In 2023, many JMAI 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 (2023)
Thara Tunthanathip, Songklanagarind Hospital, Thailand
Nahum Goldmann, ARRAY Development, Canada
Ethan Waisberg, University of Cambridge, England
Keyvan Golestan, Layer 6 AI, Canada
Neil Guha, University of Nottingham, UK
Lucas Lacerda de Souza, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil
Declan Grabb, Northwestern University, USA
Yasanthi Malika Hirimutugoda, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
James Behrmann, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, USA
Fiona McGowan Martha Morrison, Akkon University of Human Sciences, Germany
Ansh Roge, Case Western Reserve University, USA
Mohammadreza Hajiarbabi, Purdue University Fort Wayne, USA
Jitendra Singh, Minnesota State University Moorhead, USA
Outstanding Author
Thara Tunthanathip
Dr. Thara Tunthanathip is a neurosurgeon at the Songklanagarind Hospital in Hat-Yai, Thailand. He obtained his medical degree in 2007, Diplomate of the Thai Board of Neurological Surgery in 2013, and his PhD in Health Science in 2020. He is a Diplomate of the Thai Board of Neurological Surgery. He is currently serving as staff in the Division of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. He attained the academic rank of Assistant Professor in 2018. His areas of interest include neuro-oncology, economic evaluation, neuro-trauma, prediction research, artificial intelligence in medicine, machine learning, and deep learning. Learn more about Dr. Tunthanathip through ORCID, Google Scholar and Scopus.
Academic writing is a necessary ability for students across all fields. From Dr. Tunthanathip’s perspective, there are some common obstacles seen in his students’ writings. He explains, “Firstly, my students frequently fail to convey their thoughts clearly and coherently. Practice logically constructing essays, using clear subject phrases, and ensuring that each paragraph links to the major arguments that are resolutions. Furthermore, talking with your advisor and peers will help you define your purpose, problem, and solution more precisely. Furthermore, one of the issues with academic writing is a lack of awareness of what constitutes plagiarism. To avoid this, you must grasp the rules of proper citation and paraphrasing. Finally, write on a regular basis to develop your writing skills.”
To ensure transparency and credibility of one’s writing, Dr. Tunthanathip believes authors must disclose conflicts of interest (COI). The extent to which COI influences research varies, but improper management can result in biased findings. Transparent disclosure enables readers to evaluate possible biases and develop well-informed opinions regarding the research.
“To keep up with the latest research. I usually read academic papers, attend conferences, and follow other researchers on social media. Once you have a good understanding of the current state of research in your field, you can begin to identify areas that require additional study. It is here that you can advance the field with new contributions. When I have a research question, I usually try numerous approaches to answer it. For example, I analysed the predicted performance of a clinical prediction tool using several methodologies, including both traditional statistics and current machine learning algorithms,” says Dr. Tunthanathip.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Nahum Goldmann
Nahum Goldmann, the President at ARRAY Development, is a serial entrepreneur and innovator who has cofounded five companies in the areas of cybersecurity audit, B2B ecommerce, and FinTech, serving as the CEO for 3 of these startups. Nahum's methodologies for developing mission-critical ecommerce/ebanking processes are based on over 20 books, book chapters and articles that he has published over the past 30 years. For 10 years working at Bell-Northern Research (BNR), he was in charge of developing advanced telecommunications equipment, software, databases and AI systems. Subsequently, he has led large high-tech and ecommerce implementation projects conducted for numerous leading industrial companies, banks and government organizations around the globe. He had been a Professor at the School of Management at the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto School of Management, a faculty member and an invited lecturer at leading universities in France, India, the USA, Poland, Ukraine and Morocco.
Speaking of a good academic paper, Nahum has two major concerns with the quality of academic publications on AI. First is the lack of scalability of AI applications - A huge gap between AI research and implementation has been observed of late, with most media announcements “being illusory” and only one in ten AI companies achieving actual traction in any meaningful way. The lack of independently verified operational/maintenance success stories holds back the clinical deployment of medical AI. Moore's law led to incredibly rapid growth in computing power, speeding up conventional programming by many orders of magnitude, even for inefficient algorithms. However, it does not encompass the scalability of AI engines, which remained poor for the last 40+ years that Nahum has worked in this area. Using an analogy, by considerably increasing a swarm of mosquitos or putting them on steroids, one does not increase a mosquito’s intelligence to the level of a fly, much less to that of a rocket scientist. It follows that the familiar notion of ‘proof of concept’ valid for algorithmic programming is not conceptually applicable to the AI area on the same level. Regretfully, most AI ‘proof-of-concept’ academic publications are flawed or misleading, as they could result in serious diagnostic or predictive inaccuracy.
