How to write a surgical paper

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the art of writing a paper once data collection and analysis are complete, and endeavours to highlight the points that reviewers consider when evaluating papers. It is important to research the question at the beginning of the journey to ensure that another author or team has not recently published what you are looking at in a similar style or with a similar data set, unless your study is part of a prospective study or randomised trial. A genuine understanding and interest in the speciality of the question to be answered must be apparent to the authors for the work to be useful and successful. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.