Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 1

A Guide to Clinical Research Writing on Public Health for Clinical

Researchers

Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,

Technical Operations, Pubrica

sales@pubrica.com

In Brief

Clinical research writing is a specialized

field requiring the expertise of Scientific

Medical Writing who in addition to

providing medical writing help, also help

conform to the requirements of the

Journal, ensure publication and make

relevant contribution to the field of

medical research. Clinicians and medical

researchers often do not have the time, or

the know-how to medical writing and a

lot of significant research outcomes are

lost due to wanting of documentation.

Scientific medical writing companies are

legitimate services that researchers and

clinicians need to avail to contribute

positively to scientific research.

Keywords: Medical Writing Services,

Scientific Medical Writing

Services,Scientific Medical Writing

Companies, medical writing

solutions,regulatory medical writing,

medical manuscript writing, scientific

medical writing,Medical and Scientific

Writing Service, scientific medical

writing,scientific medical writing, medical

writing help, Plagiarism correction.

I. PUBLIC HEALTH

Public Health is defined by

WHOas ―the art and science of preventing

disease, prolonging life and promoting

health through the organized efforts of

society‖ (Acheson, 1988; WHO). Public

health focuses on the entire spectrum of

health and wellbeing, not only the

eradication of particular diseases.

II. CLINICAL RESEARCH WRITING

Clinical research is the backbone of public

health. Summarizing the findings in the

form of a research article is the last and

most important step in clinical research. It

is the ethical and moral duty of researchers

to provide accurate and clear information

about the research. This is relevant as it

not only communicates the essence of the

research conducted but also provides

direction for future research.

The scientific community today

recognizes the importance of scientific

medical writing, and so, several medical

writing services and scientific medical

writing companies have come into being to

provide the much-neededexpertise in

regulatory medical writing and medical

manuscript writing.

With the increase in a number of

journals, digital and print options, the

number of options for publications has

increased exponentially over the last few

decades. Yet only a small fraction of

written find their way into

publications.This is because few of us are

taught how to write a research article, how

to document the findings, how to

summarise statistical findings in the form

of tables and graphs, how to derive

conclusions,What are the ethical issues

involved, how to choose the appropriate

Journal and how to communicate during

the process of publication. Scientific

medical writing services do exactly this

and provide appropriate medical writing

help to ensure publication in the desired

Journal.

Professional medical writing

solutions are legitimate and well accepted

in the field of scientific medical writing by

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

the medical fraternity. However, the

medical world is still not fully aware that it

is ethical to use scientific medical writing

services for clinical research writing.

III. WRITING A GOOD RESEARCH

ARTICLE

Broadly, there are two aspects to

writing a good research article - Content

and format. Content should be plagiarism

free, up to date, relevant, crisp, and clear.

The format should follow Journal

instruction for authors as far as possible.

Research articles that conform to the

Journal requirements are more likely to be

taken as it saves time, energy, and money

for the publishers.

IV. A GOOD TITLE

A good title for a research article

should be concise, precise, and

informative. It should also include

keywords that would show up during a

digital search.

V. ABSTRACT - A GOOD SUMMARY

An abstract helps a reader decide

whether he/she wants to continue reading

the entire article. After the title, it is the

second most often read part of being a

research article —consistency between the

article and its abstract needs to be ensured

by using similar wording in both sections.

Hence, the abstract should always be

written after writing the entire article.

Most journals ask for a structured

abstract consisting of

objectives

methodology (setting of the study,

participants, interventions, and

outcomes)

results

conclusions

VI. INTRODUCTION

A good introduction should have

the scientific background and provide the

build-up to the study.It should begin by

explaining how the issue under study is of

public health interest. It should provide a

good summary of all scientific literature

that is relevant to the current research

study starting from the already established

outcomes to the arena of the unknown. It

should finally define the study objectives

clearly and provide justification for the

research project.

VII. METHODS

In a logical and chronological

fashion, the study methodology should be

described with respect to the study setting,

the participants, the sample size and

distribution, the inclusion and exclusion

criteria, the study design and type of study,

interventionsare undertaken and statistical

methods used for summarising and

analyzing the data. Ethical issues,

including regulatory approvals and

consent, should be clearly defined.

Information provided should be accurate,

complete, and concise.

VIII. RESULTS

Results should correlate with the

findings mentioned under methodology

and should be summarised in the form of

tables, graphs, and figures as far as

possible. Long texts and jargon should be

avoided by reporting results objectively

and honestly. Text is used only for

subjective evaluation of the results. This

section usually follows a distinct pattern of

reporting. Patient demographic

information is initially summarised,

followed by primary outcomes (in

different demographic groups) followed by

secondary outcomes.Negative outcomes

and limitations of the study are then

mentioned, followed by ambiguous areas.

Copyright © 2020 pubrica. All rights reserved 2

IX. DISCUSSION

This section discusses the meaning

of the study outcomes and compares them

with the outcomes of other similar studies.

The structure of this section includes the

presentation of the primary findings

followed by comparison with previous

studies and assessing the strengths and

limitations of the study. Grey areas of the

study are highlighted mentioning

requirement for further research and

suggest a methodology for the same.

X. CONCLUSIONS

This section is optional, and

content should be supported by the study

findings.

XI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Source of funding and any relevant

conflict of interest needs to be mentioned

in this section. It also acknowledges

someone with a significant contribution to

the study but who cannot be mentioned as

an author.

XII. FUTURE SCOPES

Researchers should extensively

avail the expertise of professional medical

writers provided by medical writing

companies to improve the quality,

standardize the format of research article

writing and improve chances of acceptance

by the Journal.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/Health-

systems/public-health-services

2. Das N, Das S. Knowledge, and attitudes of Indian

surgeons regarding professional medical writing

support. PerspectClin Res. 2018;9:127–32.

3. Sharma S. (2018). Professional medical writing

support: The need of the day. Perspectives in

clinical research, 9(3), 111–112.

https://doi.org/10.4103/picr.PICR_47_18

4. Timing and completeness of trial results posted at

ClinicalTrials.gov and published in journals.

Riveros C, Dechartres A, Perrodeau E, Haneef R,

Boutron I, Ravaud P PLoS Med. 2013 Dec;

10(12):e1001566; discussion e1001566.

5. Recommendations on Publication Ethics Policies for

Medical Journals.Available

from: http://www.wame.org/about/recommendation

s-on-publication-ethics-policie#Authorship .

6. Heinemann M. How NOT to Write a Medical Paper:

A Practical Guide. Delhi: Thieme Medical and

Scientific Publishers, 2016.

7. Lang T. How to Write, Publish, and Present in the

Health Sciences: A Guide for Clinicians and

Laboratory Scientists. Philadelphia: American

College of Physicians, 2010.

8. Lang, T. (2017). Writing a better research

article. Journal Of Public Health And Emergency,

1(12). Retrieved

from http://jphe.amegroups.com/article/view/4265