Secondly, to address critically important AI scalability and to ensure the quality of clinical trials for AI health solutions, several comprehensive guidelines were recently published by international multi-stakeholder groups. They include the FDA regulatory framework making allowance for the iterative nature of AI learning algorithms, SPIRIT-AI and CONSORT-AI, MINIMAR (MINimum Information for Medical AI Reporting), and the use of summary receiver operating characteristic curve analysis proposed by Oakden-Rayner and Palmer. Similar validation guidelines are being developed for AI financial and technical applications. Such guidelines typically require that AI research and implementation reports include qualitative and quantitative information on the provenance, quality and representativeness of input data, the format of output data, an indication of how they contribute to decision-making, as well as a description of the algorithm (its version, evolution, underlying assumptions, risks of bias, employed human AI interface, and user training requirements). They ensure the preservation of the structural integrity and significance of data, stipulate peer-reviewed randomized trials as the gold standard and compare the effectiveness of AI with human experts.
In Nahum’s view, to ensure the quality of academic publications on AI, editorial offices of all academic journals should not publish AI-generated experimental results without insisting on including a separate section in each publication that verifies the probity of their AI research and development. Editorial content style guides should require presenting a separate section that quantifies the quality of testing AI solutions that the authors conducted according to the applicable comprehensive guidelines. This will hopefully decimate the number of published AI articles with unscalable results.
“For many years, my books on the theory and practice of effective information retrieval have been widely used by subject experts such as scientists, engineers, physicians, lawyers, businessmen, financial analysts, and other professionals and executives to support their decision-making activities. With the recent advancement of interfaces for generative AI and ChatGPT, my well-established searching methodology can now also be used to define comprehensive prompts, thus ensuring precise feedback from chatbots,” says Nahum.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Ethan Waisberg
Dr. Ethan Waisberg is an Academic Foundation Doctor at the University of Cambridge and also a member of NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Working Group. His research encompasses a wide variety of topics, from NASA-funded work assessing astronaut vision during long-duration spaceflight, to improving the visual performance of NFL referees, to various projects on ophthalmic genetics. He is also passionate about global eye health and hopes that his work may one day lead to a reduction of preventable blindness in developing countries. Learn more about Dr. Waisberg here.
Academic writing, according to Dr. Waisberg, is essential to the scientific process, by allowing for the sharing of knowledge. This process requires clear and accurate documentation of methods, experiments and conclusions to allow for other scientists to examine the reproducibility of results. Science is an iterative process that builds on past research, and without good communication, past research developments and hypotheses would be forgotten, and future development and sharing of ideas would not occur.
Dr. Waisberg likes to regularly review the most recent literature in his field. This includes peer-reviewed journals and also pre-print archives. To him, pre-prints are an opportunity to view new ideas months before they might become published. This, he believes, can help himself stay abreast of the latest knowledge of his research field.
“My motivation to write is to help reduce the amount of preventable blindness in the world. I approach every paper that I work on with that goal in mind. I am also motivated to learn from other scientists and researchers that I work with who teach me new skills and give me new ideas that I can develop and reflect upon through academic writing,” says Dr. Waisberg.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Keyvan Golestan
Keyvan Golestan, PhD, is a Machine Learning Scientist currently working at Layer 6 AI. He received his PhD in computer engineering from University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 2015. Within his PhD studies, he conducted research on multimodal high-level information fusion using probabilistic graphical models with applications in autonomous vehicles. Keyvan’s passion for utilizing AI/ML in real-world impactful applications led him to start a new research direction on deep learning for medical image processing through multiple collaborations with 16 Bit AI. Topics like mammograms to detect breast cancer and analyzing x-rays of hands, knees, and pelvis to estimate bone mineral density were among the most important ones, with the latter published in the Journal of Medical AI. Keyvan is currently conducting research in the foundational neural models area, namely, self-supervised learning, meta-learning, and generic deep neural networks. Connect with Keyvan on LinkedIn.
