In 2022, many ASJ authors make outstanding contributions to our journal. Their articles published with us have received very well feedback in the field and stimulate a lot of discussions and new insights among the peers.
Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding authors who have been making immense efforts in their research fields, with a brief interview of their unique perspective and insightful view as authors.
Outstanding Authors (2022)
Bhagawan Koirala, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Yosuke Matsuura, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Japan
Cristina Diotti, University of Milan, Italy
Kathleen N. Fenton, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), USA
Firas Abu Akar, Edith Wolfson Hospital, Israel
Aurel Ottlakan, University of Szeged, Hungary
Irshad Nabi Soomro, Nottingham University Hospitals, UK
Lorenzo Gherzi, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Italy
Yoshinori Hirasaki, Fukui Red Cross Hospital, Japan
Paolo Scanagatta, ASST Valtellina e Alto Lario, “Eugenio Morelli” Hospital, Italy
Outstanding Author
Bhagawan Koirala
Dr. Bhagawan Koirala is the current Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu. He is known for pioneering the Open-Heart Surgery Program in Nepal since 1997. He led Nepal’s first heart hospital (Shahid Gangalal National Heart Center) as the Executive Director and so far has performed well over 14,000 cardiovascular surgeries personally or directly supervised the surgeries. He started the “Poor Patients Relief Program” in 2003 which provides free heart care including surgery to children under 15, senior citizens above 75 years, and the needy.
Currently, Dr. Koirala also serves as the Chairman of the Nepal Medical Council. He is the national Co-chair of the Nepal NCDI Poverty commission and also the Founding Chairman of the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health, a non-profit organization. He is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (USA), the European Association of Cardiothoracic Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. His research areas are: repair of rheumatic mitral valve, effective medication to halt the progression of RHD, repair techniques of tetralogy of Fallot, and others. His recent initiative is to conduct a pilot study on the feasibility of rollout of PEN-plus initiative at the first-level hospitals of the Government of Nepal. You may connect with Dr. Koirala through his Facebook @Bhagawan Koirala and his Twitter @KoiralaBhagawan.
For Dr. Koirala, academic writing is necessary to keep oneself updated on the latest developments in Medicine. It is also important to share one’s expertise and/or experience with the wider audience so that they can learn the right ways to do things and not repeat one’s mistakes.
The ability to search literature, focus on the topic, choose a relevant subject, be able to do the logical interpretation of findings, and present the findings in an understandable way to the readers are five key skills that Dr. Koirala believes an author should possess.
In Dr. Koirala’s opinion, without the exercise of academic writing, we will quickly get outdated from modern day practice. That is what motivates him to do academic writing even though it takes a lot of time and effort.
Speaking of applying for institutional review board (IRB) approval, Dr. Koirala thinks that IRBs give fair feedback on the appropriateness of the study, ethical standards and on statistical tools we are using. This is also an independent check to our thought process on a particular research topic.
(By Teresa Lin, Brad Li)
Yosuke Matsuura
Dr. Yosuke Matsuura is currently an Associate Professor at Department of Thoracic Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute Hospital, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo, Japan. His areas of expertise are minimally invasive thoracic surgery and precision medicine for lung cancer. His research theme is “realization of precision surgery”. His clinical and research interests include perioperative management (ex. preoperative genomic companion diagnoses, induction therapies, and adjuvant therapies) and salvage surgery due to minimally invasive approach.
To Dr. Matsuura, the essential element of a good academic paper is a clear statement of "what are the current unmet needs" in the field and "what new needs have been met by the research". When limited to clinical research, it should not only reveal new facts or clinical questions, but the research results should serve as a compass to guide actual clinical practice for the better.
To build on the small questions that arise in our clinical practice and think about how we can best contribute to our patients, in Dr. Matsuura’s opinion, are particularly important for an author to bear in mind during preparation of a paper. In addition, the process of academic writing allows us to organize knowledge that was previously ambiguous and to learn new methods of analysis, which can become the starting point for new research. Thus, by enjoying the research journey, one can keep a fresh perspective on his/her academic writing.
