Extracting a journal article from a thesis

“Academic success depends on research and publication.” – Philip Zimbardo

Journal of Ophthalmic Research and Practice (JORP) will turn three in the early part of next year, and it marks a significant milestone in the field of ophthalmic research and publication in this part of the country. Our association with the renowned publishing house “Scientific Scholar” has given substantial visibility to JORP, which has enabled submission not only from various parts of India but also globally. However, the junior fraternity, the post graduate trainees to be specific are still miles away from the publication scenario. The interest of postgraduate trainees to submit articles to the state journal is far from encouraging. They are sadly more attracted to the predatory journal which offers fake impact factor and spurious indexing information.^[1] Also, since those so called “indexed journal” bypasses the peer review process, our junior colleagues have absolutely no idea of how to do a revision. This is where our training system lacks. Postgraduate training programs definitely need a revamp; so as to inculcate the art and science of article writing in the residents, right from the 1^st year of training.

Thesis is one of the first manuscript that a postgraduate trainee writes. It is a compulsory submission for all degree students, baring which they cannot appear for their exam. Most thesis traditionally are a copy – paste job from an earlier thesis, or from published literature available online. How many theses actually has original research content is debatable. If, however, the thesis does involve genuine work, not previously published, converting a thesis into a journal article would be a logical first step toward the trainee’s publication journey. This editorial is intended to help our young researchers to put on their thinking cap and familiarize with the nitty-gritties of converting a thesis into an original article.

To begin with, you have to access whether the thesis does deserve publication. It will be futile trying to write an article on “Correlation of axial length with amount of myopia” in 2025. This is something which has been widely researched and written about, validated by robust data like the atropine for the treatment of myopia (ATOM) 1 and 2 studies.^[2] The prospective author can start by searching the topic in “Google” and “PubMed.” If there are already multiple studies done on the same topic, read few of them whose full text is available. Try to find out the gap in the literature, which your study may fill in, try to look for points which differ from your study such as patient demography or indication. If you do find some difference from your study population, you can embark on the journey of writing your first original article. Deciding on the journal is very prudent, as you have to follow the journal recommended standard. For beginners, state journal would be the best option as indexed journal like Indian Journal of Ophthalmology has a rejection rate as high as 86%. Team JORP, on the other hand, adopts an inclusive attitude and often goes to the extent of re writing the manuscript to suit the reviewer’s comments.^[3] Having selected the journal, you have to go visit the journal website (https://jophthalmicrespract.org/), and go to the drop-down menu of Instructions to author. Herein, you will get the necessary information about the word count, the structured abstract format, the specifications of tables, figures, cover letter, etc. (https://jophthalmicrespract.org/for-authors/). The word limit for original article commonly is 3000 and abstract count is 500. Tables have to be inserted in the main manuscript after the bibliography and figures have to be submitted as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) file with a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi). If your picture quality is not up to journal standard, you can improve the quality online by a free software named dpi converter (https://convert.town/image-dpi).

Then is the mammoth task of reducing your 20,000 plus words thesis to a 3000-word article. Chapters of thesis have to be collated in to one single document. The abstract can be retained if it fits the word limit criteria. The introduction has to be formatted to only matter related to our research question. It should give a background as to why we are conducting the study, and typically, it ends with the aim of our study. Like in thesis, aims and objectives are not a different chapter. Review of literature which usually constitutes 50% of the thesis can be totally removed. Few pertinent studies which serve as a basis of our current research are usually mentioned in the introduction. Textual content such as anatomy and physiology of the part of our research need not be given at all. Materials and methods section of the thesis can be used so as to give the reader clarity on ways of data collection and evaluation. It should be limited to one paragraph and must have a word on how the statistical analysis was done. Result section should report all relevant data which ensures that our research question is answered. Descriptive data can be expressed as table or graphs, thus reducing the word count. Information provided in tables and graphs should not be repeated on the main text, rather simply mention, for example, “Age and sex distribution of study population is mentioned in Table X.” Statistical tests carried out on study population, their P-value, odds ratio (correlation coefficient) must be elaborated to make the study reliable and authentic. All calculated data should be preserved on Excel sheet as many journals require the author to share data when asked for. Discussion is often the hardest to write. In this section, you have to report the available literature on the topic of your thesis. Mentions the points which are in consensus with previous works, also the points which are contradictory to published work.^[4] Providing an explanation as to why your study differs from the existing literature will add value to your work. Limitations of your study should be mentioned in this segment. Conclusion has to be concise and express the main findings of the thesis. Do not put any remark which has not been addressed in the result section. References have to be limited to the permissible number. It should be recent and relevant, and written in the journal prescribed style. References should be chronological in the sequence in which it appears in the text. Having followed the steps above, you would be ready to submit your work to JORP. As Winston Churchill says “There is no such thing as public opinion. There is only published opinion.”

Before I bid adieu, I would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributors (over 75 corresponding authors), the reviewers (over 95), the editorial board members, and the advertisers who have supported JORP in the past 3 years and taken it to its current stature. I will also put on record the unconditional support of the Ophthalmological Society of Assam (OSA) Executive Body, especially Dr S. K. Goswami and Dr G. S. Gogoi, who believed in me and gave me a free hand to run the journal. I wish the incoming team huge success, and hope they will take JORP to greater heights. I will continue to work for JORP in whichever role is deemed necessary for me. “Remember that the only constant in life is change.” – Buddha