JMAI: What role does academic writing play in science?
Keyvan: It is all about communication. We, as scientists, need to keep talking. It is very crucial for the academic findings in different domains to be disclosed with different institutions and other interested parties for further validation and confirmation. Moreover, sharing research outcomes will help disseminate the acquired knowledge, hoping to improve global awareness, which can ultimately lead to a better and well-directed education.
JMAI: Science advances rapidly day by day. How do you ensure your writing is up-to-date and can give new insights to the field of research?
Keyvan: I challenge myself by keeping exploration and exploitation of different research areas at an equal level. As a matter of fact, while I try to stay focused on my current research by identifying the promising trends, I always embrace the opportunity to slightly deviate from it to hopefully find a cross-domain interdisciplinary sweet spot.
JMAI: Academic writing takes a lot of time and effort. What motivates you to do so?
Keyvan: My passion for AI/ML is tied to its real-world applications, specifically those that directly benefit people. In my opinion, any advancements in the field that yield even a slight improvement in how people experience the new technologies in their day-to-day lives are definitely worth the time and effort.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Indra Neil Guha
Prof. Neil Guha is a clinical academic at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is based at the National Institute Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre. His research interests include finding better diagnostic tests for chronic liver disease and developing and implementing innovative pathways of care. His academic research utilizes diagnostic tools that span genetic markers, blood tests, tissue markers, elastography, MR imaging and most recently machine learning. Prof. Guha is also a consultant hepatologist (liver specialist) at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust and contributes to emergency on-call, in-patient care, endoscopy and outpatient care. He holds an honorary senior tutor position at the University of Oxford and was a previous NHS innovation accelerator fellow (2015-2018).
JMAI: What are the essential elements of a good academic paper?
Prof. Guha: The first aspect is asking the right question. This seems obvious, but it needs time and thought. Academic research has risen exponentially in the last 20 years. Some of it is excellent, but there is a lot of mediocre and “non-incremental” research. Part of this relates to the incentives to publish for the individual and the better options available, including open-access publishing. However, without thinking about the real purpose of the paper – whether to introduce a new concept, challenge an old paradigm or substantiate current “hypotheses”– the danger is we simply contribute to “noise”. Once the question has been defined, the analysis and interpretation should be robust and adhere to the principles of the scientific process. Part of this process is having a truly open mind that your own hypothesis might be wrong! An important aspect is making the paper tell a story that the reader can follow, finds interesting and provokes debate. Sometimes, it is obvious, but there is also a deep satisfaction when this happens unexpectedly. We have been touched by the response this paper (link) has received, especially by scientists outside our usual discipline.
JMAI: What are the qualities an author should possess?
Prof. Guha: The platform is always founded on the understanding and application of scientific methodology. My thoughts are to highlight three key ingredients, which are part of true scientific discipline but more than methodological rigor. The first is courage. The courage to ask a difficult question, put in the work, and face criticism and possible rejection. The second is being open-minded. Conducting research and writing a paper is a genuine team effort. If you are part of an excellent team, there will be people who not only have a different skills-mix but will also think differently. We were fortunate to have a truly multi-disciplinary team. Embracing very different perspectives was challenging at times but ultimately led to the richness of the paper we produced. The third ingredient is perseverance and belief. Everyone is invested and excited at the start of the project, over the months and the years the excitement fades. Getting a paper over the line after responding to the comments by co-authors on the 10th draft and then initial rejection by the journal takes character and grit. Often the junior members of the team are faced with the “heavy lifting” in writing the paper. Whilst this is integral to learning the craft, some of it is rather tedious. Without this perseverance, the paper would not get accepted and still be lying dormant on a desktop folder! So, this is my chance to say a heartfelt thank you to Lucy, Mohamed and Huw for their wonderful effort in showing all three qualities to drive this paper forward and the wider team who both inspired and supported the work.
JMAI: Why do you choose to publish in JMAI?
