Winning the Publications Game - 4th Edition (2016)

Preface to the
fourth edition
I find it hard to believe that it is two decades since I was
first asked to help young doctors and scientists who
wanted to write – and publish – a scientific paper. At
the time I was a medical journalist with little formal
scientific training who had just set up a small company
running training courses on writing and other communication
skills. I designed a course, started to deliver it,
and found myself in an unfamiliar and unsettling world.
What struck me was the large numbers of bright and
enthusiastic people who came to my courses confused,
depressed and often blocked from what should have
been a fairly straightforward task.
This book is the result. The grand idea was not to
overload the reader with lots of information and opinions
from lots of different people, but to make things
simple and straightforward. At its heart are 10 key steps,
from understanding the (often unwritten) rules of the
game, to sending off the completed article. The message
I hope still rings clear: writing and getting published,
despite what many people will want you to believe, is not
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