This well-documented book starts by covering the two important aspects— bioethics and evidence-based medicine—in this evidence-based era. Most people in the medical profession are not well conversed with various aspects of research, which include planning, understanding of statistics, conducting a research and finally drawing the conclusion.

This book, authored by Jatinder Bali and Anil Kant, has been written in response to a ‘timely perceived requirement’ and deals with the various aspects of research in a lucid manner, wherein there will be something—right from the beginners to an accomplished researchers—to grasp.

I have seen that medical practitioners and clinicians feel vulnerable when confronted with statistics. This is a mindset and can be easily overcome after going through this book. I would particularly like to make a mention of the chapters which are dedicated to statistical concepts for medical administration, where indexing, statistical quality control, and decision theory have been elucidated.

There have been numerous instances when researches have never been taken up or left partially done because of lack of funds or sponsorship. At such times, it is heartbreaking not only for the person conducting the research but also for all of us, because we are keeping humankind away from another revelation, which may go a long way to help us in one way or the other. Taking this into account, the last section of this book also deals with report writing and grant applications, which is the backbone of research.

Needless to say, the authors have done a wonderful job. I am truly impressed with the topics and quality of contents and how they have, in a studious manner, gone about laying the flow of the topics making them easy-to-understand and relate to the practical use. I am of the opinion that the book should not be missed and should be kept handy for ready reference, as all the doctors need to contribute to the progress of medical science.

I am thankful to the authors for giving me the honor of writing the Foreword for this book because it is a subject which is very close to my heart and is a need of the hour.

Influenced by the lucid style of the workshops of Dr Barun K Nayak—one of the inspirations behind this effort—we made an effort to provide a reference manual in nonintimidating language in the field of basic statistical concepts related to medicine. It is written with the understanding that medical professionals are not mathematical experts. The prime purpose of the treatise is to remove the fear of statistics as an extra-terrestrial object and to foster the scientific way of thinking—being cynical and not agreeing until clearly proved. Pure mathematical approach has been limited to minimum possible with focus on the concepts. A complete overview of the statistical methods is provided in a concise and precise manner to build the strong foundation for understanding advanced tools and techniques. Concepts have been compared wherever possible so that the fine differences are captured and conveyed. The chapter Back to School to review elementary concepts such as fractions, logs, set theory, permutation and combination, etc. is added to recapitulate the concepts that were left behind in high school by many of us.

Basics of Biostatistics: A Manual for the Medical Practitioners is one of the few books on statistics written to provide the practical help to the medical professionals. The chapter Measurement and Error Analysis was incorporated because of the medical mindset of the authors whose focus is often research papers and clinical trials. Additional topics such as life table, Kaplan-Meier curves, interpolation, time series, etc. also have been included. Subjects such as statistical quality control, decision theory, index number, which find use in medical administration, also get a fair treatment. The authors felt that without these applied aspects, the treatise would be incomplete. Everyone will use some of the topics at some stages in his career and all topics will rarely be used by any set of practitioners. The appeal of this book lies in the fact that everyone—from the students to the hardened primary investigators—will find this book very useful. And the useful chapters will keep on changing with the level of expertise developed. We decided to go from the known to the unknown. So every time the readers come back to the book, they will find something new. It was an onerous task which took over a year in preparation. We hope it enriches the lives of our readers.

Special mention must be made of the efforts of Mr Hitesh Mendiratta, who stuck it out with me—decoding the conspicuously bad handwriting. We gave up a large number of assignments for this labor of love. It was an onerous task but the one which was enjoyed. Last but not least, our thanks to all those who are reading this book. Hope you find it educative.

The place of a Guru is of highest order in our culture. I could very well realize this while undertaking this journey. In this respect, I thank Dr (Mrs) Anita Goyal, Kurukshetra University, Haryana, India, who taught and guided me through the maze of statistics. Life beyond classrooms teaches a lot and one can consider himself privileged if one gets professional gurus, who always motivate one to challenge and strive for the best. Thanks to Mr BS Kampani, Mr VK Seth and Mr K Alparslan for believing in me over the years. The padyatra i.e. the journey continues…

First and foremost, we would like to thank our families Dr (Mrs) Renu, Ojasvini, Nandan, Mrs Meeta and Mahir as well as our parents, who put up with us through the writing of Basics of Biostatistics: A Manual for the Medical Practitioners. They have been anchors, who allowed us to weather many a storms in this odyssey. They knew this book meant a lot to us. They sacrificed many hours of happiness at the altar of the keyboard. We look forward to future family gatherings, where we will be able to discuss this book, which we hope, they all will read. Not really, but we hope, they find it useful if they ever chance upon this path in future.

Special thanks is also due to Mr KP Singh and the entire team of M/s Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd, New Delhi, India. We would like to thank Shri Jitendar P Vij (Group Chairman), Mr Ankit Vij (Group President), Mr Tarun Duneja (Director–Publishing), Ms Samina Khan (Executive Assistant to Director–Publishing), Mr KK Raman (Production Manager), Mr Mohit Bhargava (Production Coordinator) and the other staff. They were prompt and professional in their responses. They have elucidated the value of time. They almost had the job finished even before the impossible deadline. They sure know how to hire good talent. They have been exceptional in the quality of artwork and back-end support for complicated projects. The future looks bright for Indian skill transfer publishing. We hope they keep it up like this only.

While on the subject of sticking it out with high-quality work, we must bring on board Mr Hitesh Mendiratta, a wizard with scientific data, if ever, there was one. He did medical terminology and complex mathematical equations with the same consummate ease. At times, he had picked out the mistakes in the printouts even before we read the drafts. He is one man we will have on our team for any prolonged writing campaign. He never tires. And, finally, thanks to all the students and principal investigators, who inspired us to undertake the project in the first place.