During academic writing, one will become friends not only with his/her colleagues but also with strangers who are doing similar research. For Dr. Matsuura, that is the most interesting thing of academic writing. He explains, “There is nothing like having someone living on the other side of the world know your views, exchange opinions, and share values with you.”
On the other hand, Dr. Matsuura points out that it is important for research to apply for institutional review board (IRB) approval. The IRB is an independent committee established to review and approve research involving human subjects. The primary purpose of the IRB is to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects and to ensure adherence to the ethical values and principles underlying research. The IRB application also helps establish the credibility of the researcher. Otherwise, research will not be considered legitimate.
(By Teresa Lin, Brad Li)
Cristina Diotti
Dr. Cristina Diotti is a senior resident in Thoracic Surgery at the University of Milan and she is currently working at the Thoracic Surgery and Lung Transplantation Department of Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico of Milan, Italy. As a young training surgeon, she is experiencing various fields of Thoracic Surgery during her residency, with particular interests in surgical oncology and minimally invasive surgery. Her clinical projects include lung cancer surgery and interventional pulmonology, which she considers a really important part of a surgeon’s training. Her recent researches deal with Non-Intubated Thoracic Surgery, in particular with the feasibility of anatomical lung resections in spontaneous ventilation.
For Dr. Diotti, academic writing is a cornerstone of science, particularly in medical fields, in which continuous innovation and new ideas have to be shared to obtain the best results for healthcare professionals and patients. Evidence-Based Medicine has radically changed medical care and clinical decision-making, and now is an essential tool for clinicians, who can base their everyday medical practice on the best available scientific evidence. It would never have been possible without academic writing, which has made the latest advances available to all who need it in clinical practice.
However, even after careful literature research, we can never be 100% sure that our work is really up-to-date because, fortunately, research runs fast and new projects arise around the world every day. However, if one’s project is original and well-designed, one should believe in it and not be afraid that his/her work is not updated enough to be published. One’s work could give new insights into the field of the research if he/she is able to ask the right question and is curious enough to try to answer it. Investigating unknown fields of science or deepening already explored ones requires patience and perseverance because it is not so unusual to have the first papers rejected. Dr. Diotti emphasizes, "This has not to be considered a failure, but a first step to improve one’s work and learn something new."
AME Surgical Journal is an open-access online journal aiming to involve also young clinicians in writing activities. Dr. Diotti thinks it is the best way to encourage young researchers to deal with new challenges and it is also an excellent method to gain experience, learn how to write a good scientific paper and how to avoid common mistakes. That is why she chooses to publish in AME Surgical Journal.
Speaking of applying for institutional review board (IRB) approval, Dr. Diotti points out that IRB approval is essential to protect the rights and welfare of patients involved in studies and to avoid inappropriate use of data and information. Furthermore, acting as an unbiased third party, IRB guarantees ethics protection and fairness of the study, supporting only ethical and scientifically valid research. Omitting IRB approval can lead to the risk of breaking ethical rules and conducting unfair research. It improves the quality and safety of every study, including human participants. Therefore, its role in scientific research is undoubted.
(By Teresa Lin, Brad Li)
Kathleen N. Fenton
Dr. Kathleen N. Fenton is a congenital heart surgeon and bioethicist and is currently the Chief of the Advanced Technologies and Surgery Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), USA. After she completed her training in congenital heart surgery, she had two academic positions as a surgeon in USA, where she trained students and residents and did research in fetal heart surgery. In 2006, she moved to Managua to help establish a pediatric heart surgery program. She spent a total of 12 years doing full-time global surgery, working in Ukraine, Libya, and Nigeria in addition to several Latin American countries. Meanwhile, when she was appointed to serve on the Standards and Ethics Committee for the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 2010, she soon realized just how great a need there is for surgeons to be actively involved in bioethics. This motivated her to obtain formal training in bioethics. Dr. Fenton oversees a branch that manages portfolios in bioengineering, imaging, data science and regenerative medicine, serves as the science officer for the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network, collaborates on many committees and projects across NHLBI and National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is an Affiliate Scholar in NIH’s Department of Bioethics. Here are some pages where you can find out more information about Dr. Fenton: LinkedIn, NIH, NHLBI story and Cardiac Alliance.
