CDC Sets Standard for High-quality Scientific Publications

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Dr. Bao-Ping Zhu

This entry is part 3 of 11 in the series Jan 2024

CDC develops a framework for writing high-quality and high-impact publications.

In this issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice (JPHMP), we publish an article titled, “Domains of Excellence: A CDC Framework for Developing High-Quality, Impact-Driven Public Health Science Publications.” This framework was developed by a team of senior CDC scientists to support scientists in developing high-quality and impactful scientific publications.

Science is the cornerstone of CDC’s mission to save lives and protect against health threats. CDC has a long-standing scientific review and clearance system for ensuring scientific rigor, accuracy, and integrity, as well as adherence to applicable federal laws and policies. This system is designed to facilitate production and timely dissemination of high-quality and high-impact science at the agency. As part of the initiative to transform and modernize the agency’s operations during 2022, a team of senior CDC scientists developed a framework, called the Domains of Excellence for High-Quality Publications. This framework establishes a consistent set of quality expectations and identifies the key attributes of high-quality, high-impact publications. The quality expectations were summarized into a list with seven overarching elements: clarity, scientific rigor, public health relevance, policy content, ethical standards, collaboration, and health equity.

Read the Article

The team that developed this framework represents CDC scientists with many decades of experience reviewing scientific documents. As reviewers we asked ourselves, “What do we wish authors knew before they started writing their manuscripts?” This led us to develop a list of considerations that are relevant during the actual writing process (e.g., making sure the title and abstract reflect paper content), but also aspects that must be considered much earlier in the scientific process (such as how best to address health inequity), who should be involved in the scientific process, and how to ensure the findings will have impact and meet a public health need. Therefore, we encourage authors to discuss the domains when they start planning their work and to continue the discussion throughout the lifecycle of the scientific process, even though some may choose to use the framework as a quality checklist. We hope the framework will promote scientific discourse among authors and help establish a common understanding of what makes a high-quality, high-impact scientific publication.

During the development of this framework, we were faced with the challenge of providing a tool that would be relevant and useful to the broad range of authors within CDC, including authors working across the wide range of scientific disciplines represented in the agency, authors who have many years of experience, and those who are just starting their scientific careers. We envision that this framework can serve as a training resource for junior authors, while still providing senior authors helpful reminders. As authors ourselves, we applied the framework when we drafted our article for JPHMP and found that it reminded us of some easily overlooked checks that even seasoned authors can miss.

Our article, “Domains of Excellence: A CDC Framework for Developing High-Quality, Impact-Driven Public Health Science Publications” in current issue of JPHMP can also provide CDC partners with transparency on expectations for science quality at the agency, as well as approaches to safeguard scientific quality. Additionally, we recognize that other public health organizations may face similar issues; therefore, our effort might help others to think about ways to mentor and train authors within their own organizations to develop high-quality and impactful publications.

Coauthors

Dr. Erin M. Parker is a Commander in the US Public Health Service and a Social and Behavioral Scientist Administrator at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH. She spent 12 years at CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, including 6 years as a division Deputy Associate Director for Science.

Dr. James W. Stephens is Associate Director for Science for CDC’s National Center for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Public Health Infrastructure and Workforce. During his 31 years with CDC, he has held numerous positions including CDC Associate Director for Science and Director, CDC Office of Science Quality.

About the Author

Dr. Bao-Ping Zhu: Dr. Bao-Ping Zhu is Director of Office of Science Quality and Library Services at CDC’s Office of Science. Over a 30-plus year career, he held leadership positions at CDC, WHO, and state health departments; conducted research on infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and maternal and child health, and published 150-plus scientific articles.