My First Paper: Ben Buckley

Posted on: 20 May 2022 by Dr. Ben Buckley in May Posts

As part of our #MyFirstPaper campaign, this week we speak with Dr Ben Buckley about his paper on a comprehensive exercise rehabilitation programme for people with cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors.

Your name and your area of research

Dr Ben Buckley and my area of research is cardiovascular & metabolic medicine.  

What was the title of your first paper and who was it submitted to?

The title of the paper was: Making a move in exercise referral: co-development of a physical activity referral scheme and it was submitted to the Journal of Public Health. 

How would you explain what this paper was about to your grandparents?

We developed a comprehensive exercise rehabilitation programme for people with cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular risk factors. The novel thing that we did was involve patients, healthcare practitioners, area managers and public health commissioners in this development process (i.e. co-production). In a co-production process, all participant views should be held equally. It was hoped that by doing this, we would create a rehabilitation programme that was appropriate and feasible for patients with cardiovascular conditions and could be delivered in Liverpool within existing resources. The rehabilitation programme could also be adapted for other cities, as needed.        

What was the most significant thing for you about the paper?

We co-produced an exercise rehabilitation framework for people with cardiovascular disease and risk factors, which was later found to be effective in subsequent evaluation studies. 

What advice would you give to others about submitting their first paper?

Be proud of your work and proofread before you submit. Be prepared for rejections and ready to move on to other journals. Try not to take reviewer feedback personally - it's about the work, not about you, and the reviewers are trying to help you improve the research - I find it helps to read the reviewer feedback then leave it and come back to address it the next day. It always seems not as bad reading it again the next day.  

Ben is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Preventative Cardiology at the Liverpool Centre for Cardiovascular Science. His primary interest is in the development and evaluation of secondary prevention strategies and rehabilitation of people with cardiovascular disease.

You can follow Ben and his research at @BuckleyBenjamin and at Researchgate.