Advancing the field of traumatic stress: The devil is in the details

✍ Scribed by Daniel S. Weiss; Kevin Delucchi; Martha Shumway

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2012
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 55 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-9867
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.21671

✦ Synopsis

We publish research findings in the Journal of Traumatic Stress to further the cause of science-to communicate understandings with others so that our field may move forward. One of the basic tenets of science is that findings need to be replicated to become established. As a vehicle of communication, the published article should, in theory at least, provide the reader with enough information to replicate the work. This includes the steps in the collection and analysis of the data that are being presented. Therefore, clarity in the presentation of study results is a key component in the process of publication. One of the most important steps an author can take to increase the likelihood of acceptance at most scientific journals, including JTS, is to present the findings clearly and comprehensively. Like in most other human endeavors, the details count. The data are the foundation on which the conceptual and interpretive structure of a manuscript are built, rather than merely a vehicle to arrive at the discussion. The previous editor made these points over a decade ago (Schnurr, 1998), and readers are referred to her article.

In preparing a manuscript for JTS we recommend authors consider the following points. The field of statistics with its associated tools in the form of software that exploits the advent of virtually free massive computing power-compared to what was available when the DSM-III reintroduced the concept of psychological suffering from exposure to traumatic stress with the inclusion of posttraumatic stress disorder as a diagnosis-has expanded tremendously over the last few decades. It is not surprising that the field has had a difficult time keeping current with those developments.