好标题的重要性 标题可能是整份论文当中最最具有影响力的一个要素：它不仅是期刊编辑和审稿人第一眼看到的，更是研究员在搜索相关文献或数据库时，确认的第一个信息。 因此，标题最好能够涵盖每一个研究的相关方向，且方便读者阅读。跟着以下步骤能够帮助你想好一个恰当的论文标题。 本文章涵盖: ★ 论文标题的重要性 ★ 构思论文标题的步骤解说 ★ 判断论文标题的内容取舍 本文章适合: ★投稿的任何人 ★研究员、教授和硕博士等需要论文标题命名协助的人 如何架构你的标题 Step 1: 问自己几个关于论文的问题 问问自己：我的研究旨在解决哪些问题？我的研究达成了什么目标？ 仔细阅读论文的每一个部分，并找出最相关的信息，以此来回答这些问题。例如: “What is my Paper About?” “My paper studies how program volume affects outcomes for liver transplant patients on waiting lists .” “What methods/techniques did I use to perform my study? “I employed a case study .” “What or who was the subject of my study?” “I studied 60 cases of liver transplant patients on a waiting this throughout the US aged 20-50 years .” “What were the results?” “My study revealed a positive correlation between wait list volume and negative prognosis of transplant procedure.” Step 2: 从自己的答复中找出关键字 -program volume -60 cases -outcomes -US / ages 20-50 -liver transplant patients -positive correlation -waiting lists -negative outcome -case study – transplant procedure -60 cases Step 3: 使用关键字造句 “This study employed a case study of 60 liver transplant patients around the US aged 20-50 years to assess how the waiting list volume affects the outcome of liver transplantation in patients; results indicate a positive correlation between increased waiting list volume and a nega tive prognosis after transplant procedure.” 这个句子明显太长了，所以你必须按照接下来的两个步骤来缩减至适当长度。 Step 4: 将句子缩减成标题 想写出一个完整的论文标题，必须移除任何能够让这个句子成为「句子」的东西，同时保留所有跟研究相关的内容。删除掉所有不必要和重复的字或研究员在搜索时最不可能使用的字。 以下是删掉后剩下的内容: “ This study used a case study of 60 liver transplant patients around the US aged 20-50 years to assess how the waiting list volume affects the outcome of liver transplantation in patients ; results indicate a positive correlation between increased waiting list volume and a negative prognosis after transplant procedure .” 删完之后，将剩下的东西转化成教简洁的单字并重新安排顺序，让它更好读。因此就变成以下: “A case study of 60 liver transplant patients around the US aged 20-50 years assessing the impact of waiting list volume on outcome of transplantation and showing a positive correlation between increased waiting list volume and a negative prognosis.” (Word Count: 38) 现在已经很接近可以用的标题了，但一般论文的标题在16字以内，所以现在的字数还是太多。因此我们必须取舍一些单字。 Step 5: 删除不必要的所有内容，把关键字移到句首跟句尾 因为实验参与对象的适量和实际结果并非该研究最重要的部分，所以先把该部分移除: “A case study of 60 liver transplant patients around the US aged 20-50 years assessing the impact of waiting list volume on outcome of transplantation and showing a positive correlation between increased waiting list volume and a negative prognosis.” (Word Count: 19) 除此之外，在研究方法中的单字通常都不会是其他人搜索时会使用的字眼，并把额外的细节删掉，让标题更加简洁。那剩下的就是: “Assessing the impact of waiting list volume on outcome and prognosis in liver transplantation patients” (Word Count: 15) 删减完的标题让人轻易的了解研究主题与该研究的目的，同时最重要的单字也放在标题的头跟尾。 “Assessing” :该研究的主要动作被放在标题的头， “liver transplantation patients” 研 究的特定主题被放在尾。这能够有效帮助论文在搜索时被看到。 加上副标题 如果你认为有加上副标题的需要，你可以在标题后面加上一个冒号: “ : a case study of US adult patients ages 20-25” 但是也不需要严格遵守以上的建议，如果你有投稿需求，建议详细阅读该期刊的论文标题规定，才不会白忙一场。 标题命名的技巧 除了以上的步骤之外， 以下关于格式、字数和内容的技巧提供参考: Write the title after you’ve written your paper and abstract Include all of the essential terms in your paper Keep it short and to the point (~16 words or fewer) Avoid any jargon or abbreviations Use keywords that closely relate to the content of your paper Never include a period at the end—your title is not a sentence Wordvice霍华斯英文润色机构 希望以上的建议能在各位作者撰写论文标题时有所帮助! | 英语博客 | 论文润色 | 学术论文翻译 | 学科母语编辑 | 关于我们 |
英语论文中常见的转折用法 转折词的功能? 转折是一个主题换到另一个主题之间的转变，可以藉由转折词或短语来表现。转折部分时常放在句首、独立子句和段落里，因此为不同的主题和想法之间建立连结。转折也是用来建立论文的「脉络」，并使各部分有逻辑地相互连接，进而让清楚易懂。 转折用法的分类 我们可以将所有的转折用法分成四类: Additive transitions 提醒读者你要新增或参照其他资讯 Adversative transitions 指出信息之间的冲突或不一致 Causal transitions 指出后果和因果关系 Sequential transitions 澄清顺序和信息的序列和论文的整体架构 Additive Transitions 这一类的转折皆表示在句子和段落之间有新信息加入，功能包含介绍或强调重点、参照先前提到的信息、加上新的状况或指名某一部分的信息是相当重要的。 目的 常用用法 常用词组 范文 新增信息 Also; Additionally; Furthermore; Moreover In addition to; As well as; In fact; Not only…but also; As a matter of fact “ Furthermore , the data shows that X is a significant factor.”“ In addition to the above-mentioned study, Rogers also presents…” 介绍/强调 Particularly; Notably; Especially For example/instance; To illustrate; In particular; One example (of this is) “ Notably , only two species of this fish survive.”“ One example of this phenomenon is X.” 参照 Considering (this); Concerning (this); Regarding (this) As for (this); The fact that; With regards to (this); On the subject of (this); Looking at (this information) “ Considering the amount of research in this area, little evidence has been found.”“ With regards to the Blue Whale, its teeth are also the largest of any mammal.” 展现相似性 Similarly; Likewise; Equally By the same token; In the same way; In a similar way “ Likewise, the algorithm was applied to Y.”“ By the same token, this principle can be applied to Z.” 澄清/辨识重要信息 Specifically; Namely That is (to say); In other words; (To) put (it) another way; What this means is; This means (that) “There are two factors: namely , X and Y.”“ In other words , the fall of the Empire was caused by over-expansion.” Adversative Transitions 这些用法用来区分事实、论点和其他信息，可利用比对以展现相异处或提供反对论点、质疑某个事实或论点的重要性或替换并提供其他替换。 目的 常用用法 常用词组 范文 比对/ 展现相异点 But; Still; However; While; Whereas; Conversely; (and) yet In contrast; On the contrary; On the other hand; …when in fact; By way of contrast “ However, there is still more research needed.”“ On the other hand, the 1997 study does not recognize these outcomes.” 辨别 / 强调 Indeed; Besides; Significantly; Primarily Even more; Above all; More/Most importantly “ Indeed, a placebo is essential to any pharmaceutical study.”“ Most importantly, the X enzyme increased.” 承认一个论点 Nevertheless; Nonetheless; Although; Despite (this); However; Regardless (of this); Admittedly Even so; Even though; In spite of (this); Notwithstanding (this); Be that as it may “ Nevertheless, X is still an important factor.”“ In spite of this fact, New York still has a high standard of living.”“ Although this may be true, there are still other factors to consider.” 弱化论点或假说 Regardless (of) Either way; In any case; In any event; Whatever happens; All the same; At any rate “ Regardless of the result, this fact is true.”“ Either way, the effect is the same.”“ In any event, this will not change the public’s view.” 替换 / 指出一个替换方法 Instead (of); (or) rather; (or) at least “ Instead of using X, the scientists used Z.”“ Or rather, why not implement a brand new policy?” Causal Transitions 以下这些转折指出原因、条件、目的、前提和因果关系，通常出现于论文中的一个重要观点被建立之后或为了讨论假设性的关系或情况。 目的 常用用法 常用词组 范文 表示一个起因或原因 Since; For; As; Because (of the fact that) Due to (the fact that); For the reason that; Owing to (the fact); Inasmuch as “ Since the original sample group was too small, researchers called for more participants.”“ Due to budgetary demands, funding will be cut in half.” 解释条件 If…then; Unless; Granting (that); Granted (that); Provided (that) In the event that; As/So long as; Only if “ Unless these conditions change, more will need to be done.”“ As long as there is oxygen, there will be oxygenation.” 展现效果/结果 Consequently; Therefore; Thus; Accordingly; Because (of this) As a result (of this); For this reason; As a consequence; So much (so) that “ Therefore, we can conclude that this was an asymmetric catalysis.”“ As a consequence, many consumers began to demand safer products.” 展现目的 For the purpose(s) of; With (this fact) in mind; In the hope that; In order that/to; So as to “ For the purpose of following standards, X rule was observed.”“ With the current state of pandas in mind, this study focused on preservation.” 强调前提的重要性 Otherwise Under those circumstances; That being the case; In that case; If so; All else being equal “ Otherwise, this effect will continue into the future.”“ All else being equal, the economic impact of this law seems positive.” Sequential Transitions 这些转折将论文按照连续性或动作顺序组织架构，像是以参照先前提到的信息，以标示出额外插入的信息和以总结论文的方式。一连串的转折是建构架构的必经过程，帮助读者理解整个过程。 目的 常用用法 常用词组 范文 以顺序做组织 Initially; Secondly; Thirdly; (First/Second/Third); Last First of all; To start with; In the (first/second/third) place “ Initially, subjects were asked to write their names.”“ First of all, dolphins are the smartest creatures in the sea.” 展现延续性 Subsequently; Previously; Afterwards; Eventually; Next; After (this) “ Subsequently, subjects were taken to their rooms.”“ Afterwards, they were asked about their experiences.” 总结/重复信息 (Once) again; Summarizing (this) To repeat; As (was) stated before; As (was) mentioned earlier/above “ Summarizing this data, it becomes evident that there is a pattern.”“ As mentioned earlier, pollution has become an increasing problem.” 暂时切换/再回归主题 Incidentally; Coincidentally; Anyway By the way; to resume; Returning to the subject; At any rate “ Coincidentally, the methods used in the two studies were similar.”“ Returning to the subject, this section will analyze the results.” 归结 / 总结 Thus; Hence; Ultimately; Finally; Therefore; Altogether; Overall; Consequently To conclude; As a final point; In conclusion; Given these points; In summary; To sum up “ Ultimately, these results will be valuable to the study of X.”“ In conclusion, there are three things to keep in mind—A, B, and C.” 如何挑选正确的转折用法 转折用法是写作中相当普遍的用法，但也应为很好用所以容易被误用或滥用，导致写作质量不佳。以下提供一些技巧帮助你挑选出最适当的转折用法: Check for overused, awkward, or absent transitions when you are reading through and/or editing your paper. Don’t spend too much time trying to find the “perfect” transition while writing the paper. When you a place where a transition could connect ideas, establish relationships, and make it easier for the reader to understand your point, use the list to find a suitable transition term or phrase. Similarly, if you have repeat some terms again and again, find a substitute transition from the list and use that instead. This will help vary your writing and enhance communication of ideas. Read the beginning of each paragraph. Did you include a transition? If not, look at the information in that paragraph and of the preceding paragraph and ask yourself: “How does this information connect?” Then locate the best transition from the list. Check the structure of your paper—are your ideas clearly laid out in order? You should be able to locate sequence terms such as “first,” “second,” “following this,” “another,” “in addition,” “finally,” “in conclusion,” etc. These terms will help outline your paper for the reader. 想了解更多的论文写作与投稿信息，欢迎参考霍华斯的 学术论文博客 \0，也欢迎关注我们的 微博 ，接收第一手消息哦。 其他网站资源 MSU Writing Center. Transition Words. UW-Madision Writing Center. Transition Words and Phrases. | 英语博客 | 论文润色 | 学术论文翻译 | 学科母语编辑 | 关于我们 |
