How to Write a Paper Aimed Towards a Peer-reviewed Scientific Journal: a Brief Tutorial

RESEARCH SCHOOL IN STEM CELL BIOLOGY | LUND STEM CELL CENTER | LUND UNIVERSITY
COMPILED BY DAVID BRYDER JUNE 2020
2 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT

Part I. Before you start the writing process

1. Introduction • Are the numbers of figures/tables in line with
the guidelines of the journal?
The writing of a scientific paper is part of a longer 4. Is sufficient information provided for each result
process that often begins years before you start to draft shown?
your manuscript. Already when initiating your work, try • Can results be fully interpreted and are the
to always have in the back of your mind: conclusions drawn supported by the data?
5. Are the methods and the experiments presented
• Why is this project important?
so that they can be reproduced by an independent
• What is my overall hypothesis?
investigator?
• Are my experiments designed to address my main
6. Is the discussion relevant and to the point?
hypothesis and/or my sub hypotheses?
7. Is the language acceptable?
• Is the manuscript in need of editing by
These are of course very general/overarching questions
someone more proficient in English?
that go beyond the direct scope of this tutorial. But
assuming you can tick off these questions at least to a
reasonable extent, a few more direct questions you can As you work on your manuscript, keep in mind:
next ask yourself at the initiation of the writing stage • Value your work – if you do not do this, why
are: should the journal care?
1. What novelty can I provide by communicating my • There is no secret recipe for writing a scientific
work? paper – just some rules, dedication and hard
2. Does my work associate with one or more chal- work.
lenges in the field, and have I been able to provide a
solution to such challenges?
3. What are the drawbacks of my work? Editors and reviewers are busy. Therefore, make things
• Are these drawbacks new to field? easy to save them time. Also, being structured already at
• Do I introduce new potential questions the start of the writing phase will save yourself a great
previously not known/raised in the field? amount of time. This includes to establish a system for
4. Is my work timely? saving and organizing the different drafts of your paper
• Can I connect my work to a topic that is cur- and associated figures/tables. You rarely write a paper
rently getting a lot of attention? completely on your own. Therefore, to make sure co-
authors (or yourself ) work with the most recent versions,
If you feel that you can provide answers to these ques- establish a file naming system that is easy to follow.
tions, you should be in a good position to start to write
your paper. But before starting the writing process, it One suggestion for file naming could be:
can be useful to look at the process from the reviewer’s • Figure1_date_ initials of the person that saved the
perspective. current version
Most, if not all of the times, scientific journals require • Results_date_initials of the person that saved the
reviewers to complete a set of questions regarding the current version
manuscript:
1. Is the topic within the scope of the journal? As you will see, it is not recommended to work with
2. Does the paper contain (enough) new material? manuscripts that contain all sections. Rather, work with
3. Is the paper presented in a clear and concise man- subsections and do not assemble them into a complete
ner? manuscript until the end of the writing process, when
• Is the data information (figures and tables) you are ready to submit. When you have finalized a
structured well? section, move it to a folder “Final version” in which files
• Does the manuscript contain duplicated are named appropriately, f.i. Figure1_date_final etc. This
information? will also be helpful in the electronic submission process,
 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT 3