From Dr. Fenton’s perspective, the two most important things to consider prior to writing an academic paper are the message and the audience. The specific organization of the paper depends on what type of paper it is (original research, review, commentary, or letter, for example) but the message and the audience must always be considered.
In terms of the message- what do you want to say and why? What is this paper adding to the literature? Why is it important – why should the reader read it or care about it? What questions does it answer?
In terms of the audience- how can this message best be conveyed? How much background information to include depends greatly on an assessment of what the likely reader will (or will not) already know about the topic. “Enough” background is needed to set the stage and convey the importance, but “too much” background makes the article boring and redundant. The discussion also needs to be tailored to the audience, conveying the information in a manner that is engaging and thoughtful.
Speaking of how to avoid biases in one’s writing, Dr. Fenton points out that it is difficult because we all have biases and it is probably impossible to avoid them, or at least to avoid them completely. It could be better to talk about recognizing and addressing biases. Of course, it is important to try to be objective, to look at different sides of things and consider options. However, probably the most effective thing to do to minimize bias is to share one’s thoughts (and at times, paper drafts) with colleagues and ask for their honest feedback. This is especially helpful if the colleagues have different backgrounds, opinions, and/or thought processes than one’s own.
Data sharing, on the other hand, is crucial in scientific writing, in Dr. Fenton’s opinion. Most importantly, researchers and funders have such limited budgets (and such limited time) to do research that they want to get every possible scientific lesson out of everything they do. This is even more true when doing research with human participants or with animals – in order to ethically justify the risk and discomfort to which the subjects are subjected, it is important to make it as productive as possible. Also importantly, sharing data improves transparency, and checks work: it allows others to verify that the calculations and conclusions are correct.
When Dr. Fenton was a surgical resident, she was taught to document interactions with patients in their charts. “If you didn’t write it, it didn’t happen,” she was told. This applies to science just as well. It is important to do the work, but it is also important to write about it so that others can learn. “Be persistent, don’t get discouraged easily, and take critical comments from reviewers as opportunities to improve your work,” says Dr. Fenton.
(By Teresa Lin, Brad Li)
Firas Abu Akar
Dr. Firas Abu Akar is a Thoracic Surgeon from Jerusalem. He is currently the Head of the Thoracic Surgery Unit at Edith Wolfson Hospital - Holon - Tel Aviv - Israel. After specializing in thoracic surgery in Jerusalem, Dr. Abu Akar spent about a year in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, one of the largest hospitals specializing in thoracic surgery in the world, to learn minimally invasive techniques from the most skilled surgeons in the world, such as Diego Gonzalez Rivas, Yuming Zhu and Jiang Lie. After returning to his country, he worked in several hospitals and adapted the uniportal VATS surgery to be applied in pediatric surgery. Dr. Abu Akar was also interested in chest wall deformities correction surgery via minimally invasive techniques (Nuss and Abramson procedures), for which he was trained by the surgeon Mustafa Yuksel and performed dozens of these surgeries annually. He has dozens of publications in the field of minimally invasive thoracic surgery. You may find more about his work on his YouTube channel. You may also connect with him on LinkedIn.
The life of the surgeon, in general, is usually very busy, and the hours of his/her day are often spent between operating rooms, clinics, and lectures. Finding the time to write is a very difficult and challenging task, but on the other hand, it is one of the most important priorities in a doctor's career for Dr. Abu Akar.
To ensure his writing is up-to-date and can give new insights into the field of research in an era where science advances day by day, Dr. Abu Akar tries to always be up-to-date with everything new in his field. He observes social media, reads scientific journals, and attends conferences.
When asked what motivates Dr. Abu Akar to do academic writing although it requires a lot of hard work, he replies, “The feeling that I have contributed to science and literature, even if it is a very small addition, always makes me feel satisfied with myself. Besides, of course, performing surgery and helping patients, which I do daily.”
As an author, Dr. Abu Akar believes that it is important to follow reporting guidelines (e.g. STROBE and PRISMA) during the preparation of manuscripts. These guidelines initiated a cascade of changes in the reporting of medical research in scientific journals. This has had a great impact on the quality of reporting of various types of medical research. The guidelines have created a manual for the authors to follow, which should lead to total transparency, accurate reporting, and easier assessment of the validity of reported research findings.
