In 2023, many JOMA authors make outstanding contributions to our journal. Their articles published with us have received very well feedback in the field and stimulate a lot of discussions and new insights among the peers.

Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding authors who have been making immense efforts in their research fields, with a brief interview of their unique perspective and insightful view as authors.

Outstanding Authors (2023)

Jingping Wang, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA

Sowmya Ananthan, Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, USA

Umesh Kumar, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, India

Jason Wahidi, University of Texas, USA

Outstanding Author

Jingping Wang

Dr. Jingping Wang is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, USA, and is a board-certified anesthesiologist at the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, USA. His professional activities are focused on improving perioperative pain management, and leading innovations in guidelines for multimodal analgesia. His activities are: (1) clinical duties with direct patient care; (2) clinical research focused on opioid sparing multimodal analgesia, (3) administrative roles as the director of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) Anesthesia, (4) clinical education as the director of the OMFS Residents, and (5) service on national committees. He is among the small number of anesthesiologists who have been awarded the prestigious Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiology, and he was elected to membership in the Association of University Anesthesiologist, a small select group of individuals to have made distinguished contributions to anesthesiology, teaching, and research.

Speaking of a good academic paper, Dr. Wang thinks it should be a paper written about a certain idea or a specific solution to a particular problem based on objective evidence. To write a good academic paper, the first thing to do is to select the subject on which the author would like to write about. The idea may come from clinical practice. It should be formal and unbiased with a clear point of view with supports from correct and well-sourced research.

In order to avoid biases in one’s writing, Dr. Wang points out that we have to first recognize that bias is all around ourselves. Becoming more aware of the most common biases will enable us to be more careful when writing a paper. To help avoid biases, we must be intentionally about providing credible evidence with resources and research, which is the essential way to avoid biases in writing. He emphasizes that the goal of most academic writing is to be objective. On the topic of data sharing within a paper or research presentation, Dr. Wang thinks the sharing of the research data increases data circulation and use within the scientific community and this can encourage better transparency, enable reproducibility of results, and inform a larger scientific community. It also benefits on developing a culture of collective knowledge.

Finally, Dr. Wang is having a few words to encourage other academic writers who have been devoting themselves to advancing scientific progress, “To focus on exploring and learning during clinical practice to identify patient problems and to direct clinical judgments, actively discuss the issues encountered with colleagues, write what you want and work together with your team. For example, to focus on examining the effectiveness of multimodal analgesic perioperative pain management and identifying novel pathways to find solutions to prevent transition from acute pain to chronic pain.”

(By Masaki Lo, Wei-En Fan)

Sowmya Ananthan

Dr. Sowmya Ananthan teaches in the Division of Orofacial Pain at the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, in Newark, NJ, USA, where she supervises the residents providing clinical care to patients with complex orofacial pain problems. She is also the Assistant Program & Clinic Director of the Post-Graduate Orofacial Pain Program. She treats patients at the Rutgers Health faculty practice in New Brunswick and Newark, NJ as well as in her private practice in Red Bank, NJ. Her areas of research include orofacial neuropathic pain, novel therapeutic modalities such as topical medications for the treatment of neuropathic pain and TMD’s, new injection techniques such as the twin nerve block for the management of masticatory myofascial pain. Dr. Ananthan is an examiner with the American Board of Orofacial Pain and serves as a reviewer for many journals, in addition to being extensively published. She is a mentor to many residents in the Master's program, helping them with their research projects and thesis preparation and defense. She has presented abstracts at many national and international level meetings. She is a sought-out speaker who lectures widely on orofacial pain topics. She has a knack for distilling information and presenting it in a manner that is easily understandable. Attendees of her various CE courses always leave with clinical pearls that they can use in their practices right away. Learn more about Dr. Ananthan here.

In Dr. Ananthan’s opinion, a good academic paper is composed of a pertinent Background, sound research Methods and statistical analyses, and a Discussion that is relevant to the topic in question. During the process, authors should be integral and honest in reporting facts. In addition, she thinks the process of institutional review board (IRB) approval is integral to any clinical research that is being planned. It keeps the project grounded and makes the researcher think – “Is what I am asking for relevant and safe for the subjects?”. If the process if omitted, it can potentially make research unsafe for the subjects as there would not be any oversight.

“I choose to publish in JOMA because it is a relevant medical journal for today’s times,” says Dr. Ananthan.

