Putting on the style

BMJ 1999;319:1592-1592 ( 18 December )

Editorials

Putting on the style

Journal house style is for the benefit of readers; now everyone can access it

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Imagine that your paper has been accepted by the BMJ. After the work of writing and revision, you are looking forward to seeingit in print and receiving the acclaim of colleagues. The proofsarrive. You settle down to read your hard-wrought prose $---$ and revelin how well it reads. Then you notice the "? to author" insertedhere and there. To answer some of these queries, you turn backto your original $---$ and realise how much has been changed. You wonderwhat's been done to your paper. Was this reallynecessary?

Like every paper published in the BMJ, yours will have undergone scrutiny by a technical editor. These invisible professionalsare the most exacting readers of the paper. Their scrutiny andrevision adds value by making your paper clear, concise, and accurate.Their mission is to remove the obstacles that would hinder a reader'seasy grasp of . . . [Full text of this article]