My mentor gave our lab a presentation recently on how to write a publishable manuscript. He was elected into the National Academy of Sciences last month and has tons of publications. Therefore, I recorded some bullet points of his presentation and hope it will help when you are about to write your own manuscripts.

Abstract/Summary

• The best of your paper
• Key findings and conclusions
• Significance of your findings
• Be sure that conclusion is supported by data
• Write after you finish your entire paper (can write first but need to revise the abstract at the end)

Introduction

• Short overview on the topic

• Clearly identify the gap to be closed

• Rationale to perform the described work

• Very important (reviewers already made mind after reading introduction)

• Hypothesis is optional

Materials and methods

• The easiest part of a paper

• Clear and concise

• Cite appropriate references for methods

• Describe controls (important) and new methods (in fully detail if the methods are new, old methods can be cited)

• Statistical analysis and animal use guidelines, sequencing data upload to database

Results

• Present in a clear and cohesive way: section by section

• Remember you are the story teller( give reasons)

• Draw conclusions and avoid lengthy discussion

• Bones and meat (backbone is the main findings/data, small findings are meat)

• Follow logical flow but not necessarily the timeline of the experiments

Discussion

• Discuss your findings in the context of what have been known

• Compare and contrast

  1. identify the uniqueness of your findings
  2. avoid to repeat the result section

• Differentiate speculations vs. conclusions

• Alternative explanations

• Significance of your findings

Reference

• Know the field

• Cite the right references; directly relevant to your work; avoid indirect citation if possible

• Don’t randomly select; know who are the pioneers and major contributors in the field

• Follow a journal format

• Can cite a review paper if many papers need to be cited

Title page

• The tile should be concise and capture the main findings

• Authors and affiliations

• Contact for corresponding author

• Keywords

Table

• Have a good title

• Professionally designed

• Utilize footnotes( explain the figures in detail)

• One table per page (typically)

• Not inserted in the text

Figure

• One per page(typically)

• Clear and neat

• Not inserted in the text

• At the end of the manuscript/paragraph

• Pay attentions to labels

Final version

• Clear and neat

• Comply with journal format

• Conclusions supported by data

• Decent English

Cover letter

• Concise and in professional tone

• Briefly explain the significance/uniqueness of your study

• Indicate desired editor

• Information for corresponding author

Recommending reviewers

• Know your field: who are the ones actively publishing in similar journals

• Recommend the ones who appreciate your work and give you a fair review

• Check the editorial board: who work in the same field will likely to review your paper (cite his/her work if relevant)

Excluding reviewers

• Feel free to use this right

• Editors will honor your choices

• Exclude only if you are sure

• Don’t exclude if not sure ( your friends may not be the best reviewers, while not-so-friendly people may give you a fair and positive review)

The review proces

• Two-tier process, screening by editors and then detailed review by experts familiar with your work(used by the most prestigious journals)

• Most journals will directly send your paper to individual reviewers

Brutal to critiques

• Respond in a confident and professional manner

• Clear describe what you take on each comment; agree, disagree, or clarification

• You don’t have to agree with each comment, but have to tell why you disagree

• Modify as best as you can

Language skills

• Essential for publication in English journals

• Write in correct grammars and in clarity

• Use accurate wording

• Revise words by words

English grammar

• Foundation -very important
• Sharpen your basic skills
• Common problems

1. Bad structure of sentences
2. Verb tense
3. Singular vs plural ( a recent study or recent studies)
4. Ambiguously

Wording and spelling

• Use the right words with varieties

• Expand your word repertoires

• Use the Thesaurus function in Word: synonymous and antonymous

use spelling check in Word

Ethics

• Plagiarism is a big concern

• Don’t copy other peoples texts, either intentionally or unintentionally

• There are software that determines plagiarism

• Provide appropriate citations for information used from others (you can put other people’s original words, just use quote)