2. Targeting a journal
It is important to think about your target journal before When you have a list of potential
you start to write your manuscript. When searching target journals, visit and read the
for suitable journals, start with what you have read. websites for these journals. All
Assuming you are familiar with published studies that journals provide instructions and
are similar to yours (or perhaps better phrased, are in guidelines for authors.
the same subject area) - which journal/s were those
studies published in? The same journals are likely to be
appropriate for your manuscript. If you need to broaden Journals that are not a match should be eliminated. Of
journals to consider, conduct literature searches for the remaining journals, one or more will likely stand out
other published articles in your field with similar scopes as a preferred candidate.
and impact and see where they were published.
One can consider if additional experiments will increase
Submitting your manuscript to an unsuitable journal your chances of publishing in your top choice. This
can cause journal editors to reject the manuscript can be difficult to make a decision on before you have
without sending it for peer review. compiled all the data that you intend to communicate.
If you are in a hurry to publish, consider which journals
Selecting a journal that is in line with the subject area offer rapid publication. If none do, consider which has
of your study is obviously important. But there are also the highest publication frequency (some journals are
other factors to consider: weekly, some are monthly etc.). If your main goal is to
reach as many readers as possible, consider journals
The topics covered by the journal. If your research is with an open access option.
applied, target a journal that publishes applied science;
if it is clinical, target a clinical journal; if it is basic When you have chosen the journal you think is the
research, target a journal that publishes basic research. best fit for your study and your goals, it is a good idea
to also identify your second- and third-choice journals.
The audience of the journal. If your work extends to
That way, if your paper is rejected from your first-choice,
researchers outside of your field, a journal that covers a
you can more quickly submit to your second-choice
broad range of topics may be best. If your work is more
journal. One consideration can be to choose journals
specialized, a field-specific journal might be preferable.
that adhere to the same manuscript format as your
Length restrictions. Can you communicate your mes-
primary target. This can reduce the time you spend on
sage according to the journal’s guidelines regarding
re-writing/re-formatting.
length (word count, number of figures/tables etc.)?
The reputation of the journal. The journal’s impact factor 3. The format of your manuscript
is one measure of its reputation, although it is perhaps
Most journals consider several types of manuscripts, of
not always the most important. Other factors to consi-
which the most common are:
der can be the prestige of the researchers that publish in
the journal, and how many readers that are reached by Full original articles are often considered the most
the targeted journal. Try to consider how important your important papers. These often contain a large amount of
research is and what level of journal it is best suited for. data that aim to complete a defined piece of research.
This can avoid submitting to one journal after another Letters/rapid/short communications. The original
and hence waste time. Consider that rejection rates objective of these papers is to allow for publication of
of many of the most high-tiered journals (e.g., Nature, quick and early communication of advances that are
Science, The Lancet and Cell) are >90 percent! more limited/defined. However, especially in the era of
being able to complement papers with supplementary
Other factors to consider online information, this format can vary quite a lot
Is the “time to publication” important for you? Remem- from journal to journal. F.i. a letter in the journal BLOOD
ber that the publication process/time can vary substan- allows for a maximum of 1,200 words, 2 figures/tables
tially from journal to journal. That said, the development and 25 references, whereas a brief definitive report in
and growing use of preprint repositories (such as the Journal of Experimental Medicine allows for 20,000
[Link]) is likely to overcome some aspects with (too) characters of text, 5 figures/tables and an unlimited
untimely review processes. number of references.
4 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT

Review papers or perspectives typically summarize 5. The structure of your paper

recent work on a specific and timely topic, without pro-
With some exceptions, most scientific journals adhere
viding any new information. These articles are typically
the same structure:
submitted by invitation from the journal’s editor.
• A Title page that contains the Title, a running title, a
When looking at the information you have at hand, you list of the Authors (along with their affiliations) and
should evaluate your own work: is it sufficient for a full sometimes a set of keywords and “bullet points”
article, or should they be shown as soon as possible but (the latter that are commonly used for online
from the perspective of a more defined (smaller) point? promotional activities)
Some argue that it can be beneficial to submit full • An Abstract
research papers, with the argument that these have a • The main text section, which is most commonly di-
higher acceptance rate than reports/letters. They will vided into separate sections: Introduction, Methods,
then leave it to the editor to decide whether the manus- Results and Discussion
cript is more suitable as a report. There might be some • Acknowledgments
truth in this, although you should remember that your • References
most exiting data might be more difficult to identify if • Supplementary Material
intermixed with less exciting/incomplete data.
Whatever type of article you write, plan to submit only This general structure follows the IMRAD format, which
one manuscript rather than a series of manuscripts. If was introduced as a standard by the American National
you have so much data that it will not fit into a single Standards Institute, and aims to respond to:
paper (a luxury situation!), outline several papers
instead. But then, could it be that you have waited too • Introduction: What did you do in your work and
long before you started to write up your work?. why did you do it?
• Methods: How did you do it?
4. The journal requirements • Results: What did you find?
• And
When you have selected the journal to which you aim to
• Discussion: What does it all mean?
submit your paper, go to its webpage and download the
instructions for authors. Read the guidelines carefully
and return to them whenever you might be unsure of
6. Ethics in publishing
issues on form. The processes of research, including its dissemination,
is intimately coupled to ethical considerations. These
The author guidelines include detailed editorial guideli-
include awareness of plagiarism and stealing work from
nes such as submission procedures, fees for publishing
colleagues. This can lead to serious consequences both
open access, and copyright and ethical guidelines. As
professionally and legally. Other violations include data
you must apply these guidelines to your manuscript,
fabrication and falsification, the improper use of human
apply them even to the first draft by using the proper
subjects and animals in research, and using another
text layout, references citation, nomenclature, figures
author’s ideas or wording without proper acknowledg-
and tables etc. By adhering to this you will save both
ment. While beyond the scope of this tutorial, several
your own and the editor’s time.
educational resources are available on this topic,
including from COPE ([Link]
about/our-organisation), which specifically deals with
the ethics of research publishing.

