Advice from the Professional Epidemiologist

PEER REVIEW IN SCIENCE: WHEN CRITICISM BECOMES BIAS

Peer review is supposed to make science better. A manuscript is submitted. Experts examine the methods, results and interpretation. They...

SCIENTIFIC AUTHORSHIP: WHO DESERVES CREDIT FOR A RESEARCH PAPER?

A paper is ready for submission. The analysis is done. The manuscript is written. The author list is almost final...

AUGUST IS WHEN EPIDEMIOLOGISTS START PREPARING FOR AUTUMN

Autumn does not begin when the calendar says September. From an epidemiological perspective, preparation starts earlier. Influenza surveillance needs to...

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE DATA AFTER A HEATWAVE?

The temperature drops. The headlines move on. But for epidemiologists, the work is only beginning. A heatwave can leave behind...

THE DISEASES THAT DON’T TAKE A SUMMER HOLIDAY

Summer changes epidemiology. Not because diseases follow the calendar, but because our behaviour and environment do. People travel more. We...

SUMMER WAS A STRESS TEST FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

A summer of extreme heat does more than push temperatures upward. It puts public health systems under pressure. During prolonged...

Five Common Mistakes We See Before Peer Review

Submitting a manuscript is exciting. But many papers encounter avoidable problems before reviewers even begin evaluating the scientific question. Here...

Why Does WHO Change Recommendations?

“Last year they said one thing. Now they’re saying something different.” It’s a comment we hear whenever a health recommendation...

Correlation Is Not Causation: One of the Most Important Lessons in Epidemiology

Ice cream sales increase. Drowning deaths also increase. Does eating ice cream increase the risk of drowning? Of course not...