Archive for March, 2009
Traveling the Road of Career Development: The Candidate Background
“Background? I just want to have my research funded…why do I need to tell the reviewer about my background?”
The answer to this first and foremost is…because it is in the instructions. (Which, of course, you have read thoroughly if you’ve listened to anything I’ve said in presentations or other blog entries). After that…this is your opportunity to speak directly to the reviewer in order to make the case as to why you will benefit from funding. Some things to keep in mind:
The background provides a personal narrative of your professional career. Writing in first person is helpful. Use your current NIH biosketch as a guide to your educational and research “story”.
Explain why you made key education and career choices (e.g. training programs, research projects, etc.) If there is a theme to your professional path, point it out. Likewise, if you have had a change in direction, explain why.
Provide examples to the reviewer of what you have done with the opportunities you’ve had to engage in research. For research projects, this can include an overview of your role and the evidence of productivity. For example, if your research project in A led to a new question to pursue in project B, point that out. Always describe the productivity that resulted from your work (such as publications and presentations).
Describe any additional formal research training that you may have had as an MSPH or certificate program such as the CTS Training Program.
A “hand-shake” paragraph can be helpful. This is a paragraph that says “my name is Melissa and this is what I want to be when I am an established researcher”. For example:
“I am a recently appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. I seek to complement my postdoctoral fellowship training experience by gaining in-depth knowledge of the daily operations of research investigations and by learning more of the laboratory aspects of metabolic, genetic, and endocrine testing. My overarching goal is to perform original research in pediatric obesity, specifically associated with perturbations in insulin dynamics during the pubertal transition.”
So now you are ready to start that Candidate Background section…but as they say in the informercials: “But wait! There’s more! ” And there is more to the Career Development Plan – like your goals and objectives and the actual training plan. Check back to see the next installment!
How to develop a Scientific Manuscript
Today in the UAB Spain Auditorium, Dr. Dale Benos, UAHSF Endowed Chair in Biomedical Research & Chair of the UAB Department of Physiology and Biophysics, presented his well-known seminar on Developing Scientific Manuscripts. Dr. Benos has been presenting this information on the UAB Campus for over five years. In explaining to today’s participants why a seminar on how to develop scientific publications is important, Benos said, “I know some of this information sounds so obvious, but if it was obvious we would all do it, and we don’t!”
Given that most scientific research is multi-disciplinary, most publications have an average of six authors. Benos’ biggest piece of advice to new investigators is to establish work assignments among all potential authors of a manuscript up-front and to keep lines of communication open among all authors. “This will prevent a lot of problems in the future and increase the chances that your manuscript will be accepted for publication,” he said.
His presentation covered the following topics: the overall process of scientific publication, issues to conisder before you start to write, elements of a journal article, the review/revision process, tips to enhance your chances of acceptance, and ethical issues.
Developing Scientific Manuscripts is one of several seminars offered by the UAB CCTS Scientific Writing Seminars. To learn more about these Seminars, visit the UAB CCTS web site at: http://www.ccts.uab.edu/pages/sws.aspx
The NIH Public Access Policy and You
Fact: Only 20% of all electronic articles in the scientific literature are free and available to everyone.
In 2003, Congress asked the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a way to provide the public with free access to all NIH-sponosered research. The result is the NIH Public Access Policy which is a federal law that requires all researchers to submit all final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that are accepted for publication and result from NIH funding. This policy applies to all manuscripts that are:
- peer-reviewed;
- accepted for publication in a journal on or after April 7, 2008;
- result from the following funding: an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008; an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008; or any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program.
NIH wants the final manuscript, not the final journal article, because the author holds the rights to the manuscript while the publisher holds the rights to the article. These manuscripts are deposited into PubMed Central and will be made available for free public access no later than 12 months from publication.
To help UAB researchers, UAB’s Lister Hill Library offers a service to help submit manuscripts to NIH.
Click here to learn more about the Open Access movement.