(By Teresa Lin, Brad Li)
Aurel Ottlakan
Dr. Aurél Ottlakán M.D., Ph.D., is a general surgeon specializing in plastic surgery, practicing as an assistant professor at the University of Szeged, Department of Surgery, Hungary. His main areas of interest include oncoplastic breast surgery and electrochemotherapy for deep-seated neoplasms. Furthermore, he and his co-authors were the first to publish bleomycin-based electrochemotherapy treatment of soft tissue sarcomas using long needle electrodes. You can find more information about Dr. Ottlakán on his faculty page.
As a practicing surgeon, Dr. Ottlakán thinks it is relatively difficult to find spare time for scientific research/writing. Hence, it usually takes up the time reserved for recreation. Another important matter is the choice of a relevant topic. When trying to publish something in the clinical field, it must be a new technology or approach, which is quite hard to find but definitely not impossible. His advice is to constantly look for novelty and never lose enthusiasm. If one can see the beauty in academic work, it gets much easier to be successful in publishing articles and eventually writing would become a hobby.
For Dr. Ottlakán, the first thing when addressing a scientific issue with the intention of publication is to research. The second is to designate the endpoints of a study/research so as to clarify what we want to write about exactly. A thorough literary research, which usually takes up a great deal of time, is inevitable. An effective method is to take scientific data and fuse it with existing practical knowledge to get acceptable, potentially publishable material.
From Dr. Ottlakán’s perspective, it is great to get noticed in the scientific community by publishing one’s own material that is usually created from a few datasets and experience. He thinks it is paramount to be enthusiastic about one’s work and to see a publication that has not yet existed in its final form. A great deal of imagination and devotion is required to do so. With all these ingredients, success is very much real, which provides authors with a high level of euphoria and keeps them on the right track to continue their work. That is what makes him think academic writing is so fascinating.
Lastly, Dr. Ottlakán believes that in some cases, it is important to follow reporting guidelines (e.g., STROBE, CONSORT, and PRISMA) during the preparation of manuscripts. However, when dealing with a groundbreaking and never-before-published topic, some level of freedom in terms of writing is required. Nevertheless, it is important to standardize one’s work and publication as much as possible.
(By Teresa Lin, Brad Li)
Irshad Nabi Soomro
Dr. Irshad Nabi Soomro serves as a Consultant Histopathologist and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the Directorate of Cancer and Associated Services, Department of Cellular Pathology, at Nottingham University Hospitals, UK. He was leading the combined histopathological team of Nottingham and Leicester University Hospitals from 2013 to 2019, and working collaboratively with the ISO 15189 accredited pathology laboratories at the universities. Dr. Soomro and his team were handling over 130,000 surgical cases in 2018, as a reference, out of which including 9,500 non-gynaecological cytology, 60,000 gynaecological cytology and 4,515 coronial autopsies. His area of specialization is thoracic and gynaecological pathology/cytopathology. In addition to the scientific research field, Dr. Soomro is also being highly active on the area of education and training for the junior doctors, of which the trainees under the guidance of his team maintain a high pass rate in the FRCPath examinations. Not to be surprised, he also contributes a lot to different multidisciplinary discussions, meetings, academic activities, and so on. Connect with Dr. Soomro on LinkedIn.
In the course of Dr. Soomro’s career, he has kept contributing to academic research and paper review or writing. He thinks academic writing is particularly important as this can help transfer the findings and knowledge in a well-organized written form for future advancement. “Progress in science and technology itself requires us to think progressively; we should thus drill in the area of our expertise and enhance our own understanding. The course of thinking is well deserved to be recorded and passed on,” says Dr. Soomro.
Dr. Soomro shares some tips with us on the preparation of a piece of academic writing. He is always paying extra attention to what have already been presented or done in performing literature research as he would like to fill up the gaps on areas or topics that have not been touched on or is yet to be investigated in details. And it is particularly important for any researchers to declare the Conflicts of Interests (COI) for each piece of work as to maintain the credibility. “For scientific work having links to pharmaceutical companies or being paid out of the standard NHS in the UK requires declaration to the Trust and we need to complete a form of Declaration of Interest (DOI) every year,” explains Dr. Soomro.