You should be aware that editors and

reviewers may interpret poorly pre-
pared manuscripts as unprofessional
and an indication of lack of integrity
and respect.
 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT 5

Part II. The writing process in practice

Introduction 2. Review the literature related to the topic and select
When you begin to structure your paper according to papers (20-30) that can be cited in your paper (these will
the IMRAD format, a first thing to consider is the order be listed in the References).
in which the different sections are written. It is rarely,
if ever, possible to write a scientific paper starting with Finally, some small notes on form:
the Introduction, then the Methods and so on. A more Do not split the manuscript among the co-authors. It
practical workflow for the preparation of your manus- is better to write a first complete draft, and then the
cript items is instead: co-authors can amend and add new text. In this way,
you ensure coherence. Remind the co-authors to track
1. Prepare the Figures and Tables and write accompa- their changes.
nying Figure legends.
2. Write up the Results. Some obvious issues to avoid:
3. Write the Methods. • Sentences that do not follow each other logically.
4. Write the Discussion. Finalize the Results and Discu- • Sentences that are difficult to understand by non-
ssion before writing the Introduction. You will come initiated readers.
to see that unless having the Results and Discussion • Grammatical errors
sections ready, it is more or less impossible to write • Spelling mistakes and typos
an Introduction.
5. Write a clear Conclusion (this is not applicable as an
own section for all journals and in those instances
”Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence
instead should be integrated with the Discussion). should contain no unnecessary words, a
6. Write an Introduction. paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for
7. Write the Abstract.
8. Compose a concise and descriptive Title and if
the same reason that a drawing should have
applicable, a Running Title. no unnecessary lines and a machine no
9. Write the Acknowledgements and Author contribu- unnecessary parts. This requires not that the
tions.
10. Format the References.
writer make all his sentences short, or that he
avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in
There are several reasons for this workflow, but in short outline, but that he make every word tell.”
we assume that the content in figures/tables are what
(Strunk and White, The Elements of Style)
we are to communicate. Therefore, without having this
section complete, it will simply not be possible to transi-
As a rule, shorter sentences are always better, both in
tion to any of the other sections.
general and in science. Non-native English speakers
It is also not rare that the assembly of figures and
should pay particular attention to this. Excessive
tables exposes “holes” in the study that can be filled
sentence lengths come with many issues, including the
(both experimentally or that can be more specifically
use of passive voice (try to avoid!) and poor sentence
approached in the discussion/introduction), thereby
structures.
allowing for the writing of a more cohesive manuscript.

