• JHU ICTR - The NIH-funded Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) offers a variety of programs and resources to members of the Johns Hopkins research community who are currently preparing or executing clinical research. Featured above, their resources are vast and their website is very good and easy to navigate.
• Welch Medical Library - If you are interested in performing a systematic review or other type of expert review (eg, integrative, scoping, umbrella) the JHU Welch team has created incredibly useful user guides with links for librarian consultation, explanations of methodological standards and guidelines and links to software (free for JHU affiliates) that can help you structure your project.
• Center for Qualitative Studies in Health and Medicine - This Center within the JHSPH is focused entirely on qualitative research and offers a number of structured courses on qualitative methods. Other resources for qualitative research design & analysis are discussed in the Data Analysis section of this page.
• Most journals will require that your study and manuscript conform to specific Research Reporting Guidelines based on study design/type. Almost all these guidelines are available in open access format, and most have been made available as checklists - which you should review as you design your study.

After designing your study, you'll want to be sure it's ethically sound and secure approval to perform it. Ethical and institutional oversight for research performed in our department is provided by the Johns Hopkins Medicine Institutional Review Board. Two members of the Hopkins EM Faculty team, Andrew Stolbach and Bhakti Hansoti serve on the JHM IRB; they are valuable resources. Many other resources are available to you, including those below:

• Your studies will be managed through an electronic platform called eIRB. Follow this link to the eIRB website to access tutorials, training and to schedule a one-on-one consult with the IRB staff as needed. 
• Click here to access a short course that will get you up and running in eIRB, and ready to submit your first protocol. 
• eIRB Helpdesk : If you have any additional questions (especially related to a specific project) contact the eIRB Help Desk at 410-502-2092, or email jhmeirb@jhmi.edu for further assistance.

Acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data form the core of every research project.  Success can be achieved through two approaches: internal expertise development and expert consultation. Which you choose will depend on available resources, project complexity, and your own desire for research independence.

INTERNAL EXPERTISE DEVELOPMENT: Analyses required for many clinical research projects are straightforward, and can be performed by clinician researchers with relatively limited training. More complicated projects require more extensive training. Many resources are available, through JHU and open access, to support you in the independent analysis of your data. Some of these are listed below, starting with the simplest and moving to the more complex - but most powerful - tools available:

Qualitative Analysis

Most of the tools described below were designed to support quantitative data analysis, but there are many qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) options available as well, many free through open access or JHU subscriptions. This site, maintained by the JHU Library, is an excellent guide and a good primer on both qualitative research methods and QDAS. The Center for Qualitative Studies in Health and Medicine at JHSPH is another great resource and is discussed more in the Study Design section of this page. One of the most powerful and easy to use qualitative analysis software programs, nVivo, is available for free to JHU investigators through SAFE Desktop.

Quantitative Analysis

SPSS - A proprietary statistical software application created by IBM, SPSS is probably the most user-friendly of popular statistical programs. SPSS runs on JAVA, and does not require any programming expertise to use. If you can use excel, you can probably use SPSS. SPSS is not free, but is freely available to all JHU investigators with a SAFE Desktop - which is free! 

SAS - Another powerful proprietary statistical software package. Unlike SPSS, SAS requires users to learn a programming language to use. SAS is SPSS is not free, but is freely available to all JHU investigators via SAFE Desktop.

STATA - Another complete, integrated statistical software package that provides everything you need for data manipulation - but requires users to learn and operate using an application-specific coding language. STATA is not free, but is freely available to all JHU investigators via SAFE Desktop.

jmovi - A free and open statistical analysis software, with functionality similar to SPSS. Many online resources are available to help you rapidly transition from novice to competent data analyst with jmovi. These include user-developed tutorials and videos that teach statistics using jmovi.

R - A free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS. Requires time to learn, but it's extremely powerful and with almost unlimited potential for data analysis and visualization. RStudio is an integrated development environment (IDE) for R, available in open source and commercial editions. It makes working with R easy.

Python - Another free software environment for statistical computing, graphics and beyond. Similar to R in its universal accessibility and flexibility, and may be a better choice for some first-time programmers and for those equally interested in data analysis and building applications. Like R, takes some time to learn but is very powerful. There are a number of freely available IDEs that make operating in Python easier.

Systematic Reviews

Covidence - A proprietary web-based software application that streamlines the production of systematic reviews, with tools to help you perform and track citation screening, full text review, risk of bias assessment, data extraction and export of data and references. You have free access to Covidence as a Johns Hopkins affiliate. Read more about the tool on the Welch Medical Library site. 