Although it is time- and effort- consuming in doing research and writing academic papers, Dr. Soomro thinks the process itself is a very good way of training on logical thinking. He adds, “It is also a very satisfying experience when you are able to come up with new ideas based on your experimental results or findings, and get your new insights being published in a good journal.”
(By Masaki Lo, Brad Li)
Lorenzo Gherzi
Dr. Lorenzo Gherzi is the Chef de Clinique Assistant in the Thoracic Surgery Unit directed by Professor Marco Alifano, at Hôpital Cochin, Paris, France. He graduated at the University of Milan, Italy, with a thesis developed at the National Cancer Institute focusing on lung cancer screening, under the supervision of Dr. U. Pastorino. His main field of practice is on oncology and minimally invasive techniques. His current researches focus on sublobar resection for primary and metastatic tumors of the lungs. His recent work dealt with lung metastases from sarcomas. Connect with Dr. Gherzi on LinkedIn.
The burden of being a doctor is heavy, and that is particularly more challenging for a young surgeon like Dr. Gherzi. With the professional life fully packed of ward visits, operating room surgeries, plus massive administrative and bureaucratic tasks, it is not easy to allocate time and effort for research and academic writing. He, however, thinks as long as you have the passion on the project that you are working on, you would be able to draw time for it and take pleasure with working on it. And in the ever-changing world nowadays, everything moves fast and that is also true for scientific research. He thinks during the writing process, it is too often that the attention of the researchers or authors is only on the present and the future and it is easy to lose the focus due to the massive availability of scientific evidence. For Dr. Gherzi, taking personally, the starting point is the past. He always allocates some time to comprehend and study the history for the founding grounds of thoracic surgery to see which concepts are still valid, and from that, he thinks on what has changed and what must evolve and modernize with the latest technologies and the knowledge that we have now.
Speaking of data sharing in original research, Dr. Gherzi thinks it is essential as it allows researchers to coordinate large and statistically significant studies, confront with each other and propose new and effective practice in medicine. Due to a multiplicity of factors, both economic and scientific, it is ineffective to count on effort from a single author or a single institution to design studies that can influence or change the current clinical practice. Data sharing can facilitate the process for advancement.
“Academic writing is a complex process that includes ideation, organization, data collection and elaboration. In the course of the process, even the most experienced authors may have difficulties and this happens obviously more frequently for young authors. What allows me to overcome these critical moments is always to share and debate with other colleagues and think from a different point of view,” shares Dr. Gherzi.
(By Masaki Lo, Brad Li)
Semra Bilaçeroğlu
Dr. Semra Bilaçeroğlu is a Professor and the Academic Director of the Pulmonary Department in Dr. Suat Seren Training and Research Hospital for Thoracic Medicine and Surgery, University of Health Sciences, Izmir, Turkey. She served as the secretary, president-elect, president and past-president of the European Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology (EABIP) between 2010 and 2020. She is currently the regent-EABIP in the WABIP Board of Regents, the Chair-lady of the CHEST Council of Global Governors Executive Committee, and the Chair-lady of Foreign Affairs in the Turkish Respiratory Society. Her fields of interest are interventional pulmonology, pleural diseases, lung cancer, interstitial, granulomatous and vascular lung diseases. She has published extensively in pulmonary medicine and interventional pulmonology. She is also a reviewer, editorial board member and/or associate editor for various international journals: Respiration, Respirology, Pulmonology, Annals of Thoracic Medicine, Frontiers in Medicine, Journal of Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology, Egyptian Journal of Bronchology, Respirology Case Reports, to just name some. Connect with Dr. Bilaçeroğlu on LinkedIn.