主动跟被动语态的差别在哪？在科研论文里该用哪一种？ 主动语态强调的是做出动作的行为者，例如“ The mice inhaled the tobacco-infused aerosol ”里的行为者“ the mice ”是重要的；另一方面，在被动语态里强调的是发生的动作，而行为者可省略，例如“ The tobacco-infused aerosol was inhaled (by the mice). ”中，“ by the mice ”可省略，这表示读者已经知道谁是行为者，又或者读者不需要知道行为者是谁，因为只有发生的动作本身是重要的。 被动语态传达一种客观的感觉，通常被视为较正式，但文字可能会变得冗长不易阅读，尤其是在长句里。直到最近，这开始成为科研写作的偏好语态，而作者被强烈建议避免使用主动语态，特别是在学术论文里使用“ I ”和“ we ”。“ In this study, we investigated the effect of drug X on the serum levels of phosphorus under various conditions. ”转换成“ In this study, the effect of drug X on the serum levels of phosphorus was investigated under various conditions. ” 不过，现下很多当局不赞同这种想法，开始鼓励使用主动语态，因为学术论文应以简单易懂为原则。事实上，各种学科的 SCI 期刊如 Nature 和专业期刊如 American Journal of Botany 都在给作者的指示中提到偏好主动语态。所以你现在常会看到“ In this study, we investigated… ”这样的语句。 所以，到底该用哪一个？答案是两者都用。 主动语态在论文的 introduction 和 discussion 部分特别好用，你可以讨论先前的研究然后介绍你的研究。例如这句： Previous studies have established that drug X increases the serum levels of calcium in women with osteoporosis. In this study, we investigated the effects of drug X on the serum levels of phosphorus in post-menopausal women. 这里，第2句使用主动语态可帮助读者心理从 先前 的研究转换成 现在 的研究。 另一方面，被动语态在 Methods 部分挺好用，因为在这里每个阶段采取的动作比行为者更为重要。例如，在外科文章里，读者会喜欢“ A catheter was inserted for post-operative bladder irrigation. ”胜过于“ We inserted a catheter for post-operative bladder irrigation. ” 使用规则非常清楚：想想读者想看的是什么，从而判断能让文意最清晰易读的是主动或被动语态。如果在写论文的时候能谨记这点，我想没有任何一个同行评审会提出相关的意见。 欢迎大家分享一些有关主动与被动语态的其他范例，一起交流讨论！ ∷ Eddy 博士国际期刊发表支持中心内容由 意 得 辑 学术论文翻译 专家 团队 支持提供 ∷ 【意得辑提供专业 英文论文编校 、 学术论文翻译 、 英文期刊发表一站式服务 www.editage.cn 】 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 此文同步刊载于 意得辑专家视点 频道： http://www.editage.cn/insights/该用主动还是被动语态？
AcademicWriting课堂上老外讲的，总结如下： 不能使用1stor2ndperson，所以下面单词不能出现we,I,me.you，your can+verb中国式英语，外国没有这么说的（这个老外尤其反感，谁作业里出现这个直接给0分） Should must haveto ought hadbetter Shouldbe 太主观 Good important success(ful) Easily 太主观 people things Otherresearchers Commonpeople Inrecentyears 不够精确 Researches：Research不可数 Necessary应该用urgent hisorher应该用their moreover应该用additionally Alotof应该用numerous Proper应该用appropriate Proved应该用demonstratedshownsuggest But So And Only just even still always some Nowadays Therapiddevelop Remarkableprogress Meanwhile Moreandmore Infact Lastbutnotleast makethingslookgood Asweallknown
Statistics: what can we say about our findings? Today, few professional activities are untouched by statistical thinking, and most academic disciplines use it to a greater or lesser degree Statistics has developed out of an aspect of our everyday thinking to be a ubiquitous tool of systematic research Statistical thinking is a way of recognizing that our observations of the world can never be totally accurate; they are always somewhat uncertain. Rowntree D (1981). Statistics without tears. A primer for non- mathematicians. Penguin Books Ltd., London, England. The term statistics refers to the methods used to collect, process and interpret data. Because these methods are so inherent in the process of scientific inquiry, there have been multiple references to statistics throughout this tips series, namely, in the tips on study design, methods, results and display items. However, given the importance of statistics in most scientific studies, it is worthwhile having a separate tip on how they should be used and presented. Statistics should first be considered long before the commencement of any research, during the initial study design. First, consider what information you need to collect in order to test your hypothesis or address your research question. It is important to get this right from the outset because, while data can be reanalyzed relatively easily if the wrong tests were used, it is far more difficult and time-consuming to repeat data collection with a different sample group or obtain additional variables from the same sample. If you wish to test the efficacy of a treatment for use in the general population, then your sample needs to be representative of the general population. If you wish to test its efficacy in a given ethnicity or age group, then your sample needs to be representative of that group. If comparing two groups of subjects separated on the basis of a particular disease or behavior, then other variables, such as age, sex and ethnicity, need to be matched as closely as possible between the two groups. This aspect of statistics relates to the collection of data; get it wrong and you could face major problems, potentially the need to start the research all over again, at the peer review stage many months later. Second, you need to consider what statistical tests should be applied so that you can make meaningful statements about your data. This depends on the type of data you have collected: do you have categorical data, perhaps describing the presence or absence of a particular marker, or quantitative data with numerical values? If your data is quantitative, is it continuous (that is, can it be measured) or discrete (counts)? For example, age, weight, time and temperature are all examples of continuous data because they are measured on continuous scales with units that are infinitely sub-divisible. By contrast, the number of people in a given group and the number of cells with apoptotic features are examples of discrete data that need to be counted and are not sub-divisible. You also need to know how your data is distributed: is it normally distributed (Gaussian) or skewed? This also affects the type of test that should be used. It is important that you know what type of data you are collecting so that you apply the appropriate statistical tests to analyze the data and so you present them in an appropriate manner. The following useful website provides a guide to choosing the appropriate statistical test: http://www.graphpad.com/www/Book/Choose.htm Finally, you need to know how to interpret the results of the statistical tests you have selected. What exactly does the p (or t or 2 or other) value mean? That, after all is the point of statistical analysis: to determine what you can say about your findings, what they really mean. Statistics enable us to determine the central tendency (for example, mean and median) and dispersion (for example, standard deviation, standard error, and interpercentile range) of a dataset, giving us an idea of its distribution. Also using statistics, values from two or more different sample groups can be compared (for example, by t-test, analysis of variance, or 2 test) to determine if a difference between or among groups could have arisen by chance. If this hypothesis, known as the null hypothesis, can be shown to be unlikely, then the difference is said to be significant. It is important to keep in mind that there are two risks associated with reducing a decision about the reality of a difference to probabilities, and both depend on the threshold set to determine significance: the first, known as type I error, is the possibility that a difference is accepted as significant when it is not; the opposite risk, known as type II error, refers to the possibility that a significant difference is considered not to be significant because we demand a larger difference between groups to be certain. Reducing the risk of type I errors increases the risk of type II errors, but this is infinitely more preferable than reaching a conclusion that isnt justified. Statistics also provides a measure of the strengths of correlations and enables inferences about a much larger population to be drawn on the basis of findings in a sample group. In this way, statistics puts meaning into findings that would otherwise be of limited value, and allows us to draw conclusions based on probabilities, even when the possibility of error remains. Example Extracts from The Journal of Clinical Investigation (doi:10.1172/JCI38289; reproduced with permission). Checklist 1. Indicate what parameters are described when listing data; for example, meansS.D. 2. Indicate the statistical tests used to analyze data 3. Give the numerator and denominator with percentages; for example 40% (100/250) 4. Use means and standard deviations to report normally distributed data 5. Use medians and interpercentile ranges to report data with a skewed distribution 6. Report p values; for example, use p=0.0035 rather than p0.05 7. Only use the word significant when describing statistically significant differences. 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
