Writing a good scientific

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Writing a good scientific paper for publication
Peter Hanna Adjunct Professor Department of
Anatomy Mahidol University Rama 6 Road Bangkok
10400 Email scpjh_at_mahidol.ac.th Tel [phone]
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Topics to be covered

• Reasons for writing papers
• Choosing a journal
• Writing the paper
• Submission and review
• Writing tips and example papers

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Who wrote about a sun rather than an earth
centered system? The writer upset the Catholic
Church and was made to withdraw the idea or face
death.
Galileo Galilei (1564 1642)
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Who wrote On the Origin of Species? He
presented evidence that life evolved from common
ancestors. This upset many religions who
believed in creationism.
Charles Robert Darwin (1809 1882) FRS
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Who wrote on the deciphering of ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphs? There were several attempts on his
life during a major exploration trip through
Egypt.
Jean Francois Champollion (1790-1782) Learnt 14
languages as a boy, lecturer at 18 years,
doctorate at 19 years.
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Present papers posters at conferences
Dr Colin Nexhip PhD (Chemical Engineering),
1998 During his PhD he was invited by a Fellow
of the Royal Society (London) to attend a meeting
and present his PhD work I was one of the few
non-professors there to present my work to that
august audience
Feedback from conference talks/posters makes
writing easier.
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Write papers during your PhD

• Dr Scoresby Shepherd
• Wrote 10 papers (each a chapter) of which 8 were
  published.
• Writing of his PhD consisted of
• ? Abstract
• ? General Introduction (short)
• ? General Methods
• ? Results (written as 10 papers)
• ? Discussion (short)
• ? References

Writing papers during your PhD makes the end
easy!!
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Write papers during your research
Franklin's significant and relevant contribution
to DNA structure was only briefly mentioned in
Crick and Watson's Nobel Prize-winning paper.
Publish papers as soon as you can. First in
wins!!
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Nobel Prizes 2008 From left Dr. Harald zur
Hausen (72), of Germany. Dr. Françoise
Barré-Sinoussi (61), and Dr. Luc Montagnier
(76) of France.
What about Dr. Anthony Gallo of the National
Cancer Institute in Washington? First in wins
and this can happen to you!!
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Function of a science paper?

• Allows experimental work to be repeated
  (testable).
• Gives access of data to everyone (open access).
• Evaluate intellectual processes (findings
  justified, logical).
• Can provide a basis for applications (technology).

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Why publish science papers?

• Papers, conference presentations, and seminars,
  allow you establish a respectable CV.
• High quality papers give you peer recognition.
• Your published science papers will allow a
  referee to confidently make a recommendation.
• Papers will help you advance in science
  (employment, promotion, committees).
• Needed for grant applications.
• Just a good feeling of achievement!

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Some researchers do not publish!

• Research is not worthy of publication.
• Researcher only wants a PhD (ticket to a job).
• Researcher is too busy to publish (working).
• Researcher is pre-occupied (sport/opposite sex).
• Researcher is too critical of their own work.
• Researcher can not take criticism.
• Researcher is frightened to write
• Researcher can not write (mental block).

If you have not published your research you have
not done it!!
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Writing your science paper
Your supervisor and collaborators will provide
good support. Someone has to do a first draft!
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There are many books to help you write.
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How good are your research findings? Are they
ready to be published?

• Your major findings should contribute
  significantly to science (Where in big
  picture?) and lead to applications.
• A wide range of techniques and critical
  analyses through
• collaboration can give a better paper.
• Your paper should be novel and interesting.
• The high impact journals only accept important
  and
• interesting results.

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Short versus long paper format

• Short papers (e.g. Nature, Science, PNAS) are the
  hardest to write as they have to be very concise
  and engaging throughout.
• For some short format journals the first
  paragraph is also the abstract and describes
  both the significance of the work and the major
  achievements.
• Experimental details such as Materials and
  Methods are usually put in legends, at the end,
  or in on-line supplements.
• Long papers have classic headings (most papers).

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Things to consider before writing

• Select a journal suitable.
• Resolve authorship issues with your supervisors
  and collaborators (You will normally be the first
  author).
• Download instructions to authors.
• Download a similar paper to help formatting.
• Be sure that each table and figure is in an
  appropriate layout
• and with correct statistics (Be consistent!)
• Now collect all your data to present in tables,
  figures, graphs and text.
• Put them in an appropriate order (Is it a
  complete story?).
• Always use SI units or derived units.
• Have a database of references (software to format
  references).

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Dont present bad graphs or tables
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Hints to writing your science paper Set up an
electronic file

• Set up the electronic file in journal format.
• Writing is usually Times New Roman (Times) for
  text, Helvetica for tables and figures, and
  Courier New for molecular sequences.
• a Title (informative and specific) and title
  page information (Authors, addresses, contacts),
  Key words.
• Now add classical section headings (Abstract,
  Introduction, Materials Methods, Results,
  Discussion, Acknowledgements, References).
• Add Tables and Figures (and legends).

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Hints to writing your science paper (1) Title,
Authors, Addresses, Key Words

• Title, Authors, Addresses, Key Words and Abstract
  are used to electronically access your paper.
• Uses Boolean Logic (British Mathematician George
  Boole, 1815-1864).
• This AND that This OR that
  This but NOT that
• Important when you search for information.

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Key Words and Abstract
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Hints to writing your science paper (2)
Materials Methods

• This section it is a concise account of what you
  used and the techniques.
• Dont describe simple commonly used techniques
  and reference earlier techniques.
• Clearly state the details of specimen collection,
  sampling, and sample preparation.
• Write in past tense.
• Use specific and informative language.

