ACADEMIC SKILLS

WRITING

MARGA KOELEN
m.t.koelen@utwente.nl
© Marga Koelen
 WHY PUBLISH

§ Publishing is one of the necessary steps embedded in the scien>fic research

process.
§ It is also necessary for gradua>on and career progression

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 WHAT TO PUBLISH

What to publish:
§ New and original results or methods
§ Reviews or summaries of parCcular subject
§ Manuscripts that advance the knowledge and understanding in a certain
scienCfic field

What NOT to publish:

§ Reports of no scienCfic interest
§ Out of date work
§ DuplicaCons of previously published work
§ Incorrect/unacceptable conclusions
§ You need a strong, effecCve manuscript to present your contribuCons to the
scienCfic community.

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 YOU NEED

§ Good content: useful and exci7ng

§ A good presenta7on of the data; clear and logically constructed

What is a strong manuscript?

§ Has a novel, clear, useful, and exci7ng message
§ Presented and constructed in a logical manner
§ Reviewers and editors can grasp the scien7fic significance easily

Tip:
Editors and reviewers are all busy scien7sts. Make things easy to save their 7me.

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 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE YOU WRITE

Think about WHY you want to publish your work.

§ Is it new and interesCng?
§ Is it a current hot topic?
§ Have you provided soluCons to some difficult problems?
§ Are you ready to publish at this point?

If all answers are “yes”, then start preparaCons for your manuscript

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 SELECT THE BEST JOURNAL

Look at your references – these should help you narrow your choices.

Review recent publications in each “candidate journal”. Find out the hot topics, the accepted types of
articles, etc.

Ask yourself the following questions:

§ Is the journal peer-reviewed to the right level?
§ Who is this journal’s audience?
§ How fast does it make a decision or publish your paper?
§ What are the various Impact metrics for the journal?
§ Do you want/need to publish Open Access?
§ Does it really exist or is dubious? (check for example archived version of Beall’s List of
Predatory Open Access Publishers)

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CHOOSE THE RIGHT JOURNAL

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IMPACT FACTOR

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IMPACT FACTORS

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AUDIENCE FOR YOUR PAPER

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 TIPS

So you now have a list of candidate journals for your manuscript……

All authors of the submission agree to this list and the sequence of journals

Write your draft as if you are going to submit to the first journal on your list. Use
its Guide for Authors - these differ per journal

DO NOT gamble by submitting your manuscript to more than one journal at a

time. International ethics standards prohibit multiple/simultaneous submissions,
and editors DO find out!

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GUIDE TO AUTHORS

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SUBMISSIONS

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 SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE

Write direct and short sentences – more professional looking.

One idea or piece of information per sentence is sufficient.

Avoid multiple statements in one sentence – they are confusing to the reader.

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BUILDING THE ARTICLE

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TITLE

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 KEYWORDS

§ Look at the keywords of articles relevant to your manuscript

§ Play with these keywords, and see whether they return relevant
§ papers, neither too many nor too few – a good guideline.

§ Avoid making them

§ too general (“drug delivery”, “mouse”, “disease”, etc.)
§ too narrow (so that nobody will ever search for it)

§ keywords determine whether your article is found or not!

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 ABSTRACT

Tell readers what you did and the important findings

1. One paragraph (between 50-250 words) often, plus Highlight bullet points
2. Advertisement for your article, and should encourage reading the entire paper
3. A clear abstract will strongly influence if your work is considered further

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 INTRODUCTION

The place to convince readers that you know why your work is relevant, also for
them.

Answer a series of questions:

§ What is the problem?
§ Are there any existing solutions?
§ Which one is the best?
§ What is its main limitation?
§ What do you hope to achieve?

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 TIPS FROM AN EDITOR / A PUBLISHER

§ Before you present your new data, put them into perspective first
§ Be brief, it is not a history lesson
§ Do not mix introduction, results, discussion and conclusions. Keep them
separate
§ Do not overuse expressions such as “novel”, “first time”, “first ever”, “paradigm
shift”, etc.

§ Cite only relevant references

Otherwise the editor and the reviewer may think you don’t have a
clue what you are writing about!

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 METHODS

§ Include all important details so that the reader can repeat the work.
§ Details that were previously published can be omi?ed but a general summary of those experiments
should be included
§ Give vendor names (and addresses) of equipment etc. used
§ Do not use proprietary, unidenHfiable compounds without descripHon. State purity and/or supplier if it
is important.
§ Present proper control experiments
§ Avoid adding comments and discussion
§ Write in the past tense
§ Most journals prefer the passive voice, some the acHve.
§ Consider use of Supplementary Materials, Documents, spreadsheets, audio, video, ...

Reviewers will cri+cise incomplete or incorrect method descrip+ons, and may even recommend rejec+on

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 RESULTS

The following should be included

§ the main findings
Thus not all findings. Decide what to share.
Findings from experiments described in the methods section
§ Highlight findings that differ from findings in previous publications, and
unexpected findings
§ Results of the statistical analysis

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 FIGURES AND TABLES

§ Figures and tables are the most efficient way to present results
§ Results are the driving force of the publication
§ Captions and legends must be detailed enough to make figures and tables self-
explanatory
§ Figures and tables should not need further explanation or description in text.
Less writing and less reading. Let your figures do the work instead of words.

