In 2021, The Texas Heart Institute Board of Trustees created the James T. Willerson, MD, Editor's Choice Award to honor his standards for excellence in research and scientific publishing. That year, 3 groups of authors whose articles were published in The Texas Heart Institute Journal received an award.
Going forward, 2 primary authors will be recognized annually for their work on a Clinical Investigation, Laboratory Investigation, or Systematic Review that has been published in The Journal. Each author, one of whom will be an early-career professional, will receive a certificate and $5,000.
Authors can now apply for the Editor's Choice award when they submit their eligible original research papers to The Journal (Application Details). Winners of the 2023 awards will be recognized during a live ceremony from the Denton A. Cooley Auditorium in early 2024. The ceremony will be livestreamed to accommodate out of town recipients and their guests.
Citation: Texas Heart Institute Journal 50, 3; 10.14503/THIJ-23-8222
Dr Willerson's Inspirational Career
Dr Willerson was an exemplary clinician who placed his patients first, and he was a dedicated researcher who explored ways to accurately diagnose, treat, and prevent cardiovascular disease. Equally important, he shared what he learned by mentoring young physicians and by generously contributing to the medical literature. Dr Willerson authored or coauthored 29 textbooks and more than 1,000 scientific publications on cardiovascular medicine. Moreover, he headed Circulation as editor-in-chief for 11 years, and then The Texas Heart Institute Journal for 12 years. The Editor's Choice Award fittingly recognizes his accomplishments.
Characteristics of an Outstanding Original Research Article
The world of biomedical publication is growing rapidly. Through the internet, people from around the world and from varying professional and educational backgrounds can find thousands of new scientific articles each month. Our readers—mostly from the field of cardiovascular medicine—include experienced diagnosticians, clinicians, and researchers, as well as physicians-in-training and young investigators. Many of these people have overloaded schedules and little time to keep up with the literature. Therefore, publishing a well-crafted article that captures readers' attention and clearly communicates the findings of a research study is more important now than ever.
Original Research articles in The Journal follow the IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format, which makes it easy for readers to scan articles for relevant information. The value of the article greatly increases when authors carefully detail the narrative of their study within the IMRAD structure.
Submissions for the Editor's Choice Award will be judged on how well the objective of the study is presented (Introduction), whether the study details are transparent enough that a knowledgeable investigator could duplicate it (Methods), whether the findings are objectively presented (Results), and whether the text interprets the data from the tables and figures. Finally, articles will be judged on how well the study is analyzed within the context of previous and current research (Discussion). Are the results truly novel; do they have the potential to change clinical practice; or do they support or contradict current practice?
During this 50th anniversary year, we want to reaffirm our goal to publish high-impact articles. Submitting your outstanding Original Research Article for publication in The Journal and applying for the Editor's Choice Award will help us reach it.