Prof. Guha: The article we have published represents a collaboration of multidisciplined scientists, including data scientists (Motsafa, Hammersley and Patel), translational hepatology (Bennett, Purssell, Piper-Hanley, Athwal and Guha), epidemiology/public health (Morling) and the wider ID-LIVER consortium including the key architects (Street and Hanley). Whilst the study was focused on liver disease, we felt that a journal which appealed to a broad readership under the umbrella of artificial intelligence and medical application would have the greatest reach. It is at the intersection of disciplines that most progress is made. We wanted a journal that provided the balance of wide reach, scientific credibility and accessibility. We thank the reviewers and editors for their positive response to our work. The initial response and debate by the readership are encouraging, and we hope we have made a meaningful contribution to the field.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Jay Chhablani and Joshua Ong
Jay Chhablani is a Professor of Ophthalmology and a Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon at the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA. He is the Director of Clinical Research at the UPMC Vision Institute. He established the “Choroid Analysis and Research (CAR) Lab” at the University of Pittsburgh, which focuses on computational as well as biological research in the field of choroid. His areas of interest are macular disorders, automated retinal image analysis and advanced imaging techniques. He has been consistently funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and various foundations. He has published more than 580 articles in peer-reviewed journals with a focus on the field of choroid. He is on the reviewing boards of all high-impact journals including Science Translational Medicine and Lancet. He is also on the editorial board of several journals, including the American Journal of Ophthalmology. He serves on the grant reviewing board of various funding agencies. He is a member of many esteemed societies, such as the Macula Society and Gonin Club. He is a member of various scientific committees in various national and international societies, including the American Academy of Ophthalmology. He has delivered more than 200 invited lectures and has been invited for visiting professorship by many universities around the world. He has won several national and international awards and delivered multiple named lectures. Connect with Dr. Chhablani here.
Joshua Ong, MD, is an ophthalmology resident physician at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. He completed his MD degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he was awarded the Bert and Sally O’Malley Award for Outstanding Medical Student Research. He serves as an associate editor for the book “Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome” and his areas of interest include retinal pathologies, spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS), and vision technologies to optimize detection of irreversible but preventable causes of blindness. His work also includes conducting research in multiple NASA-funded projects, including a project that launched into space. He placed 2nd place at NASA’s space medicine conference for his work on augmented reality to counteract damaged astronaut vision on the anticipated mission to Mars. He serves as Topic Editor in the journal Frontiers in Ophthalmology: “Space Ophthalmology: Assessment, Treatment and Mitigation of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS)”, as well as Guest Editor with Dr. Chhablani in the journal Medicina for the Special Issue “Retinal Diseases: Clinical Presentation and Novel Treatments”, as well as other scholarly roles in academic journals. He has authored over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. He was listed in Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Healthcare 2024. Connect with Dr. Ong here.
JMAI: What are the most commonly encountered difficulties in academic writing?
Drs. Chhablani and Ong: A large consideration in academic writing and experimental design is being updated to the current technologies that are emerging in the field and integrating these technologies into current scenarios. Being able to merge novel technologies with the challenges that we see in clinical practice is of utmost importance. For example, our paper analyzes the use of a large language model artificial intelligence, a relatively new technology, to optimize coding of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) for retina clinicians. ICD coding has been long established in all medical specialties, and with the integration and application of these new technologies, we can hopefully optimize this for current and future clinicians.
JMAI: Science advances rapidly day by day. How do you ensure your writing is up-to-date and can give new insights to the field of research?
Drs. Chhablani and Ong: Staying updated in the current literature is absolutely critical for both clinical and research proficiency. In addition to recently published reading of peer-reviewed literature, we also stay updated by serving in editorial roles in academic research journals in our field. We also serve as peer-reviewers for individual manuscripts to ensure that research is held to the standard of the current literature in the field.
JMAI: Is it important for authors to disclose Conflict of Interest (COI)? To what extent would a COI influence research?
