A “how‐to” guide for effectively writing a publishable research manuscript

Nuances for preparing a publishable manuscript in an efficient and productive manner are often learned experientially and over many years. The purpose of this “how‐to” guide is to assist new practitioner pharmacists, as well as pharmacy residents and students, with effectively writing a research manuscript for publication. General considerations for scientific writing are presented, including target journal selection; the intentional process of writing fast, bad, and wrong; editing with a focus; and methods to convey messages in the most unambiguous and accurate ways possible. Then elements and nuances to writing the common manuscript sections (ie, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and abstract) are elucidated. Finally, guidance on documents that accompany a manuscript (ie, cover letter and response to reviewer comments) is provided.