title: Did you write a protocol before starting your project?
abstract: Writing a clinical paper requires a significant amount of work. Unfortunately, this hard work frequently ends up being in vain because the authors lack the ability to both conduct clinical projects and prepare manuscripts appropriately. In this review article, we will describe why the authors should begin these projects by first writing a protocol, and we will then outline the steps they should take to produce papers capable of being accepted in high-ranked journals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, The Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8, Nishi Shinbashi, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 105-8461, Japan, kobando@jikei.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Ko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bando
authors.forename: Tosiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
mesh_terms: D001319:Authorship; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D006801:Humans; D011643:Publishing; D012107:Research Design; D013903:Thoracic Surgery; D014956:Writing