This week, I was reading a recent detailed publication on cancer screening using plasma DNA, its costs & effectiveness (see Tafazzoli, 2022, open access, PMID 36038710).
Like most papers, it has supplemental files online. I was surprised, and intrigued, to see an Excel file that is not the usual background data, but a structured infrastructure of how the paper is written.
Checklist from CHEERS: Worth a Glance
The Excel spreadsheet is online here. I'm sure some readers will have heard of it, although I hadn't. It's called "Checklist from CHEERS." (It's a standard for health economics, but 90% of it could be adapted to other uses). It provides a list of about 30 topics or issues the paper should cover, and the authors provide a verification that each item was discussed (e.g. item 19 is discussed on manuscript lines 191-200, 209-215).
It would probably be a godsend if this type of crystal-clear plan or structure was used more commonly. Whatever type of scientific or persuasive writing you do, probably worth a look.
Screenshot in part; click to enlarge.
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| Screenshot in part; click to enlarge |
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By the way, this journal Springer/Nature had a helpful guide to authors online, "get your manuscript ready for editors" - here.