It is a fact that scientific manuscripts are known for their

Before going into more specific details on the processes
long sentences. In one general guideline, the average
of each of the parts listed above, some general conside-
sentence length in scientific manuscripts should be
rations before starting to write are:
12-17 words, while it has been reported that the average
sentence length is 25-30 words in the peer-reviewed
1. The topic that has been investigated should be the
literature.
first issue to be solved. Define in writing the underlying
hypothesis, rationale and objectives of the work conduc-
ted (these will go into the Introduction).
6 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT

A general recommendation for increased readability choice is, no illustrations should duplicate the informa-
may be to aim for sentences to be around 20 words. Ho- tion described elsewhere in the manuscript.
wever, instead of trying to make sentences fit a defined
word length, a better idea is to evaluate the amount of A main goal when putting together the data is that figu-
information per sentence. If the reader cannot remem- res/tables and their legends should be self-explanatory.
ber how the sentence began, it is clearly too long. Try to Basically, this means that by looking at only the figures/
limit sentences to contain only one idea, or differently tables and associated legend texts, it should be possible
phrased, think of the breaks between sentences as to get a complete picture of all the experiments that are
places where the reader can pause and process the communicated and what the data look like.
information.
Once you have assembled your figures/tables/legends,
Longer sentences work better when you have captured let a colleague less initiated in your project have a quick
the interest of your reader and you need to reason. Shor- look at them and in bullet points write down his/her
ter sentences are preferred when trying to keep your description of the work communicated. If there are large
reader engaged. Therefore, try to mix sentence types to discrepancies with what you want to say, you should
keep your audience engaged. likely revise your illustrations.

Some points to make your text more easily handled by Practicalities

the reviewers: • When creating tables, never include vertical lines to
separate groups from one another.
• Keep the text and layout style consistent throug- • Make your best to try to avoid crowded plots/
hout the manuscript by using the same font and graphs. As a guideline, use only 3-4 data sets per
font size in the text, figures and tables. Double line figure and pay attention to select scales that il-
spacing and 12-point font is preferred, with clear lustrate your data in the best way. Remove as many
margins. words as possible from the figure.
• Number all pages • Be careful with axis labels; apart from adopting a
• Pay attention to the abbreviations; they should be habit to select appropriate font sizes (so that the
defined on the first use in both abstract and the reader can actually read the text when the figure
main text (also in the legends of figures and tables). is sized for the journal), look at the wording of the
Many journals do not allow abbreviations in the label itself – does it really denote what I show?
abstract. Refer to the journal’s Guide for Authors to • If you distinguish data sets from one another by
see the requirements for abbreviations. using alternative symbols, make sure to use clear
symbols that can be easily distinguished from each
other.
BREAKING DOWN THE WRITING OF • Avoid including excessive tables. If you feel the in-
YOUR MANUSCRIPT formation is necessary to communicate, try instead
to include it as supplemental material.
1. Preparation of Figures and Tables • If you are using photographs, each must have a
Illustrations of your data are the most efficient way to scale marker, or scale bar, of professional quality in
present your results. Never forget that your data is what one corner.
your paper is all about, so your illustrations are critical. • Be neat, align figures and arrange them in a nice
While a scientific paper of course never should be order. Make sure to use matching colors etc. Make
accepted simply because it contains beautiful figures, it sure to use the same fonts everywhere and that text
is easy to foresee the rejection of a submitted paper that is readable in a printed article.
has poorly prepared/sloppy figures. After all, if you do
not invest sufficient time and energy on trying to clarify It is rare that a figure is made perfect from start. Most
your message, how can you expect a reader to invest of the time, one needs to revise it many times before
time in understanding it? ending up with an appropriate final version. Make use of
A first consideration is to decide between presenting your colleagues/co-authors; if you cannot get the mes-
your data in table format or as figures. While a (too?) ge- sage easily across to them, how can you expect effective
neralized statement, it can be argued that tables provide communication to the more uninitiated?
the actual experimental results, while figures are often
used to make illustrative points. However, whatever your
 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT 7

