If you’ve been procrastinating over whether to get on twitter then this piece of news might push you into action.

Because from now on if you want to get published in Thorax you need to get a twitter handle.

As part of the submission process the journal editors expect authors to include their twitter identities and one or more 140-character tweets that will be used to draw attention to your paper via the journal’s twitter account @thoraxbmj.

“We are confident that increasing Thorax authors’ participation in Twitter can only stimulate and improve the quality of online discussion about respiratory medicine and hope that you will take up the challenge, ” say the editors.

But how do I tweet?

If this is the question that’s holding you back, fear not, because it’s actually really easy. Go to twitter.com and create a short unique user name – e.g @NickHartThorax but make sure you include your real name in your account profile.

Look for some interesting accounts to follow—people you know, or organisations you have heard of.

Here are a few to get you started: @TSANZ_thoracic @asthmacouncilau; @lungfoundation and of course @thelimbicresp

Use simple search terms such as #COPD #asthma #respiratory #CF to see what people are saying and contribute when you want to.

Tweets are 140 characters or fewer and can contain hyperlinks, for example to interesting journal papers.

Here are some useful links to go to for more information:

General Medical Council. Doctors’ use of social media. 2013.

British Medical Association. Getting started on social media. 2015.

We look forward to seeing more of you on twitter!