Writing and publishing a scientific paper may seem a puzzling process, particularly to the initiate. There are, however, a number of rules that can make the process easier and ultimately more likely to meet with success. At the outset, you must be sure you have reason for writing the paper. You must have a message for your readers. This means that you have a well-constructed study and that any statistical analysis was planned along with the original study. Because you want the paper published, you understand that you have to first convince the journal reviewers and the editor of the value of your work.To help the reviewers, you will follow the usual rules of medical writing, and furthermore, you will write clearly and concisely. All numbers and statistics will be checked and double-checked by the senior author before sending the paper in. All figures will be looked at to see that they are easily understood and that they help the reader to better understand the manuscript. The reference section will contain the current work necessary for readers to be brought up to date, but not large numbers of out-of-date classics. Before writing the paper, you, as the author, will check the Information for Authors guidelines published in each journal and follow those instructions assiduously. Then, when a reply is received from the selected journal, you will understand that there are more steps to be completed before the paper is ready for the happy day of publication. Having thought of all of this in the preparation of the study and the writing of the manuscript, the likelihood is that you will meet with much success.