Previously, the use of color illustrations was associated 2. Writing up the Results
with excessive extra publication charges, which was pro-
The Results section should aim to answer the question
bably a strong driving force behind the rather accepted
”What have you found?”.
habit of illustrating data in black and white figures. This
situation has changed, not the least with the emergence The results presented should be essential for the discus-
of online publication. A word of caution is however sion. However, in most cases, only representative results
that the use of colors is not as straightforward as using from your research are presented. Now, “representative”
black/white illustrations. Emphasis needs to be put on here does not refer to you selecting only the data that
that color scales used are consistent and remember also fits your interpretations, but refers to the key data of
that a substantial fraction of people suffers from color your work that show your points.
blindness. There is also a limitation as to how many Keep in mind that the majority of data generated in a
colors can be used in a graph - it can be very difficult to project will never be published, as there is simply no
separate groups from each other if a nuance of a color is room for flooding the reader with “obvious” data (such
the only discriminator. as titration of reagents and other control experiments).
A common problem is the misuse of lines and histo- However, remember that most journals these days offer
grams. Lines joining data should only be used when the possibility of adding supporting material. It is a bad
presenting time series or consecutive samples data. habit to ”hide” data in the hope of saving it for a later
Therefore, when there is no connection between paper that yet has been structured; at the same time,
samples, use histograms. Finally, make sure you use you of course do not want “good data” to be “buried” as
lines, number of decimals, decimal separators (use supplementary material.
always dots, not commas) and position of units (above) Use sub-headings to keep results of the same type
for a clearer table: together, which is easier to review and read. A practical
suggestion is to structure your text subheadings such
Example: that each subheading refers to one figure/table, but
Age Weight BM cellularity always take into account the publisher’s Guide for
2 months 16,2 g 90 x 10(6) Authors.
12 months 20,4 g 105 x 10(6)
24 months 25,1 g 115 x 10(6) For the data, decide on a logical order that tells a clear
story and makes it easy to understand. Generally, you
Errors: Labels (“months”) and scale units (“x 10(6)”) should structure the order of the methods section in
located inside the table along with a misuse of decimal the same manner. Avoid unspecific expressions such as
separator (commas rather than points). BM: a rather ”higher temperature”, ”at a lower rate”, ”highly signifi-
specialized abbreviation. cant”. Quantitative descriptions are always preferred
(35ºC, 0.5%, p<0.001, respectively).
Preferred: Minimize references in the Results section; you are pre-
Age (months) Weight (g) Bone marrow senting your results. If you refer to others, this is because
cellularity you are discussing your results, which is better included
(x 106) in the Discussion.
2 16,2 90 Finally, describe only what your data actually shows –
12 20,4 105 not more, not less. Do not “oversell” the results, as this
will make it easy for the reviewers to criticize.
24 25,1 115

Some brief suggestions on statistics:

An integral part of making illustrations of your figures
• Indicate the statistical tests used with relevant
is the completion of descriptive legend text to each of
parameters: e.g., mean and standard deviation (SD):
your illustrations. Typically, these texts are very concise
44% (±3); median and interpercentile range: 7 years
and to the point.
(4.5 to 9.5 years).
For practical guidance, look at some articles published in
• Use mean and standard deviation/standard error of
the target journal and see how legend texts are structu-
the mean to report normally distributed data.
red in those. Then follow the same structure when you
• Use median and ranges to report skewed data.
describe your own data.
• For numbers, use two significant digits unless more
precision is necessary (2.08, not 2.07856444).
8 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT

3. Writing up your Methods section imagination. To achieve appropriate interpretations,

think about:
The methods section responds to the question of how
the problem was studied. • How do my results relate to the original ques-
tion or objectives?
If your paper is proposing a new method, you need to
• Does the data support your hypothesis?
include detailed information so that a knowledgeable
• Are your results consistent with what other
reader can reproduce the experiment. However, do not
investigators have reported?
repeat the details of established methods; use referen-
• Discuss weaknesses and discrepancies. If your
ces and supporting material to indicate the previously
results are unexpected, try to explain why.
published procedures. Broad summaries or key referen-
• Is there another way to interpret your results?
ces are sufficient, especially if you can refer to methods
• What further research would be necessary to
already published by your own laboratory.
answer the questions raised by your results?
Reviewers might criticize incomplete or incorrect
4. Explain what is new with the work, but without
methods descriptions and may recommend rejec-
exaggerating.
tion, because this section is critical in the process of
reproducing your work. Therefore, all reagents must be Remember that revision of Results and Discussion is not
identified, typically by providing also the identity of the just paper work. Reflecting on your data might lead to
suppliers and their location. the realization that you need to do further experiments,
List the methods in the same order that they will appear derivations, or simulations. Sometimes you cannot
in the Results section, in the logical order in which you clarify your idea in words because some critical items
communicate the research. This is not necessarily in the have not been studied substantially.
same order in which you did the research. Remember
that your objective is to communicate a flow of results. 5. Writing a Conclusion
In the methods section, avoid adding comments, results In this section, you should show how the work advances
and discussion. the field from the present state of knowledge. In some
journals this a separate section, while in others it is
4. Writing the Discussion typically the last paragraph of the Discussion. Whatever
the case, without conclusions, reviewers and readers
Here you aim to respond to the question: “What do the
cannot judge your work and whether it merits publica-
results mean?”.
tion in the journal.
Some argue that the Discussion is the easiest section to
A common error in this section is to repeat the infor-
write, but the hardest section to get right. Here you sell
mation in the abstract, or just listing experimental
your data. Many manuscripts are rejected because the
results. Also, trivial statements of your results should be
Discussion is weak.
avoided.
You need to make the Discussion corresponding to
You should provide a clear scientific justification for your
the Results, but do not reiterate the results! You should
study and, if appropriate, indicate uses and extensions
compare the published results from your colleagues
of your work. Moreover, you can suggest future experi-
with yours using some of the references included in
ments and point out those that are underway. You can
the Introduction. Do not ignore work in disagreement
propose both broad and more specific conclusions, in
with yours. Instead, you should confront such work and
relation to the objectives that you originally outlined.
convince the reader that you are correct (or better).

Practical guidelines when writing the Discussion:

1. Avoid statements that go beyond what the results
can support. Remember that most journals ask their
reviewers whether the interpretations are suppor-
ted by the data shown.
2. Avoid sudden introduction of new terms or ideas;
you must present everything in the introduction, to
be confronted with your results here.
3. Speculations on possible interpretations are allo-
wed, but these should be based on facts rather than
 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT 9

6. Writing the Introduction 7. Writing the Abstract

In this section, you should aim to convince the readers The abstract tells prospective readers what you did
that you clearly know why your work is useful. and what the important findings in your research were.
Together with the title, it is the advertisement of your
A good introduction should answer the following
article. Make it interesting and easily understood. Avoid
questions:
using uncommon abbreviations and references.
• What is the problem to be solved? You must be accurate and use the words that convey the
• Are there any existing solutions? precise meaning of your research. The abstract provides
• Which solution is the best? a short description of the perspective and purpose
• What is the main limitation of this solution? of your paper. It provides key results, but minimizes
• What do you hope to achieve by applying your experimental details. It is very important to keep in
solution? mind that the abstract offers a short description of the
interpretation/conclusion in the last sentence.
Editors like perspectives that are consistent with the A clear abstract will strongly influence whether or not
scope of the journal. You need to introduce the main sci- your work is further considered. However, the abstracts
entific publications on which your work is based, citing must be kept as brief as possible. Check the ’Guide for
original and important work, including recent review Authors’ of the journal for more specific information, but
articles. Put an emphasis on avoiding improper citations normally they allow for only 250 words or less.
(irrelevant to the work), or inappropriate judgments on
your own achievements. In an abstract, an answer to the highlighted questions is
essential:
What is the rational for this study?
Some additional tips for the introduction:
“Relapse of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains a
• Never use more words than necessary (be significant clinical challenge due to limited therapeutic
concise and to-the-point). Long introductions options and poor prognosis. Leukemic stem cells (LSCs)
put readers off. are the cellular units responsible for relapse in AML,
• Quickly get to the focus of the topic and study. and strategies that target LSCs are thus critical. One
• We all know that you want to present your new proposed potential strategy to this end is to break the
data. But do not forget that you first need to give quiescent state of LSCs, thereby sensitizing LSCs to
the whole picture. conventional cytostatics. The hypoxia-inducible factor
• The introduction should be organized from the (HIF) pathway is a main driver of cellular quiescence and
larger perspective to the particular point of view, a potential therapeutic target, with precedence from
guiding the readers to your objectives. both solid cancers and leukemias.”