Display items: a picture tells a thousand words In the tip on abstract I mentioned that many readers will only read the abstract of your paper, and so the abstract needed to be self-contained, describing all of the important findings and their significance. Some readers will go further than just the abstract and look at the display items to validate the findings described in the abstract, but still not read the entire paper. Thus, like the abstract, the display items in your paper (along with their associated legends) need to be able to stand alone and be understood without the need to refer to the text of the paper. Display items include figures and tables, which are essentially graphical representations of the results described in the text. Simply put, they are the most effective and efficient way to present your results. With good figures and tables you will be able to impart to the reader exactly what you found in your study in a relatively short period of time (that is, much faster than it would take the reader to read the entire paper). Researchers in rapidly moving fields or with limited time to keep up to date with advances in their field will appreciate the rapidity with which they can be informed of your findings; journals editors and peer reviewers will appreciate the clarity. Therefore, it is worthwhile devoting some thought and attention to developing good quality figures and tables that clearly convey your results. As with the other sections of scientific manuscripts, there are certain rules that should be followed when generating display items. First, if you have a target journal in mind already, consider how many display items they allow and ensure that you do not exceed that limit. If you have more results to describe than can be simply shown in the allowable number of display items, some may need to be included in a Supplementary Information section, or described in the text with the statement (data not shown). However, only the least important or peripheral findings should be described in this way, and all findings that support your hypothesis need to be shown. Thus, you may need to consider an alternative journal if your first choice will not allow you to present all of your important data. By contrast, if a journal allows more display items than is necessary to show your findings, do not add redundant or unnecessary display items simply because you can. All display items must have a clear and necessary purpose. Second, the data shown in figures and tables needs to be easy to interpret. Consider how much data you wish to show in a given display item and how it can be organized to convey the important message. Therefore, rather than combining multiple parameters or treatments into a single graphic, consider splitting the data across multiple simpler graphics that can be grouped together in a single figure. Remember to clearly label any graph axes, table columns and rows, and components of diagrams if appropriate. Trendlines, scale bars and the results of any statistical tests should be also shown, where relevant, for example by using an asterisk to indicate significance, or a variety of symbols to indicate different levels of significance. With large samples, report the % change or % difference as well as absolute values. Third, the legends accompanying display items need to be able to stand alone such that the display items are entirely understandable without the need to read the entire manuscript. That means abbreviations should not be used or need to be defined, and technical terms should be avoided. It should be clear exactly what was done and what was seen. Statistical tests should be briefly described in the legends, with p values given and any symbols used defined. Legends, including their headings, should be written in the present tense with the exception of any methods described within them. For example, use Western blot showing an increase in the levels of p53 after rather than Western blotting showed that the levels of p53 increased after. Finally, there should be no redundancies between the display items and the text. Therefore, do not produce a display item to show information that can easily and briefly be stated in the text, and do not duplicate information among tables and figures, for example, by making a table to show the same information already conveyed in a figure. Do not embed figures and their legends within the text of the manuscript you plan to submit. The publisher will put your text and display items into a template proof that will be specific to the target journal. What they usually require from authors is a separate file containing display items (occasionally these can be placed at the end of a manuscript files) and a text file that includes figure and table legends listed together at the end (usually following the references). Check the instructions for authors of your intended target journal for their specific requirements. By preparing good quality, clear display items before writing the results section, this section will practically write itself. The display items can be grouped in a logical order that progresses your argument or progressively strengthens your hypothesis. With one subsection and one display item for each of the major findings, the subsection headings will be similar to the relevant legend headings, and the text in each subsection will provide a brief description of the findings shown in each display item, complete with the results of statistical analyses, with the reader being referred to the display items for more detail. Examples Tables are a great way to present large amounts of necessary data with minimal description required. The table shown above is a truncated version of a table in a paper published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (doi:10.1172/JCI37622; reproduced with permission). The data presented clearly and economically in this table would have required a considerable amount of word space to describe in the text, but the use of a table makes the information available without the need for a wordy description. All that was required to describe this in the main text was the following statement: Clinical characteristics of all patients and tumor samples are summarized in Table 1. The figure below, taken from the same paper, contains many of the elements of a successful display item described in this tip and listed in the checklist below. Checklist 1. Stand alone legends 2. Comply with the allowable number of display items 3. Avoid redundancy among display items or between display items and text 4. Divide data showing different effects or parameters among different panels within the same display item 5. Use scale bars, trendlines and clear labels, and show the results of statistical tests 6. Avoid or define all symbols and abbreviations 7. With large samples, show % changes/differences as well as absolute values 8. Submit figures in a separate file or at the end of the manuscript file rather than embedded in the main text 9. Check the instructions for authors for any specific requirements regarding format, size, color, number of items and any other parameters 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
Scientific enquiry can take a number of different forms. As a result, there is a variety of publication types, including papers describing original research, reviews, case studies, methodology papers and theoretical papers. By far the most common format for writing scientific papers describing original research is the IMRaD format. The letters in this acronym stand for introduction, methods, results and discussion, representing the sections lying between the abstract and references in such manuscripts (although in some journals, the methods section is presented at the end rather than after the introduction). The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), in their Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication, section IV.A.1.a (General Principles), provide the following description of the IMRaD format and why it is used: The text of observational and experimental articles is usually (but not necessarily) divided into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. This so-called IMRAD structure is not an arbitrary publication format but rather a direct reflection of the process of scientific discovery. Long articles may need subheadings within some sections (especially Results and Discussion) to clarify their content. The following four sections describe the important components of each of these sections as well as some common mistakes to avoid. However, it is worth mentioning that these sections should not be written in the order in which they appear (or in which they are described here); rather, there is a specific order in which the sections of a manuscript should be written to achieve maximum clarity and consistency throughout. The recommended order for writing these sections, with the addition of the abstract and title, is as follows: Methods Results Introduction Discussion Title Abstract The methods can be written while you are performing the research or, for certain standard protocols, before it has even begun. Doing this early in the course of your research could make you aware of any potential problems in your study design, or point to additional controls you might not previously have considered. The advantage of this is that the methods can be adjusted before performing experiments, preventing the need for time-consuming and costly repeats of experiments already performed. With the methods written up and the experiments performed, you will want to analyze your results to determine how they relate to your hypothesis, and what they actually show. It is pointless writing the introduction prior to this stage because the results you obtain will determine how the paper needs to be framed, that is, what context the results are described in. Therefore, the results should be analyzed and written up second. During this stage you will determine how your data should be presented (for example, in tables, graphs, schematics or photographs; see tip on graphics), how they need to be analyzed (see tip on statistics), and what they mean; once decided, you will then need to describe them. By now you will have a good idea of how your findings relate to your hypothesis and the existing literature in your field. It might be necessary at this point to ask a different research question or to change the focus of your research. Following such a change, re-analyses of your data and/or additional experiments might be necessary to make a complete story. Once these are done, the introduction can be written, to provide the context, and then the discussion can be written to describe the relevance of your findings within that context. Finally, with all of that fresh in your head, the abstract and title, the important components of which are described in previous tips, should be written last. 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