(By Brad Li, Eunice X. Xu)

Umesh Kumar

Dr. Umesh Kumar currently works as Associate Professor and In-charge of Unit of Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics, Oral Health Sciences Centre, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, India. He completed an MDS from AIIMS, New Delhi. His research area mainly focuses on local anaesthesia, odontogenic and non-odontogenic pain. He is also involved in clinical trials on management of open apex teeth, and post-operative pain.

“The most demanding parts of research is academic writing. The time and effort that has to be pumped in doing research outweighs the time that is used in writing,” says Dr. Kumar when he is asked about the difficulties in conducting research. He puts forth a number of reasons: hard time getting started and feeling overwhelmed by the task; concentration needed to form letters - which is not an automatic process; struggle to organize and use mechanics of writing, awkward phrasing and unconventional grammar; inappropriate use of colloquial language; difficulty with sentence structure and word order; and trouble reading back what is written.

While science advances rapidly, Dr. Kumar ensures his writing is up-to-date by using a combination of RSS feeds from journals in his field, e.g. Google Scholar Updates, reference manager papers, and recommendations from senior scientists on Faculty of 1000 or directly from colleagues. Twitter and LinkedIn are also becoming increasingly valuable as a tool for spreading exciting research, and therefore, he strongly recommends getting networked through social media. The volume of literature out there makes keeping track a collective effort, and it is also good to have a venue for promoting one’s own work amid the sea of information. Other ways to keep oneself up-to-date, according to him, include browsing tables of contents of relevant journals, searching relevant subject databases regularly, setting up email alerts from databases and publishers' websites, and following relevant researchers or organisations on social media.

Seeing the prevalence of data sharing in recent years, Dr. Kumar reckons that this phenomenon is one of the cornerstones of modern science that enables large-scale analyses and reproducibility. To him, data sharing benefits the researchers, research sponsors, data repositories, the scientific community, and the public. It encourages more connection and collaboration between scientists, and better science leads to better decision making.

“Academic writer can thus articulate their thoughts objectively and aim at questioning existing presuppositions, rather than merely narrating them. Academic writing is very explicit and provides the readers with all the information they need to understand your meaning. This is in contrast to written or spoken English in less formal contexts, which often relies on readers or listeners to supply extra information that completes the message. Regardless of your study discipline, academic writing helps you to build arguments, communicate ideas and partake in a scholarly conversation. It is a skill that you need to master to make the most out of your academic qualification,” says Dr. Kumar.

(by Brad Li, Xing Liu)

Jason Wahidi

Dr. Jason Wahidi is an oral and maxillofacial surgery resident at the University of Texas Southwestern/Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, TX, USA. He earned his dental degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry. Dr. Wahidi's clinical interests include a broad range of oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures, with a particular interest in reconstructive surgery and dental rehabilitation. He has authored a textbook chapter on magnetic resonance neurography of the trigeminal nerve. He has research interests in practical applications of imaging modalities to enhance patient diagnosis and treatment. Learn more about Dr. Wahidi here.

In Dr. Wahidi’s view, a good academic paper, whether a case report or meta-analysis, is characterized by having a specific research question or clear objective guiding the study’s methodology. To him, a complete literature review is necessary to provide adequate context for the paper. While not all academic papers may result in clinical significance, there is an importance in researching less familiar topics, like rare oral pathology or novel treatments.

Biases are inevitable in academic writing. Nevertheless, they can be decreased, according to Dr. Wahidi, by utilizing certain study designs or using various validated bias assessment tools. Awareness of one’s cognitive and cultural biases is also important. When reporting or incorporating international research findings, one must acknowledge the cultural context of the results and potential preconceptions.

In addition, Dr. Wahidi emphasizes that adhering to reporting guidelines such as STROBE, PRISMA and CARE during manuscript preparation is essential. Guidelines provide a structured framework for transparency and completeness when reporting findings. Following these guidelines can also enhance the reproducibility of the research and ensure accurate information is being reported.

“Academic writing is intriguing because it serves as a conduit for discussing new ideas or advancing existing knowledge. Academic writing can provide an opportunity for multi-disciplinary collaboration and, in doing so, can increase awareness and impact of research across multiple fields,” says Dr. Wahidi.

(by Brad Li, Xing Liu)