Drs. Chhablani and Ong: Absolutely. It is important to be transparent in COIs. This helps us ensure that the integrity of research is being held to a high standard. It is also very important for readers of the journal to know these disclosures as they analyze the results of any paper.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Lucas Lacerda de Souza
Dr. Lucas Lacerda de Souza is a distinguished Dental Surgeon with a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Brazil, with specialized degrees in Oral Medicine (UFPA) and Oral Pathology (Unyleya, Rio de Janeiro). He earned his Master's in Oral Pathology at Piracicaba Dental School, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at the same institution. His research involves applying Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) in oral pathology to differentiate head and neck neoplasms. Additionally, he employs large language models for diagnosing, teaching, and supporting patients with head and neck diseases. Dr. de Souza's commitment to advancing dental and medical education is evident in his exploration of AI-enhanced teaching methodologies. He significantly contributes to reshaping the landscape of oral pathology through innovative research and the integration of cutting-edge technologies. Learn more about Dr. de Souza through Google Scholar, and connect with him on Instagram @lucas_lacerds and @estomatopatologiaemgotas.
JMAI: What are the most commonly encountered difficulties in academic writing?
Dr. de Souza: Navigating academic discourse demands grappling with challenges in articulating precise ideas for a diverse readership while maintaining scholarly depth. Cultivating a coherent structure in written discourse presents formidable hurdles in organizing thoughts and arguments, compounded by the imperative to adhere meticulously to formatting and citation conventions. Scholars simultaneously wrestle with intricate nuances of source integration and synthesis, striking a balance between original ideation and reliance on existing literature.
Meticulous attention to detail, including grammatical precision, syntactical coherence, and stylistic finesse, remains a perpetual concern for academic writers. Stringent standards for language usage and adherence to specific academic conventions impose a substantial burden on navigating the intricate terrain of scholarly expression.
Effective time management holds utmost importance in the realm of academic writing. The exhaustive process of research, argument refinement, and iterative revision necessitates a considerable investment of temporal and intellectual resources. Writers contend with reconciling academic obligations with other responsibilities, often facing temporal constraints that compromise the caliber of their written endeavors.
Academic writing confronts challenges in lucid exposition, structural coherence, source integration, linguistic precision, and effective time management. Mastery requires a synthesis of refined skill, persistent practice, and an astute comprehension of prevailing expectations within scholarly discourse.
JMAI: Science advances rapidly day by day. How do you ensure your writing is up-to-date and can give new insights to the field of research?
Dr. de Souza: To uphold the currency of my contributions and foster innovation in research, I employ a comprehensive approach that involves continuous learning, real-time information retrieval, and a steadfast commitment to staying abreast of the latest developments. My method entails systematic literature reviews, utilizing online databases and academic search engines to identify recent research findings and methodological advancements.Vigilant surveillance of reputable scientific journals, conference proceedings, and publications from authoritative institutions is fundamental. Subscribing to email alerts, RSS feeds, and notifications from academic journals provides real-time updates on newly published research.Active participation in academic events facilitates direct engagement with professionals, fostering a dynamic and informed perspective.
Maintaining a network of experts enriches my approach, facilitating substantive discussions and access to unpublished research. Collaboration with subject matter experts ensures my writing is underpinned by the most recent and accurate information. Leveraging preprint servers helps integrate cutting-edge research not yet formally peer-reviewed.
Engagement in online courses fortifies my understanding of emerging methodologies. These multifaceted strategies aim to ensure my contributions encapsulate the prevailing state of knowledge and foster fresh perspectives in scientific research. This commitment to continuous learning serves as the cornerstone for providing informative content at the forefront of advancements in the field.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Declan Grabb
Dr. Declan Grabb is a fourth-year psychiatry resident at Northwestern University. He won the inaugural American Psychiatric Association O’Leary Award for Innovation in Psychiatry for utilizing generative AI to streamline outpatient psychiatric care. He has published numerous articles on the risks, benefits, and implications of generative AI in mental health. He was a top-three finalist in Northwestern University’s Innovation Grant Competition for an AI-powered tool he built to help enhance intake appointments for psychiatric patients. He is the first AI Fellow at Stanford Brainstorm Lab in the School of Medicine, and he will begin his forensic psychiatry fellowship at Stanford in July 2024. His current project includes investigating the power of multi-modal models to revolutionize mental healthcare. Connect with Dr. Grabb on LinkedIn.