Choosing the right platform 在本帖中， 理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan将向大家展示如何选择合适的目标期刊。 Selection of an appropriate journal and publication type is critical: get it right and you instantly increase your chances of successful publication and regular citation. By contrast, sending a manuscript to an inappropriate journal is a frequent cause of rejection. The aims and scope of the journal, the journals target audience and recent publication history, the significance and broadness of appeal of the findings described in your manuscript, and the type of study performed should all be considered before selecting your target journal. Start by considering what the main focus of your paper is, and therefore, who you would expect to want to read it. This should have become clear while writing the paper, particularly the discussion section. Is there a clinical focus or do you describe basic science findings? Are the findings of relevance to a broad cross-section of the scientific community or will they only appear to researchers in a specialist field? Are the findings preliminary, with more work required to make an irrefutable and comprehensive story, or do you have multiple types of complementary data to support your hypothesis? Indeed, do you need to publish right away, or can you delay publication while collecting more data to try for a journal with a higher impact factor? By asking yourself these questions, among others, you will be able to build up a picture of the type of journal you should be targeting. Then, you need to generate a short-list. An immediate source of potential target journals is in your own papers reference list. Any similar or related previous work should have been cited in your study; identify those studies and the journals they were published in. Some journals will appear more than once, and these are likely candidates. Another way to identify candidate journals is performing keyword searches in literature databases such as Medline and PubMed. Again, journals that appear repeatedly are potentially suitable. Of course, journals that havent previously published in the same area of research might equally be interested in your findings; the best way to identify these is to search or browse your librarys journal shelves, Thompson ISI databases, including the Science Citation Index, or the websites of major publishers (see below, but note that these are just a few of many publishers of academic journals). You should be able to recognise journals that might be appropriate based on your answers to the questions above. Now that you have a short-list of possible target journals and a clear picture of the type of journal your study would be suitable for, you need to merge the two to see where they correspond. Journal websites generally contain and aims and scope section and occasionally describe their target audience. They will usually also contain information on impact factor, publication types, publication frequency, time from acceptance to publication, rejection rates, and publication charges. All of these factors need to be weighed up. For example, if you require rapid publication, you should specifically look for journals that offer fast response times and short periods from acceptance to publication. If you are on a tight budget you may need to rule out open access journals or journals that have high publication charges. If you require publication in a journal with an impact factor above a certain level, you can instantly rule out any with impact factors lower than that. Study the journal websites closely and consider why the editors and readers of each would be interested in your findings; as well as giving you an angle for the approach in your cover letter ( see the previous post on journal cover letters and a free example letter here ), this will help you decide which of the remaining journals in your short-list is the most relevant platform from which to disseminate your findings. When your short-list has been reduced to two or three journals on the basis of the above criteria, you should rank them as first, second and third choices based on your particular requirements. Then you are ready to write your cover letter and submit your manuscript! To assist you in this process, Edanz has developed a Journal Selection Tool that is free to download. Helpful Links To search or browse Science Citation Index journals: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=K Thompson ISI searchable databases: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/ US National Library of Medicine database PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/ Elsevier journal titles: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journal_browse.cws_home Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/ Springer: http://www.springer.com/?SGWID=5-102-0-0-0 Wiley-Interscience journals: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/browse/?type=JOURNAL Taylor Francis: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/sublist.asp Liwen Bianjis Select your field page (find journals from a wide variety of publishers for your field): http://www.liwenbianji.cn/selectyourfield Example The following manuscript title was used in the exercise accompanying the section on writing a good title: Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration. This imaginary study showed degeneration of neurons in the CA3 and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus after administration of the toxin okadoic acid, let us assume in mice. It also showed involvement of a MAP kinase-dependent pathway in this neurodegeneration. Without a functional correlate of the neuronal cell loss, the study would be considered very preliminary and would be difficult to publish; thus, let us assume that behavioural studies were also performed and that these showed deficits in learning and memory in mice administered the toxin. Therefore, the data shown are histological, biochemical and behavioural. A keyword search of the PubMed database throws out very little in the way of similar studies (not surprisingly given that the example study is imagined), but does point to potential journals such as the Journal of Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroscience, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Neuropharmacology and the Journal of the Neurological Sciences. Among these, the Journal of Neuroscience and the European Journal of Neuroscience are likely to require more data, perhaps showing relevance to a human disease or condition and/or an exhaustive analysis of the mechanisms involved in the cell death, although the latter journal is a possibility and might be worth an initial submission. The Journal of the Neurological Sciences has more of a clinical focus and should only be considered if administration of OA was known to provide a good model of a particular disease or condition. However, if such a link was shown, this journal would represent a good target. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications has a broad focus, publishing studies in diverse fields of biological research; however, neurobiology is one of their areas of interest and they claim to be devoted to rapid dissemination of results. For authors who want a quick answer or who need to publish soon, this could represent a good initial target journal. Depending on the novelty of the behavioural data, the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory could be a good target; with a rapid communications section, this journal could also suit those authors in need of immediate publication. Finally, Neuroscience represents a good target journal if the findings reveal aspects of how the nervous system works. Thus, depending on the focus of the final paper (eg. clinical vs neurobiological vs behavioural) and the authors requirements (impact factor and time to publication), the candidate journals selected can be ranked in terms of their suitability. Exercise Using the methods described above, and/or the Edanz Journal Selection Tool, generate a short-list of potential journals for your next (or any previous) paper and rank them in terms of their suitability. I will need a brief description of what your study showed, but will comment on the suitability and rankings of the journals you select, and offer alternative suggestions where appropriate. 练习 使用前面所讲的方法或者是理文编辑 目标期刊选定工具 为你即将发表的(或之前发表过的)文章列一个目标期刊清单，并按照优先性排序。请各位简单描述自己的研究内容，我会根据你的描述评价所选的目标期刊是否合适，排序是否科学；需要的话我还会帮助给出其他选择。欢迎大家踊跃参与。 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
