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  • Textbook
  • Open Access
  • © 2022

The Pathway to Publishing: A Guide to Quantitative Writing in the Health Sciences

  • Framed around common errors, including real-world examples and solutions

  • Provides support for both writers and mentors

  • Specifically targeted to early-career authors, especially those for whom English is a second language

  • This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access

Buying options

Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)

Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
  2. Introduction

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Introduction

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 3-17Open Access
  3. Most Common Errors

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
    2. General Research and Writing Practices

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 21-39Open Access
    3. Content of Quantitative Papers

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 41-55Open Access
    4. Mechanics of Writing

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 57-66Open Access
    5. Grammatical Structures and Stylistic Strategies

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 67-72Open Access
    6. Achieving Clarity and Conciseness

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 73-86Open Access
    7. Recording Scientific Data

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 87-103Open Access
    8. Approaching Publication

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 105-117Open Access
    9. Slide and Poster Presentations

      • Stephen Luby, Dorothy L. Southern
      Pages 119-141Open Access
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 143-186

About this book

Writing manuscripts is central to the advance of scientific knowledge. For an early career aspiring scientist, writing first author manuscripts is an opportunity to develop critical skills and to credential their expertise. Writing manuscripts, however, is difficult, doubly so for scientists who use English as a second language. Many science students intentionally avoid a writing-intensive curriculum. Careful, thorough reviews of draft manuscripts are difficult to secure, and experienced scientific supervisors face more demands on their time than they have time available. Weak draft manuscripts discourage supervising scientists investing the time to coach revisions. It is easier for experienced scientists to ignore the request, or to simply rewrite the article. Early career scientists are motivated to address these barriers but specific advice is difficult to find, and much of this advice is behind a pay wall. 

This essential, open access text presents writing lessons organized as common errors, providing students and early-career researchers with an efficient way to learn, and mentors with a quick-reference guide to reviewing. Error descriptions include specific examples drawn from real-world experiences of other early-career writers, and suggestions for how to successfully address and avoid these in the future. Versions of this book have been used by Stanford University, UC Davis, Johns Hopkins, and numerous international institutions and organizations for over a decade. 

Keywords

  • Scientific writing
  • Peer review
  • Science manuscript writing
  • ESL
  • Writing for non-English speakers
  • troubleshooting
  • Journal article
  • Review
  • mentoring
  • scientific review
  • publishing
  • scientific communication
  • scientific writing
  • common errors
  • early career scientist
  • creating presentations
  • publication ethics
  • Open Access

Authors and Affiliations

  • Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

    Stephen Luby

  • Oxford, UK

    Dorothy L. Southern

About the authors

Stephen Luby, Professor of Medicine, Director of Research at Center of Innovation in Global Health, Stanford University
Dorothy Southern, Independent Scientific Writing Advisor

Bibliographic Information

Buying options

Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)