“Writing doesn't just communicate ideas; it generates them. If you're bad at writing and don't like to do it, you'll miss out on most of the ideas writing would have generated,” Dr. Grabb puts forward this quote written by Paul Graham. To him, the role of academic writing in science is similar. Putting pen to paper allows one to clarify and challenge one’s own beliefs. Crystallizing thoughts into words allows one to see errors in one’s thinking or holes in one’s arguments. The act of publishing your thoughts allows others to openly challenge and discuss with you, moving science ahead one step at a time. Academic writing adds texture to clinical experience, and both can inform the other.
Speaking of how to avoid biases in one’s own writing, Dr. Grabb indicates that writing in an interdisciplinary field, such as the overlap of medicine and artificial intelligence, can confront any number of domain-specific assumptions. He explains, “Your writing is improved by having peers in different fields read through your ideas, and it can be enhanced by encountering new ideas in different types of journals or even on X (formerly known as Twitter).”
Lastly, Dr. Grabb would like to say a few words to encourage other academic writers who have been devoting themselves to advancing scientific progress, “Conducting one’s own work and writing is a manner in which to move the field forward, but oftentimes you may be surprised by how many questions and issues we face today have already been discussed over the last several decades. Reading authors like Stuart Russell, Fei-Fei Li, Marvin Minsky, John McCarthy, and more offer a historical perspective to today’s current research problems, and their viewpoints are indispensable in crafting thoughtful, informed arguments in AI today.”
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Yasanthi Malika Hirimutugoda
Yasanthi Malika Hirimutugoda is currently studying for her MPhil at the University of Moratuwa, with a research project titled “Modelling Predictive Uncertainty in Convolutional Neural Networks for Medical Image Analysing”. She completed an MSc degree in information technology at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and her thesis was entitled “Artificial Intelligence-Based Medical Decision Support System for Hematologic Diseases”. Her research interests are in the fields of deep learning and biomedical informatics, which is an important research area that should be pursued for research on a strong foundation and cutting-edge research findings can have a big impact on therapeutic strategies and human life. As a lecturer at Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education, her professional goal is to contribute to the continued development of this environment. Connect with Yasanthi on LinkedIn.
Excellent academic writing is essential to accomplishing research tasks like knowledge dissemination, information conveying, critical thinking and analysis, authority and credit building, research gap identification, research findings presentation, research stimulation, academic integrity, and ethical consideration. In Yasanthi’s view, scientific understanding, technical development, social demands, and technological relevance have all contributed to the rapid and wide-ranging changes in technology over time. She believes generating results from advanced research is extremely important, and standard and updated academic writing is essential to generating such results for the above rapid changes.
From Yasanthi’s perspective, in critical academic writing, crucial elements—namely, the nature of the problem, its importance and constraints, the application area, the validity of the theory and the methodology and their support for the conclusion, the validity of the data set, and performance metrics—are mostly important. A critical evaluation of the study must be impartial, and both its own merits and those of previous studies that have looked at the same or related problem must be considered. Criticism does not mean that every study must have a major defect or weakness found by the author. Professional language usage is also essential in her opinion.
“I select the major journals and conferences in this specialized research field according to some key features such as impact factors, quartiles, h-index, Google Metrics help, and the publisher (a scientific society, a well-known publisher, a university, or a commercial entity). In reading the related work of others, I develop a critical perspective for analyzing and justifying my viewpoint by providing noteworthy examples or counterexamples, and then I cite the work of relevant authors,” says Yasanthi.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
James Behrmann
James Behrmann is a 4th year medical student at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine in New Jersey, USA. He is interested in dermatology, medical education, health policy, artificial intelligence, database research, and wearable health technology. He is currently developing a curriculum to illustrate the applications of artificial intelligence in medical education. He is also drafting a manuscript analyzing cellular senescence in certain disease pathologies. Learn more about James on ResearchGate, ORCID and LinkedIn.
James believes academic writing plays an instrumental role in science because it allows for a standardized method of communication to share ideas and information between scholars of various backgrounds. Science is constantly pushing into new frontiers, and academic writing documents the work being done by teams that can then be questioned or built upon by others. Growth and innovation will expand exponentially as information becomes more reliable and more accessible.