EXPERT CONSULTATION: Even the most seasoned researcher has limits, and will need to reach out for help at times. Fortunately, the depth of expertise in the JHU research community is profound and if you have a question or knowledge gap, there's almost certainly someone that can fill it. These are some of the resources available to you: 

JHU Biostatistics Core - JHU faculty with primary appointments can receive a maximum of 5 hours of free support per clinical and translational research project through the ICTR. Trainees can access this resource through their faculty mentor. For investigators looking for less intensive help with projects, the Biostatistics Core also offers free walk-in consultations at both JHH and BMC almost every day of the week. Some require advance booking, so check their website for up-to-date information.

Consultants can assist with: research study design, design of data collection systems and instruments, data entry and validation, data management and quality assurance, statistical analysis and data interpretation, and professional and scientific report-writing. More support can be obtained under a fee-for-service model.

BEAD Core - The Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Data Management (BEAD) Core is another JHU resource for expert data consultation. BEAD is run by faculty and staff across JHU and operates under a fee-for-service model. An estimate of costs for services can be provided after completing a pretty simple intake form.

Academic Collaboration - The best approach to expert consultation may be recruitment of a new team member - or joining an existing research team yourself. Faculty, staff and students at JHU with expertise in particular fields are often excited to collaborate, especially if your project is aligned with their interests and they are engaged as true research partners. To engage in this way, you should look to establish collaborative relationships from the outset of your project and make a clear plan for responsibility sharing and attribution of credit (eg, order of authorship) very early. 

Step 1. Picking a Target Journal

A key to success in academic publishing is choosing and submitting to the right journal ...

• The team at the International Emergency Medicine Education Project has developed a great module on this topic. We recommend you review this module before selecting a journal.
• A number of resources have been created or made available by Johns Hopkins to help you with this decision:
  • Journal Citation Reports  maintains a comprehensive list of all academic journals, browsable by topic area with impact factors listed in-line.
  • The JHU Welch Library and Sheridan Library have created web-based journal selection guides & resource banks.
  • Many Open Access fees are reduced or waived through journal agreements in place with Johns Hopkins Libraries. Look into these options before paying Open Access fees.

Step 2. Preparing the Manuscript

Your manuscript should be tailored to your target journal's Author Instructions, but many components of research articles are pretty standardized.

• Dr. Kelen's 'Paint-by-Numbers' Guide to Scientific Manuscript Writing - This quick guide to constructing a manuscript can help you move from scattered ideas to a solid first draft with ease.
• Most journals will require that your manuscript adhere to specific Research Reporting Guidelines, based on study type/design. These should be reviewed during the study design and manuscript writing phases of your project.
• The Welch Library team has created a comprehensive writing guide and resource bank that includes links to books, short courses and guidelines.

Step 3. Revising your Manuscript & Getting it Out the Door

Once you have a draft of your manuscript, it needs to be revised, finalized and submitted. You should lean on your co-authors for help with this, but you may also consider reaching out beyond your core team ...

• JHU Editorial Assistance Services - The Johns Hopkins Editorial Assistance Services Initiative (EASI) provides editorial support, at no charge to faculty, for grant proposals and journal article manuscripts. EASI is open to all tenure-track JHU faculty, from every school, division, and rank.
• JHMI Editing Referral Service - For those seeking a little more help, JHMI maintains a directory of qualified editors who can provide editorial assistance on a fee-for-service basis to all Hopkins researchers.
• Writing Accountability Groups - WAGs are a collaborative and fee-free mechanism for generating the accountability required to get your manuscript over the finish line.

There are many ways to share your work, publication is only one of them. Below is a list of organizations that hold annual regional, national and/or international meetings where emergency care research can be presented:

• Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) 
• American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)
• American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM)
• Council of Residency Directors in EM (CORDEM)

If you'd like to represent your institution in style, Hopkins has made a number of JHU-approved presentation templates available here. 

Clinical research is extremely rewarding, but can at times feel challenging or even overwhelming. Fortunately, we now have access to a host of educational resources that can help you grow as a researcher, whether you are conducting your first independent research project or have been a full-time researcher for decades. A small selection of these is below:

JHU Science of Clinical Investigation (SOCI) Training Program -The SOCI Training Program is designed to prepare clinicians and other biological scientists to participate in multidisciplinary clinical research. Courses are offered on-site and online, and can be accessed for free to JHU-SOM faculty and staff using the tuition remission pathway.

Hopkins Biomedical Informatics and Data Science Training Programs - Rapid expansion and adoption of the electronic health record (EHR) has created new opportunities to answer clinical questions with data and develop integrated digital solutions for problems in healthcare delivery. The JHU SOM offers numerous courses in this field including on topics such as medical database querying, analysis, and medical software design and development. Many of these can be taken or audited for free by SOM faculty and trainees.

Coursera - Coursera is one of many high-quality online learning platforms. JHU has contributed to its development and JHU students, faculty, and staff have free premium access to all JHU-developed content.

Through JHU's Tuition Remission Plan, full-time JHU faculty and staff can also enroll in or audit courses at multiple schools across the university at reduced rates and often for free.