In 2024, many APM authors make outstanding contributions to our journal. Their articles published with us have received very well feedback in the field and stimulate a lot of discussions and new insights among the peers.

Hereby, we would like to highlight some of our outstanding authors who have been making immense efforts in their research fields, with a brief interview of their unique perspective and insightful view as authors.

Outstanding Authors (2024)

Eva Oldenburger, The University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium

Koji Ishii, Nagasaki University Hospital, Japan

Anna Kitta, Medical University of Vienna, Austria

Outstanding Author

Eva Oldenburger

Dr. Eva Oldenburger, MD, is a radiation oncologist and palliative care specialist at the University Hospitals in Leuven, Belgium. In her daily practice, she focuses on the treatment of patients with gynecological cancers, skin cancers and (bone) metastases. She is currently finishing her PhD in ePROM implementation after palliative radiotherapy for symptom follow-up. Her areas of interest are treatment modalities for bone metastases as well as communication with patients during their cancer trajectory and integration of palliative care early in the treatment trajectory of patients with cancer. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

From Dr. Oldenburger’s perspective, academic writing is essential for sharing knowledge between colleagues, and so improving daily practices and scientific development. Academic writing allows one to improve their knowledge and expertise in a relatively fast and easy manner, by critically looking at papers written by others and analyzing how and why their ideas/conclusions differ from ones.

Dr. Oldenburger stresses authors should possess a lot of curiosity, enthusiasm and perseverance in order to make their research solid and thorough. On the other hand, authors should also have an ‘ethical antenna’ to make sure that the research they perform is not too burdensome for patients participating in their research and that the benefits outweigh any possible negatives associated with their study. Last but not least, as an author, one needs to be able to write down their complicated research in a clear and comprehensive manner so that others can benefit from the knowledge gained.

“Researching and writing an academic paper is indeed a significant investment of time and effort. Fortunately, I have the possibility to do research in areas that are of particular interest to me. I work as a clinical physician in a tertiary centre where one of my tasks is research and education, so I try to allocate some of this time to my own research. However, my biggest motivator is seeing my research benefit my patients,” Dr. Oldenburger says.

(by Sasa Zhu, Brad Li)

Koji Ishii

Dr. Koji Ishii serves as an Associate Professor at the Anesthesiology and Palliative Care Center at Nagasaki University Hospital, Japan. His research area is cancer pain control, especially malignant psoas syndrome (MPS). Although MPS is considered to be a single disease state, the intensity of pain presents individuality. He would like to focus on the location of the responsible lesion and create a new criterion to support MPS pain control. His recent project is to provide support to the areas where there are limited resources for palliative care, especially islands. He is building a network of palliative care staff between the city and islands to provide support as needed. More information of Dr. Ishii can be found here.

To Dr. Ishii, a good medical paper involves both basic research and clinical research. In any case, a good academic paper is one that is novel and original in terms of clinical research, and that can be quickly returned to patients. He believes that this is a basic research paper that can benefit as many patients as possible.

When it comes to biases in one’s writing, Dr. Ishii stresses that it is important for authors to be honest and take responsibility for their manuscript. To maintain the quality of a manuscript, it is necessary to read many academic papers to learn the adequate method to avoid biases and collaborate with expert collaborators.

“Writing clinical medical papers allows you to use your findings from your patient examinations to benefit patients all over the world, so write them with passion,” Dr. Ishii says.

(by Sasa Zhu, Brad Li)

Anna Kitta

Anna Kitta is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mental Health and Behavioral Medicine at the Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna (AT), and working as a resident in a rural general practice in Erdweg (GER). She holds a B.A. in Social and Cultural Anthropology (University of Vienna, AT) and a M.Sc. in Narrative Medicine (Columbia University, NYC, USA). She aims to provide preventive and evidence-based medicine, alleviate symptoms, and consider the social and psychological well-being of each person. As a qualitative researcher, her focus is on capturing patient perspectives and giving patients a voice in medical research to illuminate individual, social, and cultural aspects of living with illness. Her research interests include medical humanities, palliative care, illness experience, doctor-patient interaction and communication, medical didactics, and social justice in medicine. A list of her research can be found here. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

In Dr. Kitta’s view, a good academic paper addresses a topic that is both interesting and important. She is particularly attracted to papers that manage to formulate a title that communicates the main content or makes one curious to find out more. It is important that the research question is clear, and that the organization is easy to follow and understand. If a paper is concise and easy to read, it will reach a much wider audience and different readers, allowing other scientific teams to build on these findings. In addition, she appreciates the honesty of authors, whether it is publishing negative results, which is very valuable, or being open about limitations of the study or difficulties they encountered during their research and would do differently next time. This helps other researchers not to repeat the same mistakes.

Dr. Kitta stresses that writing up the results of a project can be a lengthy endeavor, as the author has often been working on a topic for many months. In her opinion, it is important to remember the passion that started the project when the author did not know what the results would be and how the data would answer the research questions. This can motivate and remind authors why their content is important to share and why they are writing the manuscript and articulating their findings clearly for the research community. Authors should be aware of potential biases, avoid them, or address them openly. Moreover, at the grassroots level, the most important thing is to plan the research project according to the resources and capabilities of the department and team, and to start with questions that make you curious and are important for the community.

“The scientific world can be a wonderful place to interact with other researchers and provide personal growth, learning, and knowledge generation. I think it is important not to be intimidated by the competitive culture that sometimes prevails. The best results can be achieved through curiosity, teamwork, and a creative approach! So I recommend being kind to each other and to other scientific teams and colleagues and being generous with your own learning and knowledge. As the author and poet Maya Angelou said, ‘When you get, give. When you learn, teach.’ In addition, it is worthwhile to see the ethics committee and approval not as an obstacle, but as a very important and valuable institution that helps to improve projects and prevent harm. Adherence to good scientific practice will lead to the best results for everyone,” Dr. Kitta says.

(by Sasa Zhu, Brad Li)