With her extensive writing and editorial experience, Dr. Bilaçeroğlu thinks a good academic paper should be novel, timely and based on evidence besides having a well-organized outline, clarity, conciseness, preciseness, coherence and formal language. The essential elements are an interesting topic, structured abstract (synopsis of research), purpose, introduction and strong thesis statement, well-established methodology (the backbone), results written objectively in a logical order and shown in graphs and tables, discussion interpreting and commenting on the study results and relevant data from reliable scholar sources, conclusion, and citations (references). Authors should bear in mind the tips below during the process of evidence synthesis which is a more complicated form of an analysis focusing on one source:
1. Develop a focused question
- Identify the evidence to answer that question
- Assess the quality/validity of the identified evidence:
- Choose studies, systematic reviews and meta-analysis from peer-reviewed journals
- Check for focused question, valid methods, important and applicable results
2. Decide the most appropriate form of evidence synthesis
3. Present the results to meet the needs of healthcare professionals and other researchers
4. Develop strategy to publicize the results
In identifying evidence, Dr. Bilaçeroğlu additionally shares the following tips:
- Read the sources several times (skim, focus on main findings, and take in-depth notes)
- Take organized notes on every source
- Identify relevant concepts and supporting sources
- Restructure the notes by concept
- Organize concepts into an outline
On the issue of research data sharing, Dr. Bilaçeroğlu believes it is crucial for authors to share research data because it has advantages of verification, advancement and dissemination of knowledge, reducing the cost and time of research, and promoting clinical improvement. It allows to build upon the work of others rather than repeating, and enables meta-analyses to be performed. Moreover, sharing data provides communication and collaboration which, in turn, lead to better thoughts organization and facilitate decision making for difficult scenarios.
“Learning new things, coming up with creative ideas, completing a difficult subject, communicating and sharing with colleagues, and mentoring and coaching others are my motivations in academic writing,” says Dr. Bilaçeroğlu.
(By Masaki Lo, Brad Li)
Yasemin Söyler
Dr. Yasemin Söyler graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Ankara University, Turkey, and completed her assistantship with the Department of Chest Diseases there. She has been a pulmonologist at Ankara Atatürk Sanatorium Training and Research Hospital, Turkey, since 2016, and is currently working in the Department of Interventional Pulmonology. Her clinical and research interests are interventional pulmonology, and also diffuse parenchymal lung diseases and lung cancer. The main topics of her recent projects were about malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer and pleural effusion. To learn more about Dr. Söyler, please visit Researchgate.
Dr. Söyler thinks academic writing is one of the indispensable steps for scientific advancement as through the process of academic writing, we can impart our own knowledge and share with the world of what we know. In reverse, we can also learn from scholars whom we have not even met before and gain new perspectives for our own research. All these contribute to the progress of science.
In terms of the actual preparation of a paper, Dr. Söyler believes it is necessary to well plan on various aspects: the original idea, the way to perform a careful and thorough literature research, the way to design a well-structured study, how to write or present academically, and how to coordinate with different parties as every research is the result of a teamwork. “You need to be patient, attentive, open-minded, ambitious, curious, and collaborative in order to be an author or writer. These might seem challenging, but the knowledge gained along the way and the resulting sense of accomplishment would definitely empower the author for the preparation of a paper,” says Dr. Söyler.
Though it can be tight in actually allocating the time for writing papers given the current working circumstances of being a doctor and a researcher at the same time, Dr. Söyler sees doing research and writing papers as part of her responsibility for both the academic career and the scientific principles she upholds. For this reason, she has made writing papers a regular part of her daily routine.
From an author’s perspective, Dr. Söyler emphasizes that it is important to follow the reporting guidelines (e.g. STROBE, PRISMA, and CARE) during preparation of manuscripts. She explains, “These guidelines can help medical professionals improve the manuscripts' clarity and quality and raise the standard of research reporting in the journals.”
(By Masaki Lo, Brad Li)
Yoshinori Hirasaki
Dr. Yoshinori Hirasaki, M.D., Ph.D., is the Deputy Chief of the Department of Surgery at Fukui Red Cross Hospital in Fukui, Japan. He is active in performing minimally invasive colorectal surgery including robotic surgery, reduced port surgery, and single-incision laparoscopic surgery. His current goal is to plan the most optimal treatment approach for each cancer patient as he thinks different patients have different needs as cancer treatment is always related to various factors; in addition to conventional treatment plan involving surgery and post-surgery chemotherapy, there are many different options such as pre-operative radiation and chemotherapy. There is even an option that does not require surgery nowadays; Dr. Hirasaki would like to design tailor-made plan for each of his cancer patient.