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Hints to writing your science paper (3) Results

• Start with figures and tables that are legible,
  and presented in an easy to understand and
  eye-catching format.
• Write legends to tables, figures and graphs, and
  put at end of paper, and in order.
• Remember that a figure is worth a thousand
  words.
• Now write the Results text in past tense as if
  you were describing a story to your colleagues.
• Integrate quantitative data with the text.

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Hints to writing your science paper (4)
Introduction

• The first paragraph is crucial for catching the
  attention of the reviewer/audience.
• Here are two good starting sentences
• Cell polarity plays a fundamental role in
  development. By asymmetrically localizing
  determinants in cells before division, daughter
  cells can adopt different fates.
• Posttranscriptional regulation based on
  differential RNA metabolism is an important
  mechanism for temporal and spatial regulation of
  gene expression.

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Hints to writing your science paper (5)
Introduction

• The next paragraphs provide
• a background to the research (Where in the big
  picture?) with important references cited
• the research that needs to be done
• your research problem and hypotheses
• The last paragraph should be a short summary of
  what you set out to do and what you have
  achieved.
• It should be in the present tense as it refers to
  issues at the start of your work.

What are you really doing that is interesting,
novel and important??
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Hints to writing your science paper (6)
Discussion

• First paragraph should give a brief overview
  of the main
• findings of the paper, the final
  conclusions and an outline
• of the supporting data.
• Final paragraphs (Conclusions and Future
  directions)
• can make future predictions and in a broad
  statement but
• dont speculate wildly.
• e.g. In summary, we describe a new mechanism by
  which different forms of the same protein act in
  an antagonistic manner to regulate gene
  transcription. This mechanism appears to be
  evolutionarily conserved. Further studies will be
  necessary to confirm our hypothesis concerning
  the unexpected role of protein phosphorylation.

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Hints to writing your science paper (7)
Discussion

• Interpret your findings and support your
  conclusions with
• solid evidence.
• Refer to your data, citing tables and figures
  where necessary
• as evidence to support your major arguments.
• Describe whether your findings are consistent
  with those of
• other researchers. If not, why?
• How do your results fit into the big science
  picture?
• (defined in the Introduction) and what new
  knowledge have
• you created? And what is its significance?
• Do not present every conceivable explanation.
• Recognize the importance of negative results.
  Cases that
• do not conform to expectations might
  represent some
• breaking into new ground.
• Written in a mix of present and past tense.

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Hints to writing your science paper (8)
Acknowledgements

• Organizations that supplied grants and
  scholarships.
• People who critically read the paper.
• People who gave samples or materials (e.g.
  antibody).
• Technical and secretarial assistance.

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Hints to writing your science paper (9)
References

• Cite only the key and most up to date
  references.
• Follow the format of the journal.
• Number of references normally 30-40, unless a
  review.

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Hints to writing your science paper (10) Abstract

• Very important section as also used in
  electronic citations.
• Written last.
• Written in past tense.
• It should be brief and informative.
• Includes four main parts
• - research problem or purpose of the
  research
• - theoretical or experimental plan
• - summary of the major findings
• - conclusions

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Revising the manuscript

• Use all authors for reviewing
• Use a colleague
• Proofreading services UK 1000
  words for 6.95 GBP 354.750 THB)

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A checklist before submission

• Complies with Instructions to Authors?
• Tables and figures are well designed?
• Spell and grammar check done?
• Includes all science information required?
• Is anything misleading or incorrect?
• English tense correct and consistent?
• Does your novel science show out?
• Is anything plagarised from self or other
  source?
• Will electronic databases find your title,
  abstract, keywords?
• Authors have all checked final version?

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Peer review of a manuscript(also known as
refereeing)
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Peer review of a manuscript

• Different journals have different impact factors.
• You will send your manuscript to a journal
  editor.
• More journals now have on-line submission.
• You will be allocated a manuscript number.
• The journal editor and board can reject it and
  return it or send it out for peer review.
• Peers (experts in science) will read your
  manuscript and advise the editor to
• - unconditionally accept the
  manuscript
• - accept it but with the authors
  improve it in certain ways
• - reject it but encourage revision and
  invite resubmission
• - reject it outright

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What does a reviewer look for?

• Is it relevant to the specific journal?
• Is it original (novel) and interesting?
• Is it a significant breakthrough in the field?
• Does it have scientific rigor (good design and
  complete)?
• Is it well written and without errors?
• The failure of this system is undetected fraud
  and misconduct and plagiarism

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Some annoying things when reviewing

• Inconsistency in usage of terms and figure
  layouts.
• Use of English changes (e.g. words, tense,
  amount of
• detail some parts vs others).
• Instructions to Authors not followed.
• SI units not used.
• Bad statistics.
• Jargon (e.g. this would appear to indicate
  means
• the results indicate).
• Very long sentences.
• Spell and grammar check not done.
• Overstating what the results truly show.

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Receiving reviewers' comments

• Be mentally prepared for rejection, do not give
  up easily, and try to learn and adopt the sound
  comments for revising the manuscript for
  re-submission or for a new journal.
• Be prepared to make appropriate rebuttals.
• Be prepared to perform additional work.
• Make corrections to address the comments made by
  the reviewers.
• Thoroughly check proofs when they are sent .
• Be delighted with an acceptance and update
  your CV.

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Your future??

• Good luck in your career as a professional
  scientist
• May you follow a career track to an award of
  gold!