Young GI angle #Twitter2Paper: Taking an idea from Twitter to paper

Abstract

Social media use has been increasing among physicians and healthcare professionals over the last decade.With over 330 million active users reported in 2019, Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms worldwide and is used by academicians and clinicians to share information, debate ideas, network and promote medical education.1 An increasing number of medical journals and societal organizations now have prominent Twitter presence, harnessing the platform to disseminate scientific content and promote dialogue.For individuals, Twitter provides an open forum to meet like-minded colleagues across the world, engage in conversation and forge a virtual scientific community.This inevitably opens doors for online collaborative research.A successful demonstration of this innovative approach has been the research projects executed by groups such as @MondayNightIBD, EndoTrain survey group and GOAL (Global Online Alliance for Liver group).In this article, we aim to share experiences on transforming ideas generated in the virtual world of Twitter into peer-reviewed publications (Figure 1). THE IDEAThe first step in any initiative or manuscript is to have a relevant concept or question.Twitter is ideal for generating and advancing ideas.Most ideas arise from discussions between healthcare professionals, although the inspiration may also come directly from patients and the online-support groups. 2 Regardless of whether an idea has originated offline or on social media, by connecting with people with similar interests who can provide critique and a different viewpoint, simple concepts can quickly mature.In addition to dialogue, the poll feature on Twitter can be used to rapidly survey opinions and practices.3 Not all discussions will muster sufficient interest or controversy, but if they do, it is important to recognize their potential for scholarly work.Scholarly work should be novel and be able to fulfil a knowledge gap or an area of clinical need.The format of publication can vary depending on the concept or discussion.These may include a letter to the editor, 4 opinion pieces, 5 educational innovation articles, 6,7 narrative reviews, 8 systematic reviews and original research (ranging from surveys to multicentre studies).3,9 INVITING COLLABORATORSOnce you have an idea that gathers enough interest or generates a solid concept, consider reaching out to potential collaborators.Social media provides the unique opportunity to network with different clinicians at all stages of their career, in different types of practice (private, academic, industry or basic science research), from any part of the world.The access to a national and international community, beyond traditional boundaries, creates limitless opportunities to find mentors, sponsors and like-minded collaborators.The collaborators you choose could be the same group of people who helped you develop and enrich the idea or could be someone whose area of expertise and work is likely to complement your vision.Similar to any project, you are more likely to succeed if you have thought about the idea, performed a literature search and planned a short proposal.There are several avenues for inviting collaborators.You could gauge interest in a Tweet or send a private 'direct message' to an individual or to a group.If you have not collaborated before, your message should include a brief introduction, the reason for your message and for approaching that specific person.Once you have established your collaborator(s), determine the preferred communication channel.You can continue with Twitter direct messages or migrate to other formats, for example, emails, WhatsApp, etc. Choosing the right collaborator can bring many benefits.These include data acquisition to upscaling the study, providing mentorship, professional support (e.g., to librarians, statisticians, lab equipment), review the study design and results, offer insight with the existing literature and the knowledge gaps/controversies within, but also provide oversight in terms of project management.Moreover, this could result in life-long friendships and multiple future collaborations.

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Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.