ResearchWritingforScienceand Technology

Module1.1:AcademicResearch Writing

TrendsinScientificPublishing
Globalization Rationalization

Globalization
1999(600,000articles)
Asia:19% USA/Canada:28% WesternEurope:38% Taiwan:1.3% Asia:25% USA/Canada:25% WesternEurope:32% Taiwan:2.2%

2009(1.2Marticles)

Globalization(cont.)
In10years,publicationsinEnglishlanguagejournals havedoubled Drivenlargelybytechnology.Internetmakesitpossible toreadandsubmitinternationally EuropeandNorthAmerica'sshareisdecliningslowly EspeciallyAsiaisgrowing(India,China,butalso Malaysia,Thailand) Evernewerregionsarecomingup(MiddleEast,South America) Thisisreflectedineditorialboardsandreviewerlists.

Rationalization
Technologyallowsusersandpublishersto measurekeyperformanceindicators:
Impactperarticle Usageofjournalsandarticles Editorsgetmeasuredbyvalueofcontent Librariansdonotwantcontentthatdoesnotused

Pressureishightofocusonqualitynotquantity

NewLandscape
Growthissubmissionsishigherthanwhat journalscanabsorb Editorsmustdeliverarticlesthatwillbeused andcited Editorsdealwithmuchmorecontentthan before Important!!!Gettingyourmanuscriptaccepted canbeanarduousprocess

Publishersdonotwantzerocited articles
Editorsnowregularlyanalyzecitationsperarticle Thestatisticthat27%ofElsevierspublished paperswerenotcitedin5yearswasdisconcerting. Itcertainlyindicatesthat itisimportanttomain highstandardswhenacceptingpapersnothing wouldhavebeenlostexcepttheCVsofthose authorswouldhavebeenshorter MarvBauer, ElsevierEditor,RemoteSensingofEnvironment

WhatPublishersNeed?
Wanted
Originality Significantadvancesinfield Appropriatemethodsandconclusions Readability Studiesthatmeetethicalstandards Duplications Reportsofnoscientificinterest Workoutofdate Inappropriatemethodsorconclusions Studieswithinsufficientdata

NotWanted

Publishersneedquality!!!

WhichJournal?
Consider:
Aimsandscope(checkjournalwebsitesand recentarticles) Typesofarticles Readership Currenthottopics(gothroughrecentabstracts) Askingcolleaguesforadvice

JournalspecificAudiences
Doyouwanttoreachspecialists, multidisciplinaryresearchers,orageneral audience?Youwillneedtoadjustinformation andwritingstyleaccordingly Isthereadershipworldwideorlocal? Journals,eveninsimilarsubjects,reach readerswithdifferentbackgrounds Eachjournalhasitsownstyle;readother articlestogetanideaofwhatisaccepted

Format
Consultandapplythelistofguidelinesinthe GuideforAuthors Ensurethatyouusethecorrect:
Layout Sectionlength(sticktowordlimits) Nomenclature,abbreviationandspelling(Britishvs. American) Referenceformat Number/typeoffiguresandtables etc.

ArticleStructure
Title Authors Needtobeaccurateandinformativefor Abstract effectiveindexingandsearching Keywords Maintext
Introduction Methods Results Discussion(conclusion)

Eachhasadistinctfunction

Acknowledgements References Supplementarymaterial

Title
Do
Conveymainfindingsofresearch Bespecific Agoodtitleshouldcontainthefewest Beconcise possiblewordsthatadequatelydescribe Becomplete Attractreaders thecontentsofapaper Useunnecessaryjargon Useuncommonabbreviations Useambiguousterms Useunnecessarydetail Focusonpartofthecontentonly

Dont

Example
Slower processingiscorrelatedwithhigher levelsofdepressedmood,fatigue,lower verbal fluency,fewer wordsanddigitsrecalledand poorer recallofvisualspatialinformationinMS patients Relationshipsbetweeninformationprocessing, depression,fatigueandcognitioninmultiple sclerosis

AuthorsandAffiliations
Beconsistentwithspelling,fullversusshort names,fullversusshortaddresses
Surname:PerezGarcia/Perez/Garcia MiddleInitial:Useconsistentlyornotatall FirstName:Dave/David Affiliation:FacultyofMedicine/FacultyofMedical andHealthSciences

Abstract
Thequalityofanabstractwillstronglyinfluencethe editorsdecision Agoodabstract:
Ispreciseandhonest Canstandalone Usesnotechnicaljargon Isbriefandspecific Citesnoreferences

Usetheabstracttosellyourarticle

Keywords
Importantforindexing:enableyour manuscripttobemoreeasilyidentifiedand cited Shouldbespecific Avoiduncommonabbreviationsandgeneral terms Checktheauthorsguidelinesforjournal requirements

Example
Keywords:Schizophrenia,Neuregulin1, Associationstudy;Falsepositive;Linkage disequilibrium Keywords:Psychiatricdisorder,NRG1,LD,SNPs, Japaneselargesample,association FromFailuretoreplicatetheassociationbetweenNRG1andschizophrenia
usingJapaneselargesample(Ikedaetal.)

