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16
| 2 | 2008
Klinisk Biokemi i Norden
Introduction:
The need for better education of the clinical biochem-
ist when it comes to writing and publishing scientific
articles has long been appreciated. Both the Editors of
scientific journals as well as the young and inexperi-
enced authors have over the years looked into the sky
for help when working with manuscripts produced
by these young colleagues. Thanks to the impressive
commitment and enthusiasm of the Editorial Board of
the Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory
Investigation (SJCLI) (and the wealth of the Nordic
Society of Clinical Chemistry (NFKK)) the first step
has now been taken in order to diminish the obstacles
one faces when first starting out to write scientific
articles.
We here present a study evaluating the first (of
hopefully many) Course in Scientific Writing and
Publication. The main aimof the course was to increase
the awareness of the participants of the importance of
scientific writing and publication and to train them in
writing a scientific manuscript. Another goal was to
initiate team building and networking (i.e. getting new
friends) among colleagues in the field of clinical bio-
chemistry. The golden goal was that the participants
should write an almost complete manuscript based on
a given dataset and literature and the best manuscript
would be published. We are thus testing the hypothesis:
You can learn to write a scientific article in four days.
Material and methods:
The experiment took place in Finse, Norway from
January 29 to February 1, 2008. It was arranged and
fully financed by SJCLI and NFKK. The study was nei-
ther reported nor approved by the National Committee
for Research Ethics.
The Report from “The Arctic Experience”
–How to Write a Scientific Article in Four Days
1
Jens-Jacob Lauterlein,
2
Jonna Pelanti and
3
Mie Hessellund Samson
1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Vejle County Hospital
2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa,
3. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Århus University Hospital
E-post: Jens.Jacob.Lauterlein@vgs.regionsyddanmark.dk
The participants did not receive any payment except
a Swiss Army pocket knife with the initials of SJCLI
printed on it.
Study population:
Invitation was announced during the summer and
autumn of 2007 in local journals in Denmark, Norway
and Sweden as well as bigger Scandinavian journals
like “Klinisk Biokemi i Norden”.
Inclusion criteria were:
• Resident in Scandinavian (or “Nordic person”) work-
ing in the field of clinical biochemistry in postgradu-
ate specialist training (but seniors could apply)
• Good physical condition or at least clothing that
could withstand exposure to arctic conditions.
Exclusion criteria were not defined, but the maximum
number of participants was 20.
A cohort of 20 young and healthy persons vol-
unteered and was admitted consecutively until the
deadline at November 1 2007. Three persons dropped
out before the experiment started and one late enroll-
ment was therefore accepted giving a total of 18
participants.
The nationality of the study population was as fol-
lows: Norway: 8, Denmark: 4, Finland: 4 and Sweden:
2. One participant from Denmark and Sweden were
originally Lithuanian. The average age was 34.8 years
(SD 6.8 years) and 89% was women. Civil status:
Married: 10, in relationship: 3, single: 3 and not avail-
able: 2 (Read: We don’t know if they are available!).
Education: Candidate in medicine 14 (13 working in
the field of clinical biochemistry), Master of Science
(Technology): 1, medical students: 2 and student at the