Good study design and forward planning 在本帖中， 理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan将向大家展示如何做好研究设计和预先规划工作。 Rejection following peer review can mean a considerable amount of additional work for many authors to get their studies published. In the worst cases, their studies may be simply un-publishable. Much heartbreak and hard work can be avoided by simply planning and designing your study properly in advance. In the long run, this will save you time, allowing you to get on with the research for your next big paper. No-one wants to have to repeat experiments because the controls were inappropriate or the case/sample numbers were insufficient to provide enough statistical power. Frequently though, researchers rush into experiments without making all the proper considerations, and this can result in delays when their manuscripts reach the peer review stage. Remembering a few basic principles of study design can help to reduce the risk of outright rejection and repeated experimentation. 1. Have a hypothesis or research question Having a hypothesis or appropriate research question enables you to frame your research within an appropriate context, which in turn will help you apply the appropriate controls. It will also help you describe the rationale for your study when it is time to write it up. Having a hypothesis also means that the objectives of the study are clearly defined, thus reducing the chance that your study will be open-ended and possibly criticised for being incomplete. You can then logically work through these objectives and, importantly, present your results in a logical manner rather than haphazardly. 2. Ensure that the appropriate methods are used Once you have a clear idea of the aims of your study, and the specific research question you are setting out to answer, you will need able to determine what methods would be appropriate to achieve these. Important considerations include deciding whether subjective, qualitative data will be sufficient to address your question, or whether there is a need for more quantitative methods. For basic science studies, such considerations might include the following questions. Will the combination of RT-PCR and in situ data be enough, or is there a need for qPCR? Is Western blotting alone sufficiently sensitive or do you need to also perform immunohistochemistry and cell counting experiments to show a difference between groups? For clinical studies, important considerations include the choice of controls, sample sizes, statistical tests and approach, all of which are described in more detail in the points below. 3. Ensure that the appropriate controls are used Controls are included in experiments to rule out alternative hypotheses. Theres an old saying that nothing can be proven, only disproved, and this is precisely why appropriate controls are necessary: to disprove any feasible alternative interpretations of the data you obtain and/or to eliminate or minimize the effects of extraneous variables. Consider what alternative hypotheses exist, and systematically rule them out by performing experiments that disprove them. There are generally two types of controls: positive and negative. Positive controls show that a negative result is not due to a failure of the experimental system. Negative controls provide an indication of the background noise or baseline value with which to compare values from your experimental sample. In quantitative studies, a relative control or housekeeping control is required to show that changes in the apparent levels of a target gene or protein are not caused by differences in the amounts of protein or DNA in the sample. These levels can be used as a baseline to measure changes in relative levels of a target gene or protein. Common housekeeping molecules include -actin and GAPDH. In clinical trials, subjects in a placebo group in intervention trials, and normal control subjects in observational trials, need to be matched as closely as possible to those in the treatment or disease group in terms of age, sex and numerous other potential confounding factors. In randomized controlled trials, accepted procedures for assignment to groups also need to be followed (see, for example, the ICH good clinical practice guidelines at: http://www.ich.org/LOB/media/MEDIA482.pdf). 4. Use sample sizes large enough to provide a definitive result Many studies fail to achieve the desired impact or to fully support a given hypothesis because the effect is too small or the variability too large to show statistical significance. Often this can be simply overcome by increasing the sample size. However, once a study has been performed and the data analyzed, it can be impossible to go back and increase the numbers without starting all over again. For this reason, pilot studies are often performed in advance of larger scale studies. Talk to a statistician. Determine the size of the effect of your treatment and/or the variability in your population before starting large-scale studies, and use this information to determine the sample size required to give you statistical power. Doing this can save you time, money and potential disappointment later. 5. Use appropriate statistical tests to analyze your data Statistical analysis of your data is essential to show that an effect is genuine and significant. Tests of significance demonstrate the robustness of your findings, essentially showing how unlikely it is that your findings were obtained by chance. Are your data continuous or discrete? Are they normally distributed or non-normally distributed? The nature of your data will determine how they should be analyzed and what tests are appropriate. If in doubt, consult a statistician who will be able to advise you on the most appropriate tests to use and what these tests indicate. Determining the right tests to use in advance will save you having to repeat your analyses if you got it wrong first time round, with the distinct possibility that no significant effect will be observed when the appropriate tests are used. For clinical trials, the following guidelines may be useful: http://www.ich.org/LOB/media/MEDIA485.pdf. 6. Remove investigator and patient bias Many experiments involve subjective measurements or assessments performed by the investigators, as opposed to objective results provided by the experimental system. If the investigator has prior knowledge of the groups to which individuals/samples belong, then investigator bias is a distinct possibility, and this can invalidate any of the findings obtained. In such cases, where the investigator is a factor inherent in the experimental system, it is essential that the investigator is blinded to the groups to which individuals or samples belong. Doing so ensures the objectivity of the findings and improves their reliability. Such blinding can refer to treatment in an intervention trial, or to assessment or interpretation of clinical findings in an observational trial. Similarly, the outcome of a treatment could be influenced if a patient knows if they are receiving a placebo or drug; such patient bias should be avoided, by blinding the patient to the nature of the treatment. Being aware of the potential for bias before commencing experimentation can again save the need for time- and resource-consuming repeats. 7. Comply with ethical requirements There are strict regulations regarding the use of human and animal subjects, and in many countries, regarding the use of stem cells, cell lines and genetically modified materials. Failure to comply with these regulations will prevent publication of your findings and could lead to legal issues; at best, it will limit the range of journals to which you can submit your findings. Make yourself aware of these regulations before you commence your study and ensure that all requirements are complied with so you dont encounter problems later on. As well as ethical requirements regarding experimentation, there are also strict guidelines provided by most journals regarding the requirements for authorship, and these also need to be complied with. Clinical trials should comply with the Declaration of Helsinki (http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm) in addition to any local requirements. Informed consent is essential for most trials involving human subjects. Animal studies should comply with local and national regulations, although many journals are now aligning themselves with standards such as the NIH Guidelines for the Care and Use of Animals (http://oacu.od.nih.gov/regs/guide/guide.pdf). Finally, many journals require a statement describing who gave ethical approval for the study. 8. Clinical study registration Many top-tier journals now request that prospective clinical trials involving human participants should be registered online in an accessible database. Many journals will instantly reject studies of this type that have not been registered. More information on this can be found at http://www.icmje.org/faq.pdf. International clinical trial registries include the Chinese Clinical Trials Register (http://www.chictr.org/), the Japanese Primary Registries Network (http://rctportal.niph.go.jp/), The International Standard Randomised Control Trial Number database (http://isrctn.org/) and Clinical Trials.gov (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/). Registration should be done before the first participant is enrolled, but many of the databases do allow retrospective registration. However, by registering the trial once you receive ethical consent you will save time and overcome a major obstacle to publication. All studies are different and therefore have different requirements regarding appropriate study design. The points above are just a few of the important considerations that should be made prior to the commencement of experimentation, and the general principles apply to a variety of different study types. It is true that sometimes even peer review fails to detect flaws in study design, as shown, for example, in the following report on randomized controlled clinical trials published in Chinese journals: http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/10/1/46. However, if you want your study to stand the test of time, be published in a top-tier journal and to be widely accepted by the international research community, then planning ahead and designing your study to make it robust and reliable will only serve to save you time, money and heartbreak later on. 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
