Editor's Page

You may be aware that the Gateway meeting that will take place this fall under the direction of Frances Keech will focus on the publications of the Technologist Section, assessing how they can be of greater benefit to the readership. The most obvious way we can strive to improve the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology (JNMT) is to encourage more of you to submit case studies and scientific articles.

At the Annual Meeting in June, there were several sessions, both scientific and educational, on PET imaging and image fusion using the new PET/CT devices. Most of the reports about these dual-modality units were glowing, although there were some examples of technical problems that created artifacts. This combined imaging methodology is certainly in its infancy and we all have much to learn. Individual cases that demonstrate a technical problem (such as with the dual-modality units) are very well suited for publication in JNMT as a case study. Case studies allow authors to share their experience with others without performing an extensive study. These shorter papers, which average about 1500 words, have slightly different sections than a scientific paper. As with all papers we publish, the first section is an abstract. The abstract is a very brief description of the case. This is followed by an introduction that may describe why the study is of interest and some information about how the study is routinely performed. The third section is the case report. Here you give the specifics of the case: pertinent information about the patient, procedure, and results. In the next section, the discussion, you explain the results, why you think you obtained a particular result, and how an undesirable result could be prevented in the future. The last section is the conclusion, which is a brief summary of your case report.

The case report is a good way for a technologist to get started writing scientific articles. One reason that you may find it easier than a scientific paper is that you are able to write about something you understand very well: How a study was performed, what went wrong, and how to avoid the problem in the future. The brevity of the article also makes the task easier. Although I have used the example of a case report that discusses an image artifact or imaging problem, a case report could also discuss any other aspect of imaging that would be of value to other technologists such as normal variants seen during imaging procedures.

Of course, I am also happy to receive scientific articles. These articles are much longer and report on an actual scientific study. I wrote an article for the Summer issue of UPTAKE that outlined my approach to writing a scientific paper. I will not repeat that advice here, but I will summarize by saying that I always advise new authors to start with what they know best, which in the case of a scientific paper would be the methods and the results. These are the concrete sections of the paper or, as a friend once said to me, “the real science in a paper.” The rest of the paper is your interpretation of why the work is of interest and why you think you obtained the results you did.

If you are one of the 56 technologists who presented a paper or poster at this year’s annual meeting, the work of writing an article for JNMT is almost complete. Why not take the following steps to finish it? Take the text from the poster or oral presentation and enter it into a word processing program. Put together your figures and references. Use the Information for Authors on the SNM Web site (www.snm.org) as a guide for how to edit your paper. Remember that the hardest step is getting the first draft. Once you have something on paper, or in the computer, you can start the editing process. It is always easier to edit than to write the first draft. Finally, have all of the coauthors, or someone you trust if you don’t have coauthors, review your paper and give you feedback with regard to format, content, and clarity. Discuss suggested changes with each reviewer and make the changes that you have agreed on. Some of the changes will be merely editorial; others will be content changes that will greatly enhance the quality of your work. When all of this is done, your paper will be ready to submit to JNMT, and I will be very glad to have received it.