Session 8: Live-demo script

Download the PDF · Back to Session 8

When: Session 8 (online, Saturday 19:30 to 22:30), section 8.2 (Getting published), 20:36–20:39 (3 minutes), after the predatory-journal slide · Who: the instructor, sharing their screen · Participants: watch on their own screen (no software needed)

Goal: participants see (1) where the free reporting checklists live and (2) three quick checks that tell a real journal from a predatory one. They leave knowing the three web addresses.

Before the session (10 minutes, the day before)

  1. Open these pages in separate browser tabs and check they load on your home or office connection:
    • EQUATOR Network: https://www.equator-network.org
    • DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals): https://doaj.org
    • NLM Catalog: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog
    • Think.Check.Submit: https://thinkchecksubmit.org
  2. Choose one real journal relevant to the class (a critical-care or nursing journal your unit reads) to use for the check. Avoid naming or demonstrating a journal you believe is predatory. Use the invented e-mail on the slide for that.
  3. Prepare the offline fallback (below): take 5 screenshots and put them in a folder, or download the CONSORT 2025 and STROBE checklists.
  4. Zoom the browser to 150% so the page is readable on participants’ laptops and phones when you share your screen.

Script (3 minutes)

Time Click / show Say
0:00 EQUATOR home page. Point to the search box and the “Reporting guidelines for main study types” panel. “Every design has a reporting checklist, and they are all here, free.”
0:30 Type CONSORT and open the CONSORT page (CONSORT 2025). Scroll to the checklist and the flow diagram. “Paper 1 is a randomised trial, so CONSORT. Here is the flow diagram. Paper 1 has one on page 5: 1201 screened, 50 randomised.”
1:00 Go back, search STROBE and open the checklist (cohort / case-control / cross-sectional versions). “Paper 2 is a cohort, so STROBE, and so is your FLUID-ICU manuscript: the items you ticked last week (4–17) are on this checklist. Neither paper actually names its guideline, and reviewers would ask for it.”
1:20 DOAJ: search the chosen journal title. Show the journal record (licence, fees, peer review). “For open-access journals, DOAJ lists those that meet basic standards. Not being listed is a reason to check further.”
1:50 NLM Catalog: search the journal title, then add AND currentlyindexed[All] (or use the “Journals currently indexed in MEDLINE” filter). “If a journal says it is in MEDLINE, check here. Predatory journals often claim indexing they do not have.”
2:30 Think.Check.Submit: open the checklist. “Before you submit anywhere: do you know the journal, can you contact the publisher, is the peer review clear, are the fees clear? Three minutes that can save your paper.”
2:50 Back to the slides. “At home, check the journal and guideline in your own publication plan (Proposal Part 4, modelled in Session 7), and note that your FLUID-ICU draft follows STROBE (cohort).” Then continue with the submission-package slide.

Optional extra (only if ahead of time): open orcid.org and show that registering an ORCID iD takes two minutes. It is needed on the title page (next slide).

Do not: go into individual checklist items, compare impact factors, or demonstrate submission systems. That is beyond this course.

Expected screens (what participants should see)

  1. EQUATOR home page with a large search box and links to the main guidelines (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, STARD, SPIRIT, CARE …).
  2. CONSORT page: the statement, a downloadable checklist (Word/PDF) and the participant flow diagram.
  3. STROBE page: checklists for cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies.
  4. DOAJ journal record: title, publisher, licence (e.g. CC BY), article-processing charge, peer-review type.
  5. NLM Catalog record: the journal’s title, ISSN and “Current Indexing Status: Currently indexed for MEDLINE” (or not).

(Website layouts change. If a page looks different, use its search box. The content is the same.)

Offline fallback (internet or screen-sharing failure)

  1. Show the 5 screenshots prepared above, in the same order, using the same script.
  2. If you have no screenshots: share the downloaded CONSORT 2025 checklist and flow diagram PDF and point to Paper 1’s flow chart (page 5): “this is the picture CONSORT asks for”.
  3. Paste the addresses in the chat: equator-network.org · doaj.org · thinkchecksubmit.org (plus “NLM Catalog” for MEDLINE).
  4. Do the “spot the predatory journal” e-mail from the Session 8 exercise sheet (Part C1, PDF sent before the session) aloud instead (1 minute).

Common questions

  • “Is Google Scholar an index?” No. It is a search engine that lists almost anything, including predatory journals. Check MEDLINE (NLM Catalog), DOAJ, Scopus or Web of Science.
  • “Is a journal without an impact factor bad?” Not necessarily. New or small society journals often have none. Fake “impact factors” from unknown agencies are a red flag.
  • “Do I have to fill in the checklist?” Many journals require it at submission, with page numbers. Use it while writing, not only at the end.
  • “What about the protocol?” Trial protocols follow SPIRIT (SPIRIT 2025), and observational protocols follow the same logic.