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 DISCUSSION
It is the most important section of your article. Here you get the chance to sell your data!
Many manuscripts are rejected because the Discussion is weak.

Check for the following:

§ Do your results relate to the original question or objectives outlined in the Introduction section?
§ Do you provide interpretation for each of your results presented?
§ Are your results consistent with what other investigators have reported? Or are there any differences?
Why?
§ Are there any limitations?
§ Does the discussion logically lead to your conclusion?

Do not:
§ Make statements that go beyond what the results can support
§ Suddenly introduce new terms or ideas

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 CONCLUSIONS

§ Present global and specific conclusions

§ Indicate uses and extensions if appropriate
§ Suggest future experiments and indicate whether they are underway

Do not summarise the paper; the abstract is for that purpose

Avoid judgments about impact; others can comment, you should not.

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 REFERENCES

§ Please adhere to the Guide for Authors of the journal

§ It is your responsibility, not of the Editor’s, to format references correctly!
§ Get help, save time - use Reference management software: Mendeley

Check
Referencing style of the journal
The spelling of author names, the year of publication
Punctuation use

Avoid citing the following if possible:

§ Personal communications, unpublished observations, manuscripts not yet accepted for publication
§ Articles published only in the local language, which are difficult for international readers to find

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PEER REVIEW PROCESS

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ACCEPTED OR REJECTED

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REVISION: MAJOR OR MINOR

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WHAT LEADS TO ACCEPTANCE

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 FINALLY

No one gets it right the first time: Write, and re-write ….!!!

Suggestions
§ After writing a first version, take several days of rest. Come back with a critical,
fresh, view.
§ Ask colleagues and supervisor to review your manuscript. Ask them to be highly
critical, and be open to their suggestions.
§ Make changes to incorporate comments and suggestions. Get all co-authors to
approve the version to submit.
§ Then it is the point in time to submit your article!

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 GRAMMARLY

https://www.grammarly.com
§ Great Writing, Simplified
§ Compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing with Grammarly’s AI-powered writing
assistant.

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 CO-AUTHORS
§ Guidelines for (co-)authorship vary among disciplines and countries
§ Generally, authorship implies that you have substanCally contributed to at least
two of the following research acCviCes for a manuscript:
iniCaCon and design of the research
data collecCon
data analysis
wriCng of the manuscript
§ A paper’s co-author(s) should have made significant scienCfic contribuCons to
the manuscript and share responsibility and accountability for its results. Other
contribuCons should be listed in the acknowledgments.
§ The author who submits a manuscript for publicaCon is responsible for
including all co-authors.
§ The submiJng author should also send the co-authors the final draK of the
manuscript and receive their approval to submit and to publish the work.

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 ORDER OF THE AUTHORS
1. The first author is always the person who has made the most important
contribution.
2. All other authors are ranked in accordance with the general rules or customs
of the specific discipline. Authors may be ranked in order of decreasing
importance of their integrating contribution, or a special position may be
assigned to the 2nd author (direct supervisor) and last author (research
leader), unless the editorial board of a scientific journal has determined other
rules for author ranking explicitly. Please note, that all supervisors and
research leaders mentioned as co-author should have made a substantial
contribution to at least two of the research activities mentioned above to.
3. Keep in mind the tasks and competences of the author in order to balance the
importance of their “substantial individual contributions”.

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 TIPS VOOR MANAGING CO-AUTHORSHIP

§ Agree on the criteria and tasks for first authorship and the order of co-authors
early in the research process
§ Collectively decide on authorship and the order of the co-authors
§ Clarify any issues with or conflicts on (co-)authorship before submitting to a
journal. Adding or removing co-authors and changing the author order is
extremely difficult once an article has been accepted for publication

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 CO-AUTHORS IN PRACTICE

Statement to be signed could be:

§ We [or substitute "I"] certify that we have participated substantially in the
conception and design of this work and the analysis of the data [when
applicable] as well as the writing of the manuscript. We have reviewed the final
version of the manuscript, approve it for publication, and take public
responsibility for its content. Neither this manuscript nor one with substantially
similar content under our authorship has been published or is being considered
for publication elsewhere, except as described in an attachment.

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 CO-PRODUCTION IN SCIENCE

Co-production is a mode of scientific inquiry between scientists, policy makers and

the public to respond to socio-ecological challenges and be socially relevant while
improving research inquiry in return.

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 DORA

The Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) recognizes the need to improve

the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated.
The declaration was developed in 2012 during the Annual Meeting of the
American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco. It is a worldwide initiative
covering all scholarly disciplines and all key stakeholders including funders,
publishers, professional societies, institutions, and researchers.

https://sfdora.org/read/

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 BACKGROUND MATERIAL TO READ

Ten Simple Rules for Getting Published

http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0010057

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