When being asked on his view of writing academic papers, Dr. Hirasaki thinks writing itself can help organize the information of what have been working on and reassure the advantages and possible disadvantages of a particular treatment in the process of putting together the discussions and results. Comments and criticism from reviewers help point out problems and enable further thinking and even give ideas for the next paper. He adds, “The process of writing academic paper itself is very satisfactory and it helps us move forward.”
To Dr. Hirasaki, it is never easy to write a paper that can bring out new insights to others in a certain field of research, but we can definitely learn from the latest findings from papers and journals. Therefore, he encourages researchers to continue reading various papers, analyzing problems that we encounter from daily practices, and trying to come up with solutions. By reading and continuous thinking, surgical skills as well as patient satisfaction can be improved. He believes as long as we keep reading and learning, we would be able to give insights to others in writing.
One of the most difficult tasks for doctors nowadays is to allocate time for writing papers. Dr. Hirasaki gets motivations when the papers showcasing his ideas and knowledge generated from daily practices got published and read by peers from the same field. This would naturally make him write and contribute more.
Speaking of the importance for authors to disclose Conflict of Interest (COI), Dr. Hirasaki explains, “Depending on the COI, the research methods, data analysis and the interpretation of the results may be distorted; and the human rights and life safety of research subjects may also be affected.” He therefore thinks it is important for the COI being disclosed properly as it is highly related to the independence and openness of the research.
(By Masaki Lo, Brad Li)
Paolo Scanagatta
Dr. Paolo Scanagatta, MD, was born in Pavia, Italy, in 1974. He has been the Director of the Thoracic Surgery Department of the Morelli Hospital since September 2021, and a lecturer at the Milan University School of Medicine since 2014. He previously served as a consultant Thoracic Surgeon at the Italian National Cancer Institute (Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori), Milan, Italy from 2010 to 2021. He is particularly recognized as an expert in Pediatric Thoracic Surgery. He believes in a multi-modal approach to lung cancer (including translational medicine and target therapies) and accurate preoperative study of surgical candidates; he has also expertise in managing complications for the best postoperative outcomes. Minimally invasive (VATS) Thoracic Surgery, pulmonary metastasectomy, surgical treatment of refractory tubercolosis and thoracectomy with reconstruction after chest-wall resection are his other current fields of research. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and is also an editorial member/reviewer of many international peer-reviewed journals and an Expert Referee for the Italian Ministry of University of Research (MIUR) for the Evaluation of Research Projects of National Interest (PRIN). He is currently Associate Editor-in-Chief of the international peer-reviewed journal Pediatric Medicine (AME publishing). Learn more about Dr. Scanagatta on ResearchGate, CTSNET, PubMed, and connect with him on LinkedIn.
Dr. Scanagatta thinks there are several reasons for writing a scientific paper. The noblest reason to him is the desire to increase the knowledge of the community (in the sense of expanding the knowledge of the scientific community). He shares tips on preparing an academic writing: “Writing is not easy, writing an article on an original research work is even more difficult. The first thing that an author should ask himself is: Is it worth writing "just this paper"? Have similar results already been reported in the international literature? Is there really a need for a new article on the same subject? Do the results of the study appear more convincing? To evaluate the importance of an article we should always apply the rule that the Anglo-Saxons call the “so-what test”. It is a bath of humility. But it's better to do it before than to wait for a reviewer of a peer-reviewed journal to do it for us later.”
When being asked of the reasons for publishing on ASJ, Dr. Scanagatta thinks ASJ as a new journal, it comes with a reliable publisher and some brilliant projects. “I trust AME Publishing, really,” he says.
Speaking of data sharing in a research paper, he points out there is now a broad consensus in the scientific community on the importance of the complete availability of data and research results for the purpose of verifying new hypotheses, checking for any experimental errors, validating new analytical tools, and planning new studies. That can do much for a faster scientific progress.
(By Masaki Lo, Brad Li)