In 2024, 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 (2024)

Kathryn McKnight, Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland

Raghav Murthy, Medical City Children’s Hospital, USA

Outstanding Author

Kathryn McKnight

Dr. Kathryn McKnight, BMBS, BSc, is currently completing her surgical training at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland, in addition to a Masters in Surgery. She completed her postgraduate BMBS medical training at the University of Limerick after earning her undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Speech and Language therapy from the University of Galway. She plans to complete her specialty surgical training with the Royal College of Surgeons followed by a fellowship in Surgical Oncology. Her most recent research projects focus on breast and endocrine surgery. Looking forward, her hope is to expand her focus to research in the area of oncoplastic surgery. She continues to fulfil her interest in teaching, being involved in mentoring and educational opportunities, while developing her academic portfolio by attending and presenting at both national and international conferences.

In Dr. McKnight’s opinion, a good academic paper should have a clear structure and be concise. It not only discusses existing research but also critically analyzes it. As a researcher, it is important to be critical and to clearly acknowledge research limitations and strengths as well as being able to interpret the implications of the findings.

In constructing an academic paper, Dr. McKnight points out the following things that an author should bear in mind. 1)Evidence-based medicine dictates day-to-day practice for healthcare professionals. It is important to consider how one’s research is contributing to the existing research base, what new information has been unveiled and how this may affect clinical practice. 2)Research is fast paced and staying up to date with the continual changes can be a challenge. 3)Planning is central to successful research output; provide oneself with adequate time to correctly analyze data and thereby accurately produce an outcome. 4)Considering the target audience and the original aim of the research is crucial throughout the research process to ensure one is answering the original research question and pitching it at an adequate level.

In addition, Dr. McKnight indicates that shared knowledge is a powerful tool. In view of this, data sharing promotes collaboration and transparency and thus strengthens the credibility of the research. Sharing of research also enables researchers to reproduce related studies and prevents production of redundant research, ensuring new questions or areas are targeted.

(by Brad Li, Masaki Lo)

Raghav Murthy

Raghav Murthy, MD, DABS, FACS, FACC, is currently a congenital cardiac surgeon at Medical City Children’s Hospital, Dallas, Texas, USA. Prior to moving to Dallas, he was Assistant Professor of Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital and Director of the Pediatric Heart Transplantation Program and ECMO at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Heart Center. He has extensive experience treating congenital heart disease in all age groups, including neonates, infants, children and adults. He is also very experienced in temporary and durable mechanical circulatory support devices and heart transplantation. Under his leadership, the pediatric heart transplant program at Mount Sinai was the best in the northeast. He has special interest and expertise in pediatric airway surgery and complex lung surgery in children. These include segmental tracheal resections, slide tracheoplasties, complex carinal resections and reconstructions and combined repair for children with concomitant airway and heart defects. Dr. Murthy has authored or co-authored more than 65 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 5 editorials, 18 published abstracts, 20 book chapters, participated in more than 10 surgical videos and more than 110 oral and poster presentations at national and international meetings. His clinical and research interests are focused on surgical management of congenital heart disease in people of all age groups, complex neonatal and infant heart surgery, ECMO, mechanical assist devices and transplantation of thoracic organs.

A good academic paper, according to Dr. Murthy, must add something new to the literature. There are many questions that arise, on a day-to-day basis, and a good paper seeks to answer these questions, with sound statistical analyses. The flow of the paper should capture the attention of the readers, intrigue them and hopefully result in change of practice, ultimately improving care for patients.

From Dr. Murthy’s perspective, authors have to be honest during preparation of a manuscript. The results of a study may not be one that the authors anticipated. Nonetheless, it is important to state exactly what they found. If the results are incongruent to what they anticipated, it should be followed by a robust discussion of why they think so and what they have learnt from the study. Equally important is for the authors to state why they choose to perform a study or write the manuscript, making sure that they give due credit to everyone in the past that have attempted to answer similar questions or have provided some sort of answer to the questions being asked.

In the current digital age and the era of artificial intelligence, Dr. Murthy strongly believes that it is extremely important for researchers to share their research data. He explains, “This is particularly important in a field such as congenital cardiac surgery. The ‘n’ in our field is so small at any given institution, and a lot more and quicker progress can be achieved with data sharing. This is one of the situations where the sum of all is greater than the sum of the individuals.”

(by Brad Li, Masaki Lo)