HOW TO WRITE A WORLD CLASS PAPER

Larry Li (李百炼教授)

Professor of Ecology

University of California at Riverside

Elsevier Author Workshop

March 27, 2009

Outline

To publish or not to publish…

Writing a quality manuscript

Preparations

Article construction

Language

Technical details

Revisions and response to reviewers

Ethical issues

Conclusions: getting accepted

To publish or not to

publish…

Why publish?

Scientists publish tosharewith the research

communityfindings that advance knowledge and

understanding

To present new, original results or methods

To rationalize published results

To present a review of the field or to summarize a

particular topic

Publish or perishFunding Bodies

Grant Writing

Scientists/ Clinicians

Journal Publication

Publishers do not want zero-cited articles

Editors now regularly analyze citations per article

“The statistic that 27% of our papers were not cited in 5 years was disconcerting. It certainly indicates that it is important to maintain high standards when

accepting papers... nothing would have been lost

except the CV's of those authors would have been

shorter…”

–MarvBauer, Editor, Remote Sensing of Environment

Publishers do want qualityWANTED Originality Significant advances in field Appropriate methods and conclusions Readability Studies that meet ethical standards

NOT WANTED Duplications Reports of no scientific interest Work out of date Inappropriate methods or conclusions Studies with insufficient data

“Just because it has not been done before is no justification for doing it now.”

–Peter Attiwill, Editor-in-Chief, Forest

Ecology and Management

I would also add that ‘Just because someone else already

used a technique or method to study species A or site A is

no justification for you to do it for species B or site B.”

Can I publish this?

Have you done something new and interesting?

Have you checked the latest results in the field?

Have the findings been verified?

Have the appropriate controls been performed?

Do your findings tell a nice story or is the story

incomplete?

Is the work directly related to a current hot topic?

Have you provided solutions to any difficult problems?If all answers are “yes”, then start preparing your manuscript.

Writing a quality manuscript

Preparations

What type of manuscript?

Full articles / Original articles

Letters / Rapid Communications / Short Communications

Review papers / Perspectives or Viewpoints

Self-evaluate your work: Is it sufficient for a full article? Or are your results so thrilling that they need to be revealed as soon as possible?

Ask your supervisor and colleagues for advice on manuscript type. Sometimes outsiders may see things more clearly than you.

Who is the audience?

Do you want to reach specialists,

multidisciplinary researchers, or a general

audience? You will need to adjust information and writing style accordingly

Journals, even in similar subjects, reach readers with different backgrounds

Each journal has its own style; read other

articles to get an idea of what is accepted

Is the readership worldwide or local?

Which journal?

Consider:

–Aims and scope (check journal websites and recent articles)

–Types of articles

–Readership

–Current hot topics (go through recent

abstracts)

–Asking colleagues for advice

Sometimes it is necessary to lower one’s sights or return to the lab/clinic to obtain more data

DO NOT gamble by scattering your manuscript to many journals

Only submit once!

International ethics standards

prohibit multiple simultaneous

submissions, and editors DO find

out!

Consulting the Guide for Authors will

save your time and the editor’s

All editors hate wasting time on poorly

prepared manuscripts

It is a sign of disrespect

Format

Consult and apply the list of guidelines in the “Guide for Authors”

Ensure that you use the correct:

–Layout

–Section lengths (stick to word limits)

–Nomenclature, abbreviations and spelling (British vs. American)

–Reference format

–Number/type of figures and tables

–Statistics