Empowering researchers and healthcare professionals in academic publishing: key insights and practical lessons from the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) workshop 2025

The British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC) Academic Publishing Workshop, held at the Birmingham City Event Centre in the UK from 19 to 20 March 2025, provided practical guidance for early-career researchers and healthcare professionals seeking to understand and actively engage with the academic publishing process. This perspective extends the workshop’s expert insights to those who were unable to attend, summarizing key lessons across five thematic sessions. The first session addressed journal selection, guiding participants on evaluating scope, impact metrics, open-access models and identifying predatory journals. The second explored peer-review models including single-blind, double-blind and open review, and reinforced reviewers’ role as guardians of research integrity. The third session focused on writing effective structured abstracts and developing resilience in managing desk and post-review rejections. The fourth provided a practical framework for converting conference poster presentations into full manuscripts. The fifth examined the evolving role of artificial intelligence in academic publishing, including its benefits for writing support and literature discovery, alongside ethical considerations. Complementing these sessions, hands-on peer-review exercises enabled participants to develop and apply concrete manuscript evaluation skills in a collaborative setting. This perspective underscores that successful academic publishing demands continuous professional development, and that structured, expert-led training is essential for advancing research careers and maximizing scholarly impact.