In James’ view, one of the key responsibilities of an author in academic writing is also to be a reader. The best way to stay up to date is to be an active reader of content being released on the subject one is investigating. He highlights that it is important to remember that one cannot take everything at face value, and even if new research is being released daily, it still needs to be corroborated by others.
“As a medical student, most of the information we are taught has come through the channels of academic writing and clinical outcomes. I would be looking into the topics I am writing about regardless, and it only feels natural to want to distribute the information I am learning to others in a way that is credible and easy to understand. The critiques and feedback of the peer-review process also provide insight into viewpoints I hadn’t previously considered, which I reflect on as I begin new projects,” says James.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Fiona McGowan Martha Morrison
Fiona McGowan Martha Morrison, originally from the UK, is a student of International Crisis and Disaster Management (with a specialization in Global Health) in Berlin at the Akkon University of Human Sciences. She has been a Junior Ambassador to the United Kingdom for USERN (Universal Scientific Education and Research Network) since November 2022, which is the network she works in when writing collaborative journal articles and conducting research. Within this network, and generally in her academic career, Fiona considers herself as coming from the field of Public Health or Global Health, though she may go into epidemiology more specifically in the future. Currently, she is working on some projects in Global/Public Health such as maternal and neonatal health during COVID-19 in the British NHS, the Catholic Church as a Global Health actor, and the consequences of increased publication within the scientific field. Connect with Fiona on LinkedIn.
JMAI: What do you regard as a good academic paper?
Fiona: A good academic article is one that brings something new to the field and furthers the field - not one that is written with the intent of extending one’s own bibliography. The intent behind writing should always be to contribute to science and bring about the greater good of scientific progress. Following this, good academic papers come from people who stand behind what they’ve written and really believe in the research they’ve done. It should combine different perspectives (ergo come from diverse, possibly international teams) and thread these perspectives into one, coherent and clear message. This can be really difficult to do, I think, but when it’s done well, articles like this read as extremely well-rounded and solid.
JMAI: Science advances rapidly day by day. How do you ensure your writing is up-to-date and can give new insights to the field of research?
Fiona: I do my best to always work in international teams with people from all around the world so that I can get out of my ‘Global North’ comfort zone. This helps me to look at every question with the insights and perspectives of my colleagues, who see things very differently, simply because the contexts we work in vary massively internationally and between regions. I think working in these kinds of groups also helps to ensure that research is up-to-date as well, as there will often be someone in a large group who has heard something new, especially if it’s coming from their home country or region. I might not be as up-to-date on research coming from South America or Africa as my colleagues from these regions, so when working in a varied and international team, these gaps in knowledge can be bridged! That’s a large part of the USERN network I represent: Science without borders. Making sure sources and references used are as recent as they can possibly be is another important step: writing and compiling an article or writing up research can take months and even years, so the material you were using at the beginning might be incredibly outdated by the time publishing is around the corner - doing a final proofread and update of sources just before submitting ensures that everything in the article/research is as new as it can be!
JMAI: What is fascinating about academic writing?Fiona: A process I continue to find fascinating is the difference between the initial idea and question asked when starting to write or research and the actual end product that comes out of the process. They can be miles apart! By the time everyone working on it has brought in their suggestions and changes, the article has been edited and then peer-reviewed - what you started with is often only found in the skeleton of the whole thing. But I personally think that this is great: it really shows how collaboration and differing perspectives enrich academic writing, continually improving it. It can be very frustrating to receive a peer review file with what feels like hundreds of changes, but by the time you’ve applied them all, you get the feeling that your article is a lot sturdier.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Ansh Roge
Ansh Roge is an aspiring medical doctor with a keen interest in conducting groundbreaking research at the intersection of medicine and technology. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in 2022 at Case Western Reserve University, where he majored in Biochemistry and had minors in Applied Data Science, Spanish, and Chemistry. His areas of interest include leveraging deep learning strategies for automated classification of malignant conditions. His most recent work evaluated the increase in deep learning classification performance of melanoma with the inclusion of patient demographics. Ansh envisions a future where physicians can provide rapid, automated diagnostics to patients with the widespread use of deep learning applications. He anticipates continuing research in this realm while he proceeds with his medical education.