Introduction
Providethenecessarybackgroundinformation toputyourworkintocontext Shouldbeclearfromtheintroduction:
Whythecurrentworkwasperformed
Aims Significance

Whathasbeendonebefore Whatwasdoneinyourresearch(inbriefterms) Whatwasachieved(inbriefterms)

Introduction(cont.)
Do
Consulttheguideforauthorsforwordlimit Setthescene Outlinetheproblemandhypotheses Ensurethattheliteraturecitedisbalanced,upto dateandrelevant Defineanynonstandardabbreviationsandjargon

Introduction(cont.)
Dont
Writeanextensivereviewofthefield Citedisproportionatelyyourownwork,workof colleaguesorworkthatsupportsyourfindings whileignoringcontradictorystudiesorworkby competitors Describemethods,resultsorconclusionother thantooutlinewhatwasdoneandachievedin thefinalparagraph Overusetermslikenovelandforthefirsttime

Example
Rotenone isanaturallyoccurringplantcompoundderived fromtherootandbarkofsomeLuguminosae species Administrationofrotenonehasbeenshowntoleadto biochemical,anatomical,andbehavioralsymptoms resemblingParkinsonsdiseaseduetoneurotoxicity[13]. Previousstudieshaveshownthat However, otherstudies contradictthesefindingsUnderstandingtheexactmodeof actionofrotenoneshouldprovideadditionaluseful informationtowarditspossibleapplicationinoralcancer treatment.Inthisreport,we fromEssentialrolesofcaspases andtheirupstream regulatorsinrotenoneinducedapoptosis(Leeetal.)

Methods
Themethodssectionmustprovidesufficient informationsothataknowledgereadercan reproducetheexperiment UnlesstheGuideforAuthorsstatesotherwise, usethepasttense Thepresenttenseisusuallyonlyusedin methodologytypepapers

Results
Themainfindingsoftheresearch Do
Usefiguresandtablestosummarizedata Showtheresultsofstatisticalanalysis Comparelikewithlike

Dont
Duplicatedataamongtables,figuresandtext Usegraphicstoillustratedatathatcaneasilybe summarizedwithtext

Graphics
Whyreviewerparticularlysensitivetoclearandinformative graphics?
Readersoftenlookatthegraphicsfirstandmanytimesgono further

Illustrationsingraphicsshouldonlybeusetopresent essentialdata Betternottoincludeallthedatainformationingraphics (tables);alternatively,presentinginonesentence. Summarizeresultsinthetextwherepossible Sometimestablesaremoredirectandclearthangraphics whenshowingthesameinformation Betternotincludetoomuchdatainjustonegraphic; alternativesplitthemintotwoormoregraphics

Discussion
Describe
Howtheresultsrelatetothestudysaimsandhypotheses Howthefindingsrelatetothoseofotherstudies Allpossibleinterpretationsofyourfindings Limitationsofthestudy

Avoid
Makinggrandstatementsthatarenotsupportedbythe data
Ex:Thisnoveltreatmentwillmassivelyreducetheprevalenceof malariainthethirdworld

Introducingnewresultsorterms

Example
Inthepresentstudy,rotenonetreatmentcausedsignificant apoptosisinSAScells,asdemonstratedbyflowcytometric detectionofsubG1 DNAcontent,TUNELlabeling,DNA fragmentation,caspse3activation,andPARPcleavage. Shimizuetal.suggested thatrotenoneandotherinhibitorsof mitochondrialelectrontransportdonotcauseapoptosis,but inducenecroticcelldeath[11].However,othershaveshown thatcellstreatedwithrotenoneundergoapoptosis[12].The abilityofrotenone toinduceapoptosisornecrosismay dependuponthecelltypestudied,sincecellulardemiseby apoptoticmechanismsoccursreadilyinmanycelltypes,butin othercellsismoredifficulttoinduce[13]. ~Leeet.al

Conclusion
Shouldputyoustudyintocontext Describehowitrepresentsanadvanceinthe field Suggestfutureexperiments Butavoid
Repetitionwithothersections Beingoverlyspeculative Beingoveremphasizedtheimpactofyourstudy

Example
Insummary,findingsfromthepresentstudyareingeneral accordancewith previousstudiesthatsuggestThereisa needto establishdosedependenteffectsofEPAandDHA separatelyandindifferentpopulationgroups.Iffindingsfrom thisstudyareapplicabletoconsumptionoffish,thenintakeat theupperlevelofthecurrentUKguidelinerange[42]maynot influencecardiovascularriskfactorsinfairlyhealthy, normolipidemic andmiddleagedmales. FromInfluenceofverylongchainn3fattyacidsonplasma markersofinflammationinmiddleagedmen (Yusof et.al)

Acknowledgements
Acknowledgeanyonewhohashelpedyouwith thestudy,including:
Researcherswhosuppliedmaterials AnyonewhohelpedwiththewritingorEnglish,or offeredcriticalcommentsaboutthecontent Anyonewhoprovidetechnicalhelp

Statewhypeoplehavebeenacknowledgedand asktheirpermission Acknowledgesourcesoffunding,includingany grantorreferencenumbers

References
Checktheauthorsguidesforthecorrect format Check
Spellingofauthornames Punctuation Numberofauthorstoincludeusingetal. Referencestyle

References(cont.)
Avoid
Personalcommunications,unpublished observationsandsubmittedmanuscriptsnotyet accepted Citingarticlespublishedonlyinthelocallanguage Excessiveselfcitationandjournalselfcitation

Sources
FromElsevier