Overcoming the language barrier: writing in English for non-native authors 在本帖中， 理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan将向大家展示克服语言障碍，非英语母语科研人员如何写作? Journal editors, overloaded with quality manuscripts, may make decisions on manuscripts based on formal criteria, like grammar or spelling. Don't get rejected for avoidable mistakes; make sure your manuscript looks perfect (quote from a senior executive at a large international publishing house). Scientific writing is difficult enough for many authors who have English as their first language; for non-native English-speaking authors, writing a paper in English represents a massive challenge that can make or break their papers chances of publication. With increased pressure on publication space and increased demands on editors time many journals are introducing language screening protocols to check submissions before they reach the editors desk; some editors simply choose to overlook papers that are too poorly written to consider or send for review in the knowledge that, among the submissions they receive, will be well written studies containing interesting and robust science. However, all is not lost for non-native English-speaking authors: by being aware of some of the most common scientific writing language errors and how to avoid them, you can improve the quality of your paper and increase its chances of being accepted. It is helpful to think of the writing process in the same way that you think about performing experiments; that is, the language needs to be easily and accurately understood by the reader, without multiple possible interpretations arising. In experiments, we use controls to rule out alternative hypotheses. In language, we must avoid ambiguities and unnecessary text (such as repetition and redundancies) to get our message across clearly. Scientific writing should possess what I call the three Cs: clarity, conciseness and correctness (accuracy). The key to achieving this is to be as brief and specific as possible without omitting any details that might be essential for the reader to fully understand your meaning. In other words, say no more than you need to accurately convey your message. Although writing that fails to meet this standard is sometimes described as sloppy or lazy writing, authors are frequently unaware that what they have written is unclear and ambiguous. Thus, attention to detail and an appreciation of how your writing could be misinterpreted are essential. What follows is just a small selection of error types that, when present in large numbers, could result in your paper going straight to the rejected pile. Articles/Plural vs singular Articles (a/the) are adjectives that modify nouns. Where they are used incorrectly the reader can be left wondering if you are referring to a specific thing or to a non-specific item or category. Worse, they could interpret the text incorrectly and make a wrong assumption. Incorrect use of articles can also lead to confusion relating to singular vs plural senses. The word the should be used in conjunction with a noun referring to a particular item or group of items (it can be used with both plural and singular nouns); for example, the sections were/the section was then stained with HE implies that the sections you had referred to in recent sentences were stained. By contrast, a should be used in conjunction with non-specific nouns; for example, a section was then stained infers that a single section, any section, was stained. A should only be used to refer to a single item or category, and should not be used in conjunction with plural nouns; that is, a sections would be incorrect. Asian authors frequently leave articles out of sentences making them sound awkward and unnatural, which would be the case when omitting the the in adenovirus was injected into the fourth ventricle. The antibody was injected into the hippocampus (articles required to specify a particular antibody, presumably already referred to in the text, and a specific hippocampus, belonging to a subject already described). A new method of extraction was devised (a used rather than the because this statement introduces this method to the reader; therefore it is non-specific at that time. Once introduced to the reader, the new method of extraction should be used to refer to that method in the specific sense). Nouns are used in the plural sense by adding an s to the end (in most cases). In the absence of an article, it can sometimes be unclear if the wrong sense (plural vs singular) has been used. For example, in the sentence Acetyl group was added, the reader is not clear whether the author means An acetyl group was added or perhaps Acetyl groups were added. Thus, when referring to multiple items, the plural sense should be used to avoid potential confusion. This is commonly forgotten when describing figures (use arrowheads rather than arrowhead where there is more than one in the figure; likewise, use solid bars rather than solid bar when referring to a bar chart with multiple bars). A biopsy wa s obtained (describing a single biopsy). Biopsies were obtained from eight patients (no article necessary unless these biopsies had already been introduced to the reader, in which case they would need to be referred to in the specific sense The biopsies were obtained). Commas, hyphens and which Used incorrectly these three elements of writing can introduce ambiguities, and the potential for subsequent misunderstanding, into your writing. For example, in the sentence Because A42 levels were elevated in 75% of AD patients in studies using our method , it is critical to obtain fresh samples, moving the comma after method to follow the word patients (or addition of a new comma there) would completely change the meaning. Similarly, in the phrase calcium-induced calcium release, omission of the hyphen completely changes the meaning of the sentence. When the hyphen is present calcium-induced is a compound adjective modifying the noun calcium release; when the hyphen is absent, induced is a verb describing the effect of calcium on calcium release. Thus, it is critically important to use hyphens with such compound adjectives to avoid misunderstandings. However, no hyphen is required to combine an adverb and an adjective; for example highly intense staining and high-intensity staining are both correct, but highly-intense staining is not. Glutamate receptors mediated synaptic plasticity (tells the reader that Glu receptors are involved in the development of synaptic plasticity). Glutamate receptor -mediated synaptic plasticity (identifies synaptic plasticity involving Glu receptors as the subject of the sentence; note the change from plural to singular because receptor is being used in a general sense and not to refer to a single receptor). The word which, when used incorrectly, can also induce considerable confusion. It is often used incorrectly instead of that. Both introduce clauses that modify nouns, but that should be used to introduce defining or restrictive clauses and which should be used to introduce non-defining or non-restrictive clauses. For example, in the sections that were positive for GFP were subjected to cell counting procedures, the that introduces a defining clause that defines exactly which sections were subjected to cell counting. By contrast, in the sections, which were positive for GFP, were subjected to cell counting procedures, the sections that were subjected to cell counting are rather loosely defined, possibly referring to sections that have been described in the previous or recent sentences. The clause about GFP positivity provides the reader with additional information, but is not essential to understand the meaning of the sentence; that is, it is disposable. Because which is used in this way, writers need to ensure that it is absolutely clear what the which is actually referring to, possibly whatever immediately precedes it (most commonly) or possibly the main subject of the sentence. For example, the sentence microglia migrated to the site of the lesion, which was associated with increased levels of ED-1 is somewhat vague, because it is unclear if the which is referring to the lesion or to the migration of microglia. If there is ever any doubt about such a sentence, it is best to rephrase it completely; for example migration of microglia to the site of the lesion was associated with increased levels of ED-1 or microglia migrated to the site of the lesion, and immunohistochemical analysis revealed increased levels of ED-1 at this site, both of which are unambiguous. Data were normalised to the housekeeping gene actin, which was used as an internal reference (here, the which refers to actin, which is therefore the subject of the following clause). Data were normalised to the internal reference housekeeping gene actin, revealing increases in the levels of (to refer to the analyzed data in a subsequent clause, which would be inappropriate and introduce an ambiguity). Respectively The word respectively is frequently misused by native and non-native English-speaking authors alike, and, as with the other elements described above, its misuse can lead to confusion and ambiguities. It is often clearer not to use this term at all, but it can be useful to economise on words where there are two corresponding lists. For example, it is quite useful in the sentence The latencies to withdrawal from a painful stimulus in control and transgenic mice were 3 s and 2 s, respectively, meaning that control mice withdrew after 3 s and transgenic mice withdrew after 2 s. If describing something much shorter than The latencies to withdrawal from a painful stimulus, for example average weights, respectively is not necessary; Control mice weighed 203 g and transgenic mice weighed 172 g is better than Control