Course syllabus
Writing and Reviewing in Biomedical Engineering
How it works:
During the course you will submit your own written manuscript(s) and review your peers' manuscripts. The course responsibles will assign two reviewers per submitted article. Reviewers will be chosen on the basis of i) their estimated graduation date, ii) vicinity of subject area, iii) number of papers already reviewed.
Article submission:
During the course you have to submit 1 (for 1.5 credit point version of the course) or 2 (for 3 credit point version of the course) own written manuscript(s). To complete this task, you need to upload your manuscript with supporting information (if applicable) as well as an own written cover letter to the editor. The cover letter does not need to be addressed to a real person or to the journal you plan to submit to, it can be a made-up journal and editor.
Review:
During the course you have to do 2 (for 1.5 credit point version of the course) or 4 (for 3 credit point version of the course) revisions of your peers manuscript(s). To fulfill this task, you need to read the article thoroughly and write and upload your comments to this task within two weeks. All types of comments are encouraged, mainly scientific ones of course, but suggestions on paper structure and language edits are also welcome. You can refer to the checklist provided, and submit at least 3 constructive comments/questions per reviewed paper. The comments should be formatted in the same way you would do as in a real journal review.
| Anyone not keeping to the deadlines will have to review another paper to get the credits, since any delays may affect other people’s submission times or timeliness in getting a course certificate. Please note that if you do not respond at all to review requests, you will be excluded from the course after one warning (you can of course decline to review if it is not suitable at the time, but you need to decline the review offer by answering the e-mail). |
Authors response:
During the course you have to submit 1 (for 1.5 credit point version of the course) or 2 (for 3 credit point version of the course) authors responses. The submitting author should reply to the reviewers comments in a professional manner, within the time frame of 2 weeks by uploading the comments. To fulfill this task, you need to read and answer the reviewers comments and upload your point by point response to this task within two weeks. The comments should be formatted in the same way you would do as in a real journal review.
| Anyone not keeping to the deadlines will have to re-submit a paper to get the credits, since any delays may affect other people’s submission times or timeliness in getting a course certificate. |
Introduction lecture (on-site):
At every beginning of a term, a introduction session will be arranged. Here, you will get information to supplement the scientific writing courses, including how to write a cover letter, reviewer comments and response to reviewer’s comments. To fulfill this task, you need to attend and participate in a discussion sessions.
Discussion session (on-site):
At least 3 times per year a discussion session will be arranged. Here, different topics will be discussed, such as generally difficult parts of scientific writing and examples of difficult reviewer’s questions to answer to. Participants are encouraged to suggest topics for the discussion sessions.
To fulfill this task, you need to attend and participate in the discussion sessions. For the 1.5 credit version of the course, you need attend and participate in at least 2 discussion sessions. For the 3 credit version of the course, you need attend and participate in at least 3 discussion sessions.
Overview of requirements/tasks to fulfill:
Requirements for 1.5 credits (hp):
- attend the introductory lecture
- attend and participate in at least 2 discussion sessions
- submit 1 of your own articles for review (and respond to reviewers comments)
- review 2 articles of your peers
- respond within the timeline (2 weeks)
Requirements for 3 credits (hp):
- attend the introductory lecture
- attend and participate in at least 3 discussion sessions
- submit 2 of your own articles for review (and respond to reviewers comments)
- review 4 articles of your peers
- respond within the timeline (2 weeks)
The course normally takes 2-3 semesters to complete.
The estimated times to be spent on the different tasks are about half a day for discussion sessions (preparation and participation) and one to one and a half days on reviewer tasks or author tasks.
How to apply:
Eligibility:
The prerequisite for the course are:
- You have a research topic within the field of life science engineering or biomedical research
- You conduct experimental studies on devices, instruments, or in vitro or in vivo studies as a part of your PhD project
- You have completed at least 2 years of PhD studies
- You have at least one manuscript in preparation at the time of course start, which is estimated to be ready for in-course reviewing within 6 months.
Registration:
Send an email to the course responsibles
TekNat: Sofia Johansson (sofia.m.johansson@angstrom.uu.se)
MedFarm: Hannah Pohlit (hannah.pohlit@farmaci.uu.se)
Please include the following information in your email: your name, your university email address, personal number, PhD topic, if you fulfill the prerequisites of the course and planned PhD graduation semester. Indicate whether you would like to take the 1.5 or 3 credits course. If you would like to remain anonymous as a reviewer, please also indicate this.
New students are admitted to the course twice per year, in August and January. The course has a limited number of participants.
The registration deadline for starting during the fall 2024 is 31st August. The introduction session will be held on 23rd September at 10:00-11:30 on zoom. The discussion sessions are scheduled together with the course participants using e.g. doodle.