Five tips on how to write for BMJ SPC Forum – BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care

By Professor Mark Taubert, BMJ SPC Journal Editor & Forum Curator Twitter

Introduction

Thinking of writing an article for our highly accessed BMJ SPC Forum series?

Then please read on.

forum (noun) · forums (plural noun) · fora (plural noun)

a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged:

“we hope these pages act as a forum for debate”
- a website or web page where users can post comments about a particular issue or topic and reply to other users’ postings.
(in an ancient Roman city) a public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business.

*Prof Taubert: tips on successful medical writing*

Why write in the forum?

An Editorial meeting, London, 3.37PM, a Wednesday in January. Rain falls loudly against the meeting room window.

“This article is so dry.” says the editor-in-chief (EIC) at the editorial meeting.

“This research writing,” he fumes, “covers some new ground, but it’s such a long article, and quite frankly I got so tired reading through all of it, that I had to go for a rejuvenating walk before I could go back to it”.

Brief silence, in the over-crowded office.

“How about we publish a short, introductory blog, or forum piece about it, perhaps? Get people interested.”, suggests an editorial assistant from the back rows.

“Pardon me? What’s a blob?” exclaims the red-faced EIC, grasping his inhaler and taking a deep puff.

But the associate editorial assistant, in this fictitious dialogue, has made a suggestion that can be helpful in creating a hook for a specific topic: a blog, written in a short, informal style, can create a gateway to the longer journal article, and coax people into wanting to read more about important topics.

How to start?

Five Tips on how to write a great blog, opinion or forum piece

Here are some basics, if you want to write an article to get people interested about some work you have done, or send them to a longer paper you have submitted. Or perhaps you want to drive people to another team’s work, and use your own style and enthusiasm to convince everyone why it is worth their time to dive deeper into this topic area. Feel free to suggest more in the comment box below.

Plain English, please. This is your chance to present the topic to a wider audience, including people who are just starting out learning about it. Microsoft Word has a feature that let’s you check your article for its readability and reading age, which you may find interesting. Don’t use long sentences. Keep them short. And if you have a long sentence that can be split into two, do it.
Hook the readership into wanting to read more (and provide embedded hyperlinks to your longer article). Start with a controversial remark. See what I did at the start of this blog? You can use a provocative statement to get readers hot under the collar to read more, or you can use a story or anecdote. Perhaps there’s a controversy surrounding your medical topic of choice, and you can tap into people’s concerns, whilst also presenting some potential solutions
Keep it simple. Don’t cover too much ground, just focus on one topic. You can always write another blog, on another day about the other topic(s) that are associated with the area you are writing about
Know your target audience. Who are you writing for? If it is a piece on the controversies of assisted hydration in the last days of life, is your article aimed at healthcare professionals who grapple with the decisions on harm versus benefit of starting or stopping fluids
Put something personal and human into your blog! Research articles can be long and impersonal, whereas blogs can show a photo of your team. It can help people connect to you, and might even prompt more people to get in touch, compared to the full length pay-wall protected article. We particularly liked the photo submitted by Dr Arjun Kingdon for his blog on assisted hydration (see below). But do please make sure you send your photo in rotated correctly, not like this customer, for instance, who is performing an unintentional 90 degree head-tilt.

Some other blog examples from our series can be found below. Please keep blog articles under 1000 words, ideally around 500, and also provide author details, name, institutions, emails (optional) and social media profile links at the start of the article.

Lots of articles and medical topics may require an easily accessible ‘gate-way’ blog, so do get in touch with mthompson@bmj.com if you are interested.

Instructions for Authors who want to write a Forum article:

Word count:
1. 1000 words maximum
2. One topic only
3. Short title
  1. Phrase can be in the form of a question
  2. 13 words maximum
4. Author details at start or end of Forum piece:
  1. Name
  2. Designation
  3. Place of work
  4. Twitter/Contact details
  5. ORCID iD

Photograph: At least one photo of yourself and/or the team and/or your unit and/or the institution involved in the topic you are writing about (Jpeg files at 400px by 400px recommended)

References: Usually 5 maximum in BMJSPC format (see journal Formatting Your Paper guide).
Style: Should be written in an informal blog/opinion article style and present the topic in a way that is less official than a formal journal article. Avoid abbreviations/acronyms (do not assume everyone knows what ‘CSCI’ or ‘ACP’ means).
1. What mistakes did you make in your project that you would want to avoid next time?
2. Any tips for tackling this area for the first time?
Format: Use Subheadings and Bullet Points to increase accessibility. Add Hyperlinks which lead to other formal resources, for example, personal and/or official and/or organizational websites or the full text journal article.
Summary: Identify three key “Take Home” home messages formatted in a box
Contact Information: Include relevant non-confidential contact information.
Social Media: Provide relevant Social Media contact information you agree to put in the public domain.
Audience: The journal has an international audience so you must write in clear, simple English and avoid cultural, geographic or organizational assumptions.