By Maureen Okafor - July 1, 2021
What inspired your career in research? As a clinician, I was always drawn to the idea of research - that generating a research question could produce answers that have the capability to influence overall health outcomes and improve quality of life among large populations. And since I’ve always wanted to contribute to science in a way that improves patient care on a large scale, I was inspired to pursue a career in research. In my current role as a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University, I’ve been fortunate to grow my clinical research experience in a collegial environment that encourages collaborations with experienced investigators and faculty. I love the opportunity I get to not only learn and expand my knowledge-base in cognitive neurology and vascular contributions to neurodegeneration, but to interact with the research team, as well as with the patients and participants whose invaluable efforts make the difference in ground-breaking research.
How would you describe a typical working day? My typical workday encompasses various aspects of clinical research conduct. This would involve overseeing clinical trial activities as well as engaging in participant encounters e.g. follow-up visits or calls, performing neuropsychological testing, phlebotomy or assisting in lumbar punctures. My day also includes tasks varying from making time to write some sections for a manuscript, preparing a grant application, preparing regulatory documents or scientific reports for a clinical trial or research study, or analysing some data. My day would not be complete without a meeting or two or three in the mix.
What is your main criterion for choosing where to submit your work? My choice of a journal for manuscript submission is foremost dependent on the topic of the manuscript and my research work. I would choose a reputable journal with a platform that will showcase my work to its full advantage. In addition, it’s important that the objectives of the journal and the its area of focus align with the theme of my manuscript, and that this journal engages a large readership and exposure over time.
How long did it take for your last submission to get a final decision? A recent submission took 10 weeks from first submission to receiving a decision and reviewer comments. As you can imagine, it was a practice in patience. Fortunately, following revisions, the subsequent resubmission to an affiliated journal took a little over a week from resubmission to final decision.
What is the most rewarding aspect of publishing a paper? Knowing that my work impacts medical science positively and could benefit patient care is always rewarding and motivating.
Do you have any particular advice for other authors – something you wish you’d known first time round? As an author, I have formed the habit of critically evaluating my paper as an editor or a peer reviewer would, before submitting it to a journal. In general, I look for elements in my paper that would be of interest to a journal editor and readers. For instance, highlighting original and interesting novel findings or having my results well organized in text, table, and figure forms. More importantly, I would recommend dedicating time to write a good discussion - providing deep discussions with arguments for or against one’s results, including comparisons to current literature. I have also found it useful to pass my draft to a mentor or colleague for critique. In most instances, receiving feedback from a different perspective is instrumental to producing a better quality article.
What’s the biggest pain point for you as an author? Preparing a manuscript is often the culmination of time-consuming and rigorous research work. It is an uphill task to go through multiple journal submissions and peer-review processes before an original article is eventually accepted and published. This means that important discoveries from an author’s research may, on occasion, be delayed by months or years before they are available to the scientific community for consumption. As an author, this is tough to come to terms with.
Name one item/tool/resource that you cannot do without? PubMed! Preparing a manuscript, I find this resource invaluable for literature reviews and cannot do without it. In addition, I have also relied on EMBASE for extensive literature searches.
What is the most important thing that journals could do to help you as an author? As an author, it would be helpful to receive a speedier decision following the review of my manuscript as well as to shorten the time from manuscript acceptance to publication. Another idea that comes to mind is standardising journal requirements for manuscript preparation and author submissions - within reason, of course - across journals within the same field, specialty, or publishing house, especially in instances where manuscripts need to be resubmitted to another journal. This may help reduce the time authors spend revising manuscripts to fit each journal’s specific word limit or format requirement. This way, authors get to refocus valuable time on improving the quality of their work. With a shorter turnover time, novel research findings are also released for publication sooner.
What would you be doing now if you were not working in research? I find interior design or decorating truly fascinating. I think that being able to design or reinvent a home or a large space or building must be such a delightful job. That would have been fun, just like designing a clinical trial!
Contributors Written byMaureen Okafor Maureen Okafor, MD MPH is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Goizueta Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in the Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Okafor completed her MD at NAU in Nigeria and received her Master of Public Health in Global Epidemiology from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Of current interest to her are the design and conduct of clinical research centered on cognitive aging, including vascular and biomarker contributors to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. She is a member of the Alzheimer’s Association ISTAART CTAM PIA Executive Committee and a member of the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium Early Career Project Evaluation Committee.
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