ASK ME FIVE QUESTIONS WITH DR. JEREMY CHAPMAN: PREPARING A MANUSCRIPT

In the next few issues of the Tribune and Pulse, the Young Members Committee (YMC) will be contributing tips and advice from lead figures in the field of transplantation. Through innovative interviews with senior colleagues, we will discuss various challenges that are relevant to young members, from how to publish a paper to organising a clinical fellowship. If you have any suggestions for topics or people to interview, please do get in touch! The below questions were asked by Shaifali Sandall to Dr. Jeremy Chapman. These questions accompany the article featured in last week’s edition of the tribune.

PREPARING A MANUSCRIPT

1) What are the most common mistakes that authors make when submitting their manuscripts to Transplantation?

Failing to correct your submission letter and addressing it to the editor of the journal that has just rejected your paper and not the one you are now submitting to. You need a plan for publication that is realistic and agreed in advance with your co-authors. Which journals will you submit to and in which order. 

2) Can you please give examples of some of the best original research papers that you have read?

No! I would of course cite the work in our journals – Transplantation and Transplantation Direct. The best original research is often read in hindsight and its significance missed on first publication. Sometimes one reads a paper and realises something has suddenly fallen into place and a clinical problem is now understood. Sometimes one reads some amazing basic research which is years away from application but which one can see will be a game changer. We have a series of papers in Transplantation that we publish which are brief reviews of potential ‘Game Changers’ – I suggest you keep an eye on them.   

3) Can you give an example of the best original research paper that had so much potential to be published in Transplantation but got it wrong because of something incredibly silly?

Again the answer is no! I wouldn’t single out an author or paper in that way but it is sad to see papers that see an association between two facts and then try to prove through mediocre statistical analysis that a determines or causes b. Another common problem is Multivariable analyses that have more variables than subjects to test, or fitting data to a hypothesis and not testing the model on a different data set. Always get great statistics advice and take the advice n matter how disappointing that advice can be!

4) On average, how many rounds of revisions do you do prior to submitting a manuscript?

Revisions before submission are at least as many as the number of co-authors as a rule of thumb. The more authors the more important the paper has to be and the more that people will want to get it right. Young researchers often misunderstand the value of multiple authors – they can feel that senior authors are ‘getting in on the act’ without doing any work. Two responses to this are – the senior authors need to do the work and probably have done so in setting the context for your research providing the facilities, employing you and setting the underlying hypothesis up etc. The second perspective is that having a well known senior author prepared to put their name to the work is a huge boost to its chances of being published, they often have good judgement!

5) What is the most important advice you can offer to young researchers when preparing their manuscript?

Do good research and the paper will follow!

ISN-TTS SISTER TRANSPLANT CENTERS PROGRAM - DEADLINE IS APPROACHING

THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO THE ISN - TTS SISTER TRANSPLANT CENTERS PROGRAM IS OCTOBER 1, 2019 (FOR 2020).

The ISN-TTS Sister Transplant Centers Program is a joint partnership set up between ISN and The Transplantation Society (TTS) to create new kidney transplant centers and develop existing kidney transplant programs in emerging countries. This initiative encourages transplant centers to work together to increase opportunities for kidney transplant patients in developing countries.

TRANSPLANTATION - WEEK'S MOST DOWNLOADED PAPER

TTS EDUCATION COMMITTEE'S PRECISION MEDICINE WEBINAR SERIES - NEW RELEASE!

JUST RELEASED - the most recent webinar in the Precision Medicine Webinar Series. Dr. Maria Kaisar and Dr. Rutger Ploeg present on Bridging the Gap between basic and translational transplant research;the role of transplant biobanks. This webinar is moderated by Gören Klintmalm. Still available, the previous webinars in the series. Log in and take advantage of writing questions to the moderators and presenters in your own time.

WOMEN IN TRANSPLANTATION NETWORKING EVENT

JOIN US FOR BREAKFAST AT THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HISTOCOMPATIBILITY AND IMMUNOGENETICS (ASHI) ANNUAL MEETING.

Dr. Thompson is Vice Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (UPSOM) and Professor of Critical Care Medicine. She was Chief of Pediatric Critical Care from 1981–2009; She is a past president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, only the second woman to hold that position; Chair of the Suborn of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine of the American Board of Paediatrics; member of the RRC for Pediatrics (ACGME); member of the Board of the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies; and past Chair of PALISI, a pediatric critical care clinical research network. She has received the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Distinguished Career Award, Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Distinguished Service Award, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s Wiener Award for Outstanding Contributions to Pediatric Healthcare, and the Girl Scouts of Western PA Woman of Distinction in Healthcare Award. As prior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at UPSOM, she mentored countless junior faculty with a special interest in women as they navigated stages of their professional careers. As Vice Dean she established the Diversity Advisory Council at UPSOM and is working across the school to promote a diverse and vibrant community where everyone feels acknowledged, respected and valued. She has persistently advocated for better practices for recruiting and promoting outstanding women and minorities under-represented in medicine in the UPSOM and professional organizations. In each of her roles she has supported the advancement of women and men of diverse backgrounds to positions of academic leadership across the nation.

• David L. Lawrence Convention Center
  Rm: 315-316, Level 3
  1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd
  Pittsburgh, PA 15222
• Registration and breakfast is complimentary
  RSVP by September 17th at: www.surveymonkey.com/r/83GJS6P
  (limited seats available)

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

TRANSPLANTATION - HIGHLIGHTED ARTICLE

Dr. Karen Keung, Editorial Fellow, Transplantation

EVEROLIMUS AND LONG-TERM CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS: A REGISTRY-BASED 10-YEAR FOLLOW-UP OF 5 RANDOMIZED TRIALS

Ying T, Wong G, Lim WH, et al.
Transplantation: August 2019 - Volume 103 - Issue 8 - p 1705–1713

A reduction in calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) exposure has become the focus of many immunosuppression trials in renal transplantation, with renewed interest in the mammalian targets of rapamycin inhibitors(mTORis) such as everolimus. Outcome data beyond 5 years of follow-up for mTOR- based regimens however is lacking. In this study, Ying and colleagues evaluated the 10- year risk of graft loss, mortality and graft function in 349 participants from 5 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of everolimus-based immunosuppression compared with current standard of care (CNI, mycophenolic acid and steroids), by linkage of trial patient data to the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) Registry.

There were no observed differences in the risk of all-cause graft loss, mortality or death-censored graft loss, although discontinuation of everolimus was high within the first 1 to 2 years after transplantation. Results were unchanged when stratified by treatment regimen (everolimus with reduced-dose CNI or CNI withdrawal) or timing (early versus late initiation). Beyond these long-term findings, the authors have also demonstrated that linkage to registry studies provide an efficient method to collect long-term outcome data of RCTs.

TTS-ILTS PAIRED TRANSPLANT CENTERS PROGRAM
DEADLINE JANUARY 1, 2020

The TTS-ILTS Paired Transplant Centers Program is a collaboration between The Transplantation Society (TTS) and the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) supporting new liver transplant programs in emerging countries.