How to Publish in Pain Medicine — Insights from Samarjit Dey
“Knowledge is the best intervention”: Why Publication in Pain Medicine Matters for Pain Physicians
At ICRAPAIN 2025 (Hall A, Sept 1), Dr. Samarjit Dey (AIIMS-Mangalagiri) delivered a practical lecture on publication in pain medicine —trends, considerations, and future directions. His core message mirrors our ethos at Daradia: great procedures deserve global visibility through high-quality research and publication.
Publishing is not just academic prestige—it drives clinical recognition, grants and funding, policy influence, and the global adoption of safe, effective pain interventions. If we want India’s pain medicine community to move from reader to leader, we must publish—consistently and well.
🎥 Watch the full lecture on YouTube: Publications in Pain Medicine: Trends & Future Directions — Dr. Samarjit Dey (ICRAPAIN 2025)
What to Publish in Pain Medicine (and Where to Start)
- Original research & RCTs: technique efficacy, safety, comparative effectiveness
- Practice-changing innovations: new interventional approaches, imaging workflows
- Guidelines & consensus statements: society-backed recommendations
- Observational studies & registries: real-world outcomes from clinics and hospitals
- Systematic reviews & meta-analyses: synthesize evidence where trials exist
- Case series/reports: hypothesis-generating insights (a good starting point)
Tip: Build data habits in OPD/OT—prospective logs, standardized outcomes, and minimal-dataset forms. Good data today becomes publishable evidence tomorrow.
How to Write a Manuscript That Gets Read (and Cited)
1) Nail the Title and Abstract
Think of the title as your article’s “front door.” Use general → intermediate → specific keywords (e.g., Pain Medicine → Failed Back Surgery Syndrome → Spinal Cord Stimulation → QoL & Opioid Use).
The abstract should follow the journal’s word limits (often 250 words) and summarize background, aim, methods, results, conclusion. Add 3–8 keywords aligned to common search terms.
2) Follow the IMRAD Structure
- Introduction: what’s known, what’s unknown, and your primary objective
- Methods: design, registration (CTR/ClinicalTrials), IRB/IEC approval, inclusion/exclusion, sample size, stats plan
- Results: demographics, primary/secondary outcomes, figures/tables that mirror methods
- Discussion: interpret results vs. literature; explain differences; strengths & limitations; one-line conclusion that matches your primary objective
3) Use Reporting Standards
- CONSORT for RCTs
- STROBE for observational studies
- PRISMA for systematic reviews/meta-analyses
- ICMJE for authorship, COI, transparency
4) Respect Ethics and Integrity
Register trials, obtain IEC/IRB approvals, manage conflicts of interest, credit images properly, and run plagiarism checks. Editors increasingly use AI to detect AI-written text, image reuse, and data fabrication.
5) Survive Peer Review
Expect multiple reviewer rounds. Respond with evidence-based justifications, cite supporting studies, and keep a clean response-to-reviewers document. Reviewer scarcity is real—professionalism and clarity speed up decisions.
Future Directions in Pain Research: Where Impact Is Growing
- Epidemiology of pain for policy and reimbursement
- Epigenetics and receptor-based therapies
- Low-cost interventional protocols suited to resource-limited settings
- Evidence-based integration of regenerative techniques
- Multicentre registries & collaborative research networks to lift data quality in India and beyond
Practical Next Steps for Busy Clinicians for Publication in Pain Medicine
- Choose a tractable study type: start with case series or prospective cohorts; grow into RCTs.
- Create a minimal data set: pain scores, functional scales, imaging markers, complications, follow-ups.
- Build a writing pod: PI + methods/statistics mentor + literature lead + figures/data lead.
- Target the right journal tier: scope > audience > indexing > time-to-decision.
- Standardize your toolkit: reference manager (Zotero/EndNote), reporting checklists, author contribution forms, COI statements.
How Daradia Can Help in Publication in Pain Medicine
At Daradia, we pair hands-on interventional training with research mentorship so pain physicians can move from “doing” to “documenting.”
- Online fellowships & courses to sharpen methods, stats, and academic writing
- Cadaveric workshops that can seed publishable practice improvements
- Alumni and faculty networks for multi-centre collaborations and registries
👉 Explore: Fellowships, Advanced Courses, and Cadaver Workshops (link these to your site’s pages)
Key Takeaways (Skimmable)
- Publishing elevates clinical impact, funding, and policy relevance.
- IMRAD + CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA + ICMJE = a manuscript editors can trust.
- Build prospective data habits; small, clean datasets beat big, messy ones.
- Expect iterative peer review; reply with evidence and clarity.
- Focus future work on epidemiology, cost-effective interventions, and collaborative networks.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. I’m in private practice— How can I have a publication in pain medicine without a hospital IRB?
Yes. Many regions have registered local IEC/IRB bodies you can join for ethical oversight. You can also collaborate with a medical college and submit via their IRB.
Q2. Are case reports worth it?
Yes—for hypothesis generation and early visibility. But for strong evidence, progress to cohorts, RCTs, and meta-analyses.
Q3. Can I use AI to draft?
Use AI for outlining, language polishing, and checklist reminders—not for fabricating content or images. Disclose AI assistance if the journal requires it.
Q4. Which reporting guideline should I use?
- CONSORT (RCTs)
- STROBE (observational)
- PRISMA (systematic reviews/meta-analyses)