mice and transgenic mice weighed 203 g and 172 g, respectively, which contains one additional word. Note that respectively can only be used to refer to two corresponding lists at one time, and cannot be used to refer to more. Thus, the sentence The latencies to withdrawal from 5 g and 10 g painful stimuli in control and transgenic mice were 3 s and 2 s, respectively is incorrect and impossible to understand. The proportions of monocytes positive for CD163, CD7 and CD11a were 45%, 63% and 70%, respectively (the respectively makes clear that the three percentages refer to each of the three markers in the same order). Comparisons Comparisons are frequently made in the results sections of papers, and it is especially important to compare like with like. One common error made by non-native authors is overlooking this simple rule and leaving the reader to make an assumption about what is being compared. At best, the language will appear unnatural but the meaning clear; at worst, the wrong meaning can be imparted. As an example, the sentence Expression levels of p53 in smokers were compared with non-smokers should actually be Expression levels of p53 in smokers were compared with those in non-smokers. Another frequent error with comparisons is the use of relative terms (for example, higher, greater, more) without a reference. In the sentence transgenic mice showed higher levels of cortisol it is unclear what these levels were higher than; thus, a than clause, such as than control mice, is required. The reader might make this assumption automatically, but in some cases alternative inferences will be possible; the goal of accurate scientific writing has to be the removal of all assumption. Because comparisons of results are critical to their interpretation and, ultimately, their significance, it is critical that you convey to the reader exactly what is being compared. Finally, the word between should be used for comparisons of two findings, but among should be used for comparisons of three or more. The levels of ubiquitinated proteins were higher in patients than in control subjects (the than clause provides a reference for the term higher). The levels of ubiquitinated proteins in patients were higher than those in control subjects (unlike the first example, where patients and controls are both on the same side of the comparing term, that is, they are both mentioned after higher, here, patients and controls appear either side of the comparing term; therefore, it is necessary to add than those to compare like with like). There was no significant difference in the levels of ubiquitinated proteins between patients and controls (between is appropriate here for a comparison of two groups). There were no significant differences in the levels of ubiquitinated proteins among AD patients, PD patients and controls (among is appropriate for comparisons of more than two groups; note the change to the plural differences because more than one type of difference is possible with more than two groups). Protein and gene nomenclature One very common cause of confusion is use of the incorrect nomenclature to describe changes in the levels of genes, their mRNAs or the proteins that they encode. Constant changing from describing gene expression levels to protein levels and back again can also add to the confusion, especially because the names are often the same. Therefore, it needs to be completely clear to the reader exactly what level you are talking about. Nomenclature differs among species, but generally gene names should be described in italics and protein names in normal font. Case (upper vs lower) is often used to distinguish between species: generally, for mouse, rat and chicken, gene names are spelt with an upper case first letter and the rest in lower case; for humans, primates and some domestic species, gene names are spelt with all capital letters. Descriptions of mRNAs generally use the gene name (for example, levels of p53 mRNA) or you can refer to the mRNA for a given protein (for example levels of the mRNA for p53). The word expression is usually used to describe gene expression and can induce confusion when used to describe protein and mRNA levels; in most cases referring to proteins the word expression can simply be replaced with the word level (or levels). Be aware of the correct nomenclature for your species of subject and ensure that everywhere you refer to a protein, gene or mRNA by name in the text it is completely clear which of those you are referring to. Expression of the Igf1 gene was increased in our transgenic mice (use if italics and the word gene ensure that no confusion is possible here). The levels of IGF1 mRNA were elevated in our patient group (correct nomenclature for human genes). The serum IGF1 levels were elevated in the transgenic mice (here, it is clear that the protein is being referred to; capitals are appropriate in this case, even though the species is mouse, because it is the correct nomenclature for the mouse protein). Summary These are just a few of the most common errors made by non-native English-speaking authors in their scientific writing. There are of course many more that cant be dealt with here, but they all have the same result: a loss of clarity and/or introduction of ambiguity. If you apply the three Cs when writing your next paper, with an awareness of some of the traps that can lead to ambiguities or a loss of clarity, you will automatically improve your chances of getting your study published. If you also focus on removing any repetition and redundancy, and apply attention to detail to ensure that your meaning is clearly conveyed in each sentence, you will increase them further. As a general rule, it is a good idea to keep sentences simple, using shorter expressions wherever possible, rather than long, complicated and confusing. The slogan for the Beijing Olympics was One world, One dream; when it comes to scientific writing you should think One sentence, One idea. The simplest solution is always the best. Exercise Look at your most recent paper written in English and try to identify some of the errors described above. Post these examples on the forum as well as your suggested solutions to them. I look forward to seeing your efforts to correct these problems by applying the three Cs, and will offer comments on your solutions as well as offering a few of my own. Good luck! 练习 请各位检查一下近期自己写过的英语论文，回顾文中是否存在上述列举的错误。欢迎各位积极贴出典型的错误例句以及建议的修改方法，也期待大家应用上面说到的三C标准来纠正这些错误。我将逐一对大家修改好的例句进行回复，并列举出我自己遇到的此类问题。祝各位好运！ 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
The cover letter: your sales pitch 在本帖中， 理文编辑 学术总监 Dr. Daniel McGowan 将向大家展示如何写出吸引读者的 cover letter。 Competition for publication space and for editors attention is now very high, and it is no longer sufficient to send a manuscript to a journal editor along with a letter saying little more than please find my manuscript attached. The cover letter is your opportunity to directly address the editor of your target journal. It can be used to set your study apart from others and directly explain to the editor why your findings are important and why they should be published in their journal. There are a number of important components of a cover letter, all of which should be included. These components are described in detail in the attached Edanz Cover Letter Template, which can be used to develop your own cover letters by following the suggestions in the comments and replacing the bracketed sentences with the types of sentences explained. The format of this letter is applicable for most if not all submissions, although additional sections may be required for some types of paper; for example, information about deposition of clinical trial data would most likely need to accompany a report of a clinical trial, and information about the deposition of sequence data into public databases would possibly need to be provided where such data has been obtained. As always, the target journals instructions to authors should be consulted; these will most likely outline the information that absolutely must be included in the cover letter. Another source of this information is the journals submission webpages. Although not all of the components listed below and described in the cover letter template will be described as required on the target journals webpages, all should be included in your letter, because to do so will increase your chances of grabbing the editors attention. The following principals apply to cover letter development: Some journals have different editors for the different areas of research the journal covers and you can choose the most appropriate one based on area and occasionally also editor profiles. Address your letter personally to the appropriate editor, e.g., Dear Dr. Smith. If one cannot be readily identified, address your letter to the editor-in-chief. Begin by providing the title of your manuscript, the section/publication type you would like to see it published as, and the name of the journal you are submitting it to. You then need to provide a very brief background and rationale for your study, explaining why you did what you did. This can be followed by a brief description of the results. The following paragraph is very important. You will need to explain the significance of your findings to the research community, and specifically to the readers of your target journal. If you find it difficult to explain why the readers of that journal would be interested in your findings, then you may need to select a more appropriate journal. Editors will only send papers to review that they think will be of interest to their readers. Studying the aims and scope of your chosen journal might help with this. The last paragraph of the letter should contain any statements or declarations required by the target journal. These usually include declarations of any conflicts of interest, grant support or other sources of funding, a statement that all authors have read and approved the manuscript and a statement that the same manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere. Confirmation of each authors qualification for authorship may also be required. Finally, include details for correspondence and a polite farewell. Exercise Use the attached Edanz Cover Letter Template to draft a cover letter based on your current research. As well as giving you a ready-made cover letter for when you are ready to submit your next paper, this will help you focus on important aspects of your study, including its rationale and significance, and aid you in selecting the most appropriate journal by contemplating the significance of your findings to the readers of a variety of candidate journals. I will do my best to give feedback on each cover letter. 练习 请使用本帖随附的Cover Letter Template练习写作自己的投稿函。这个现成的投稿函不仅可以用于各位即将投出的稿件，也会帮助你关注研究的重要部分，包括基本原理和重要性，通过仔细斟酌研究的重要性进而在众多期刊中选择最合适的目标期刊。Dr. Daniel McGowan会尽量回复每位提供的投稿函。 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。 Edanz Cover Letter Template
