I am a Medical Sociologist with my PhD in Sociology. I have a research oriented degree where I conducted a relatively traditional sociology dissertation. I enjoy conducting research and writing and I pretty much always knew that both would play a part in my consulting services at Applied Worldwide.
During my experience earning my PhD, there was always pressure to publish research in the “top tier” sociology journals. Now, in my professional career, I do not have the same pressure to “publish or perish,” but the fact that I know how to get work published remains a valuable skill in my tool belt. This is to say that publishing research is one of various research-related skills that I perform for clients. Grant writing, data collection and analysis, and methods design are all other research tasks that I perform for clients.
How I Assist Clients in Publishing Research
All of my clients have different needs, so I have to adapt my approach according to each case. I have also been brought into projects at various stages. Sometimes the project is just a thought in someone’s mind. Other times the project is complete and just needs to be written and submitted.
In any case, when the primary goal of a client is to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal, I always start with the journal. I want to know what kind of research they have published in the past, and whether they will be a good fit. It often is not beneficial for the health professionals I work with to publish in sociology journals, so we start by determining the field in which we will publish, and start narrowing down specific journals.
With that said let’s take a look at some of the disciplines and journals where I have and have considered publishing as an applied medical sociologist.
Where do Applied Medical Sociologists Publish Research?’
Disciplines where I publish research include implementation science, health services and healthcare research, and of course sociology. There are a wide variety of journals in these areas of research but I have a few that I like.
As far as implementation science, one of my most recent publications appears in the journal, Implementation Science Communications. The project was an implementation science project, which made the target journal choice fairly straightforward. Here is a link to the article which has an extraordinarily long title, “Implementing point-of-care medical information systems into trauma and general surgeon practice in a middle-income country: a qualitative study utilizing the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.”
With health services and healthcare research journals, there is a ton of diversity, so it really depends on the needs of the client. Most recently, I’ve been preparing a qualitative manuscript for the Book chapters can also be useful. I published a chapter in a volume of the book Research in the Sociology of Health Care from Emerald Publishing edited by a fellow medical sociologist. My chapter was titled, “Evidence-Based Medicine and the Limits of Standardization.“
If you are reading this blog, then you are probably familiar with the main sociology journals. I will, however, mention the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. It is the medical sociology journal published by the ASA and I was able to work as a part of its editorial team for several years as a PhD student. The Journal for Applied Social Science published by the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology can also be a useful outlet for applied medical sociologists.
Final Thoughts on Journal Publication as an Applied Medical Sociologist
As I mentioned, getting acquainted with journal publications as an applied medical sociologist has been a learning experience. I have had to trust my training and my learned knowledge about how the publication process works and apply that knowledge to other disciplines and professional environments.
Research and publication is challenging and I enjoy helping others overcome the challenges they face with the process. It gives me the opportunity to hone my skills and learn new things about research in the medical field. If you know a clinician or someone working in healthcare that wants to publish their research but is too busy with their day-to-day duties, let them know about my work! They can learn more about my work in this area at sociologyconsulting.appliedworldwide.com.