Ansh believes that academic writing serves as a conduit to advance the fields of science while unlocking doors to new realms that were previously unheard of. With the advent of the modern internet at our fingertips, sharing data has never been easier. Revolutionary discoveries are an amalgamation of hundreds of scientific works, all culminating towards the same goal: to solve the disparities of this world. Continuing to advance the sciences through innovative journal articles and multi-cohort reviews will enable us to exponentially make strides in the sciences.
In Ansh’s opinion, biases are created from a one-sided mindset in the sciences. Perpetuating an insular mindset leads to spreading a false narrative that can consequentially lead to inaccurate beliefs amongst the public. In order to avoid biases in one’s writing, he thinks it is imperative that authors understand all aspects of their subject material. Furthermore, relaying results in a concise, accurate manner will manifest in an overall contribution to the scientific community.
“Academic writing is an extremely gratifying act, knowing that your trials and tribulations are advancing the scientific community. Despite successes or failures in your future research studies, all data drive the wheels of scientific advancement. To any budding academic writers, I encourage you to engage in research, keeping in mind that any results you produce will benefit the future of the scientific community,” says Ansh.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Mohammadreza Hajiarbabi
Dr. Mohammadreza Hajiarbabi pursued his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Kansas. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Purdue University Fort Wayne. His research areas are medical expert system, computer vision, machine learning and data science.
In Dr. Hajiarbabi’s view, a good academic paper should ensure clarity and should be effective in describing the findings to the readers. To ensure one’s writing is up-to-date and can give new insights into the field of research, he suggests reviewing recent literature in one’s field, expanding one’s knowledge and skills, and attending conferences and workshops.
“What we have today is based on the research that was done in the past. Your research today will build the future,” says Dr. Hajiarbabi.
(by Brad Li, Alisa Lu)
Jitendra Singh
Dr. Jitendra Singh serves as professor of Healthcare Management & Leadership programs and Co-Chair of the School of Nursing & Healthcare Leadership at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He is an award-winning educator and has published and presented extensively on a variety of topics such as leadership and management, interprofessional education, artificial intelligence, and quality improvement initiatives in healthcare organizations. He has received international and national awards for his work from the World Education Congress, the United States Distance Learning Association, and the MinnState Board of Trustees. Dr. Singh is widely known for his efforts in online healthcare leadership education, process improvement initiatives in healthcare settings, and how interprofessional education can help in enhancing the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care processes. He also serves as editor and reviewer for several national and international journals. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Facebook.
Dr. Singh deems that academic writing is an important skill for faculty and professionals in health sciences/healthcare research. Effective academic writing allows authors/researchers to convey clinical and non-clinical information to audiences who may in turn utilize that information to make evidence-based decisions for improving healthcare practices. Additionally, academic writing helps in advancing professional discipline which can be accomplished by publishing new research. This is particularly important in healthcare as high-quality research has the potential to impact policies, procedures, and patient outcomes.
As a researcher and educator, he strongly believes in the philosophy of continuous improvement. He keeps himself up-to-date in the field of healthcare leadership by reading recent literature/published articles and attending national and international conferences in the US and abroad. He also serves as a peer reviewer for more than ten academic journals, so he continues to learn from what other researchers across the globe are doing in their field of work. While he is trained in qualitative research methods, he has continued to update his training/education in projects that involve quantitative and mixed methods research. Furthermore, he continues to conduct research in collaboration with healthcare organizations such as acute care hospitals, academic medical centers, senior support organizations, and hospice care organizations.
“I am primarily motivated by two key items to write: (a) impact of research in improving patient care practices both clinical and administrative in nature, and (b) ability to collaborate with leaders/academics/practitioners in developed and developing countries to conduct research that has the potential to improve healthcare and health systems globally. Currently, I am trying to create partnerships between high and middle schools so university faculty can work with students in school settings on research projects and inculcate excitement about research from early school years. For instance, in the project ‘Artificial intelligence, chatbots and ChatGPT in healthcare—a narrative review of historical evolution, current application, and change management approach to increase adoption’, Dr. Brandi Sillerud, Health Administration faculty and researcher, and I worked in collaboration with Advitya Singh, a student in Horizon Middle School in Moorhead, MN”, says Dr. Singh.
(by Sasa Zhu, Brad Li)