the bridging of the longstanding divisions between fact and interpretation—between the social sciences and the humanities—under the sign of a principled approach to cultural democracy saw the Althusserian Marxism characteristic of earlier cultural studies scholarship expanded by way of a critical re/engagement of the works of Gramsci. This period of ideological critique allowed for a bold intellectual, political commitment to the re/conceptualization of culture as a site of class struggle, hegemonic formation, and structural signification. Particularly, the year 1986 saw major strides in this direction with the publication of monumental manuscripts by Stuart Hall, Ernesto Laclau, and Chantal Mouffe.

Quantifying publication rates and time to publication for urologic oncology podium presentations.

357 Background: The American Urological Association (AUA) annual meetings serve as a large platform for unpublished research. Among the selected abstracts, podium presentations represent the most impactful submissions. Furthermore, between large meeting attendance and social media promotion, authors can disseminate their findings to a potentially large audience prior to final manuscript publication. While all AUA abstracts do undergo peer review, it is not with the same level of scrutiny that full-length manuscripts receive. Thus, we investigated the publication rates, impact factors, and time to publication of urologic oncology podium presentations at the AUA. Methods: Of 875 podium presentation abstracts from the 2017 AUA Annual meeting, 394 (45.0%) were classified as urologic oncology. We chose 2017 to allow for a three-year window for publication. Abstracts were assessed for subsequent publication between January 1, 2015 and May 31, 2020 with a pre-determined PubMed search protocol. Abstract authors were searched for individually, with key terms being added sequentially until <30 results were generated in PubMed. Each search result was then reviewed until a matching publication was found. Abstracts were deemed published if at least one author of the presented abstract was a manuscript author and/or at least one conclusion in the presented abstract was included in the conclusions of the publication. Publication rates, time to publication, and 2019 journal impact factors were collected. Results: Of 394 urologic oncology podium presentations at the 2017 AUA, 228 (57.9%) focused on prostate cancer, while 81 (20.6%) and 58 (14.7%) presentations focused on kidney and bladder cancer, respectively (table). Overall, 211 (53.6%) podium presentations were published. Median time from presentation to publication was 13.6 months (IQR: 7.5-21.5). There were 9 (2.3%) publications that were published prior to the submission deadline and 57 (14.5%) podium presentations that were published prior to the 2017 AUA meeting. The number of articles published at one, two and three years after the meeting was 90, 170 and 202, respectively. The median journal impact factor of all published works was 3.4 (IQR: 2.7-5.9). Conclusions: While AUA podium presentations disseminate valuable data, approximately half of these presentations were not published in peer-reviewed journals within three years. Therefore, care must be taken when promoting data or adopting new practices based on these presentations alone. [Table: see text]

662 Pre-trial registration as accountability in manuscript publication

The reproducibility crisis raises concerns about scientific rigor in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Pre-trial registration has been proposed to improve rigor by requiring pre-defined methodology and outcomes and is required by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. We aimed to evaluate pre-trial registration compliance, and concordance between registry and publication for outcomes and sample size, in obstetrics and gynecology (OBGyn) RCTs. We performed PubMed and manual searches to identify all OBGyn RCTs published in three OBGyn (Obstetrics and Gynecology, AJOG, BJOG) and three non-OBGyn (NEJM, JAMA, The Lancet) journals between July 2017 and June 2019. We excluded non-human and non-parallel arm RCTs. Data were collected in duplicate from the published study and corresponding pre-trial registry. We determined concordance between registry and publication for outcomes and sample size. Discrepancies were recorded. Pre-trial registration and outcome concordance was also compared between OBGyn and non-OBGyn journals. Of 170 manuscripts included, 166 reported pre-trial registration (98%) and were analyzed. Only 125 studies (75%) were confirmed to have pre-registered prior to the start date of the trial. Concordance between registry and publication was identified for 77% of primary outcomes with differences most frequently attributable to omitting the registered primary outcome (8%) or reporting it as secondary (8%). Registry and published secondary outcomes were concordant in only 32% with differences most frequently attributable to new secondary outcome adoption in the publication (48%, Table 1). Sample size was discrepant in 40% of studies with 91% providing no explanation. Pre-trial registration was higher in non-OBGyn journals compared to OBGyn journals (86% v 70%, p=0.02) but outcome concordance and sample size were comparable across journal type (Table 2). Despite the adopted requirement, not all published OBGyn trials are pre-registered and major discrepancies between registry and publication were identified.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)

Virtual reality intervention to improve apathy in residential aged care: protocol for a multisite non-randomised controlled trial

IntroductionApathy is a prevalent neuropsychiatric symptom for older adults residing in aged care. Left untreated, apathy has been associated with accelerated cognitive decline and increased risk of mortality. Reminiscence therapy...

Welcome to ANZJOG 2021

Welcome to ANZJOG 2021