Intended for healthcare professionals
The BMJ offers many opportunities for first-time authors and newly qualified doctors to get published. If you are stuck thinking about how to get started this guidance will help.
Medical students and doctors within two years of qualifying should also read how you can contribute to our Student section.
Newly qualified doctors are encouraged to get publications. Besides improving your CV, there are many motives and reasons for newly qualified doctors to publish their work. Getting published gives you the opportunity to say something important, provoke debate, share your experiences, educate others, change practice, and occasionally make some extra money.
Unless you have a track record as an author, it is unusual for a journal to give you an idea to write about, or to commission an article. Usually it is down to newly qualified doctors to come up with an idea.
As a newly qualified doctor, you are likely to spend a lot of time with patients. Why not start by keeping an eye out for interesting cases, images, or situations where you have learned a lot?
One of these could prompt you to write a case report, based on an unusual case or to remind others of an important message. Alternatively you might have an idea for an education article – these are usually based on more common or typical situations and presentations. If you have not written before, consider working with a peer or senior colleague who is familiar with how to write this type of article.
You may come across a medical issue or a new development that you would like to write about. Or you might form an opinion, see, or read something that others may be interested in too. This could form the basis of an opinion or review article.
Some medical journals are developing online communities. You could build your confidence in writing by starting or joining a discussion. Post on a medical forum, or submit a Rapid Response to an article that has spurred your attention. Or you could write a blog for the BMJ Opinion site. To do this, contact Juliet Dobson at jdobson@bmj.com
Newly qualified doctors are often involved in audit, and sometimes in research, which specific journals may be interested in. If you get involved in such projects make sure you negotiate how your work will be acknowledged. Will you be named as a contributor or as an author?
Before you commit time to writing an article, consider your idea and all the options available to you. Talk to colleagues. Take a look online, perhaps on a general search engine such as Google, or medical search engine such as Pubmed and get an idea about what has already been written on the topic you hope to write about. This might help you gauge how original, well documented, or topical the subject is.
Editors are after the best content for their readers so consider how relevant your article will be to the readers of the journal that you plan to submit to. It is worth considering if your article is relevant to specialists, or to a wider audience, to doctors in a specific area of the country, nationally, or internationally.
To browse BMJ Journals follow this link. To look at the content of a specific journal, choose from the dropdown list on the right hand side, and select “go”. This will take you to the homepage. You will be able to look at recent content and think about how your idea might fit in.
From most of the BMJ Journals’ home page, you can select the link “About the journal” on the navigation bar - for example, the Emergency Medicine Journal. This will bring up a section on the remit of the journal. On a further navigation bar that appears beneath “About the journal” you can also click on and read “Instructions for authors” from this screen.
“Instructions for authors” will give you guidance about the types of articles they accept and instructions on how to present and format your article. Following these instructions will show editors that you have carefully considered the article.
When editors are reading an article they may be looking for important topics for their readers, originality, and potential to improve patient care. They are also looking for clear and honest writing.
You are likely to improve your chances of publication if you choose the right journal, follow its advice to authors and submit it with the correct information, such as competing interest statements or patient consent. A cover letter can outline the importance of your article to the journal’s readers.
Before you commit time to writing you could consider contacting the relevant editor to discuss your submission. Contact details can be found on journal websites. It is best to keep this brief. Outline your idea, the type of article you want to write, what you qualifications have (and those that any co-authors may have), and how you can be contacted.
It is unusual for a journal to make a commitment to publish an article without seeing the finished product, and it is common for ideas to be rejected. Do not be put off. You may be able to present your idea to another journal, and you are likely to learn something from this process.
First your article will be read by one of the editors. If they think the article is promising it may be sent to another editor for a second opinion, or out for external peer review depending on the article type. This means that other clinicians will be asked how suitable they think the article it is for publication. Their comments should be constructive. If the editors decide to pursue your article they may ask you to make some alterations. If the article is accepted you will be contacted at a later date to make minor alterations and clarifications as the article is prepared by the production staff for publication.