• State the purpose of the paper and research What has been done?
strategy adopted to answer the question, but “Here, we used a conditional knockout Hif-1α mouse
do not mix introduction with results, discussion model together with a standard chemotherapy regimen
and conclusions. Always keep them separate to to evaluate LSC targeting in AML.”
ensure that the manuscript flows logically from What are the main findings?
one section to the next. “Contrary to expectation, our studies revealed that
• Hypothesis and objectives should be clearly Hif-1α-deleted-leukemias displayed a faster disease
remarked at the end of the introduction. progression after chemotherapy.”

• Expressions such as ”novel,” ”first time,” ”first Conclusion/s.

ever,” and ”paradigm-changing” should be used “Our studies thereby challenge the general notion of
sparsely. cancer stem cell sensitization by inhibition of the HIF
pathway, and warrant caution when applying HIF inhibi-
tion in combination with chemotherapy in AML.”
10 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT

8. Composing a descriptive title Today, most journals also have the policy that the
authors should provide a statement on their contribu-
The title must explain what the paper is broadly about
tion – for more details on this, consult the instructions
and it is preferable that it consists of the major conclu-
from the journal.
sion of the manuscript. It is your first (and probably best)
opportunity to attract the reader’s attention. In this way,
remember that the first readers are the Editor and the 10. Formatting the References
referees. Also, readers are the potential authors who will In the text, you should cite the scientific publications
cite your article, so the first impression is very important. on which your work is based. However, do not use too
many references! Avoid excessive self-citations and
We are flooded by publications and cannot read them scrutinize the references you intend to use: is this the
all. The title is important for selecting what to read. An original paper? Did they really show what I claim they
established stem cell scientist once remarked about said?
an older paper from his laboratory that it got too little
attention because of the boring title: Minimize personal communications, restrict the
inclusion of unpublished observations and manuscripts
”bcl-2 inhibits apoptosis of neutrophils but not their submitted but not yet accepted for publication. Avoid to
engulfment by macrophages” cite publications that are not peer reviewed.
Rather, his own suggestion was:
You will find the practical information for each journal’s
”They get eaten alive”
policy on citations in the journal’s Guide for Authors. It is
There might be some truth in this… a good rule to minimize personal communications, but
Reviewers will check whether the title is specific and if you anyway decide to include such information, reflect
whether it reflects the content of the manuscript. Editors on how you include unpublished observations. These
do not approve of titles that make no sense or fail to can sometimes be necessary, but consider whether
adequately represent the subject matter. Hence, keep they strengthen or weaken your paper. You might also
the title informative and concise (clear, descriptive, and consider articles published on preprint servers, but it
not too long). You should avoid technical jargon and is very important to remember that this is not peer-
abbreviations. This is because you want to attract a reviewed research!
readership as large as possible. Dedicate time to think
You should use software, such as EndNote, to format
about the title and discuss it with your co-authors.
your references in the paper. You can find information
about the reference management program EndNote
9. Acknowledgments and author here: [Link]
contributions ment/endnote
In the acknowledgement section, you can thank people
that have contributed to work but not to an extent
that justify authorship. For example, you can include
technical help and assistance with writing and proo-
freading. Probably, the most important thing is to thank
your funding agency or the agency giving you a grant
or fellowship. Typically, your funding agencies have
guidelines for how to acknowledge their funding.

INSPIRATION SOURCES FOR THIS TUTORIAL

How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, Robert A. Day, Barbara Gastel, Greenwood Press
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
 WRITING A JOURNAL MANUSCRIPT 11

Research School in Stem Cell

Biology
The Research School in Stem Cell Biology is an academic consortium that focuses on
excellence in research training and career development of young researchers. Our
principal aim is to provide the next generation of stem cell scientist with an excellent
starting platform for a successful career in the field of stem cell biology.
The Research School is supported by StemTherapy, a Strategic Research Area for Stem
Cells and Regenerative Medicine.

CONTACT
Christine Karlsson, PhD
Executive Director
Email: [Link]@[Link]

David Bryder, PhD

Scientific Director
Email: [Link]@[Link]

[Link] LUND UNIVERSITY

Box 117
221 00 Lund
Tel 046-222 00 00
[Link]