The snapshot: abstract and keywords 在本帖中， 理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan将向大家展示如何写出吸引读者的摘要和关键词。 Your papers abstract is critical because many researchers will read that part only, rather than reading the entire paper. Therefore, it is critical that it provides an accurate and sufficiently detailed summary of your work so that those researchers can understand what you did, why you did it, what your findings are, and why your findings are useful and important. Your abstract must be able to stand alone, that is, to function as an overview of your study that can be understood without reading the entire text. Readers interested in learning details than could not be included in the abstract will inevitably proceed to the full text. Therefore, the abstract does not need to be overly detailed; for example, it does not need to include a detailed methods section. Even though the abstract is one of the first parts of your paper, it should actually be written last. You should write it soon after finishing the other sections, while the rest of the manuscript is fresh in your head, enabling you to write a concise but comprehensive summary of your study without overlooking anything important. Requirements for abstracts differ among journals, so the target journals instructions for authors should be consulted for specific details. Despite differences among journals, there are a few general rules that should be obeyed when writing an abstract: The word limit should be observed; 250 words is probably about average and commonly adopted as a word limit for abstracts, but many journals request shorter abstracts (for example, Nature Articles and BBRC both have a 150-word limit) while many others (for example, BioMed Central journals) allow longer ones. This is one very good reason why the target journal should be identified before you write your paper. Technical jargon should be avoided so that the abstract is understandable for a broad readership, although what is considered technical may vary depending on the target journals audience. For example, a test of anxiety would generally be clearer than elevated plus-maze test in an abstract, unless the journal was specifically targeted to behavioural researchers. Usually, there simply isnt enough space in the abstract to define and explain technical terminology. If such terminology is unavoidable, it should be defined in simple terms where it is first used. Like technical jargon, abbreviations should be limited as much as possible, although their acceptability may again depend on the target journal. For example, HIV is likely to be acceptable in abbreviated form by most journals. By contrast, RT-PCR might be considered acceptable by a journal reporting molecular biology techniques, but it would need to be spelt in full (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) in most journals at first use. Many journals provide a list of acceptable abbreviations on their websites. Necessary abbreviations used three or more times should be defined at first use; however, abbreviations used only once or twice should be spelled out in full unless doing so causes the word limit to be exceeded. Abbreviations that are defined in the abstract will need to be defined again at first use in the main text. Although some journals do allow references to be cited in the abstract, the vast majority do not. Therefore, unless you plan to submit to a journal that allows it, you should not cite references in your abstract. If we look at the instructions to authors for BBRC, we can see the following guidelines: The Abstract should be on page 2, i.e., after the title page The Abstract must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in fewer than 150 words. A list of up to 10 keywords useful for indexing or searching should be included after the Abstract. Some journals request structured abstracts divided into sections such as background, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Clinical journals may require additional or alternative sections. Therefore, it is again necessary to check the target journals instructions for authors to determine the particular formatting/outline requirements prior to writing. Abstracts are frequently followed by a list of keywords selected by the authors. The instructions for authors will state how many keywords are required and may even provide a list of recommended keywords. Choosing appropriate keywords is important, because these are used for indexing purposes. Well chosen keywords enable your manuscript to be more easily identified and cited. Thus, the keywords should be as specific to your manuscript as possible, and general terms, which could apply to an enormous number of studies, should be avoided. Example: Lets consider some appropriate keywords for the example title from the previous post: Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration (note that this title is and one of two suggested alternatives for the poor title in the example in the previous post). Good keywords would be: okadoic acid, hippocampus, neuronal degeneration, MAP kinase signaling, and possibly mouse (or rat or whatever experimental animal was used). Poor keywords would be: neuron, brain, OA (as an abbreviation), regional-specific neuronal degeneration, and signaling 练习： Suggest 35 suitable keywords to accompany the title in the exercise in the previous post: Carvedilol produces dose-related improvements in LV function and dose-related reductions in mortality and hospitalization rate in subjects with chronic heart failure from systolic dysfunction. They dont all have to relate to information contained in the title, so let your imagination run wild: it is the type of keyword rather than the content (the word itself) that is important to consider. 对于上述练习，希望各位可以例举3至5个合适的关键词；同时也欢迎发来您自己的英文摘要以获得 Dr. McGowan 的改进建议。 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
Dr. Daniel McGowan 论文写作系列第一讲：Making a good first impression: the importance of writing a good title 在本帖中， 理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan 将向大家展示如何写出吸引读者的文章标题。 Making a good first impression: the importance of writing a good title The title of your paper is a hook that should be used to attract readersit is your opportunity to sell your paper to readers browsing a table of contents or search results. A poor title will cause potentially interested researchers to overlook your work and may attract the wrong audience. By contrast, a good title will attract the relevant researchers and increase the number of citations you receive. Therefore, it is important to get it right. A good title should be as brief as possible while still communicating the main finding(s) of the paper. Avoid excessive detail and unnecessary use of field-specific jargon and abbreviations. Your title must be understandable by a broad scientific audience, some of whom may not have a detailed knowledge of your particular field. How broad depends on the particular target journalconsider the readership of your target journal and write a title that can be easily understood by all, not only those in your immediate field. The target journals instructions for authors should also be consulted to ensure that character limits are complied with and to identify whether a running (short) title is also required. Good title checklist - Specific - Concise - Communicates the main findings - Will attract readers - Does not begin with the, a, or an - Avoids use of non-standard abbreviations Example of a poor title: The degeneration of neurons in the CA3 and DG following OA administration: involvement of a MAPK-dependent pathway in regional-specific neuronal degeneration This title is too long, contains non-standard abbreviations and a redundancy, and is too specific in parts. Further, many journals do not want titles that begin with the, a, or an. A better alternative would be: Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration. MAP kinase-dependent neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration would probably also be acceptable, depending on the target journal, because the abbreviation MAP is widely used and understood. 欢迎各位访友踊跃参与下面的标题练习： Suggest a good alternative title for the following using what youve learned about writing good titles. Carvedilol produces dose-related improvements in LV function and dose-related reductions in mortality and hospitalization rate in subjects with chronic heart failure from systolic dysfunction 各位也可以贴出自己的文章标题，Dr. McGowan 将对您的标题做出评价并提出好的修改建议。 在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
理文编辑 一直致力于通过各种途径，帮助中国作者提高英文写作水平。我们会陆续在博客中发布由理文编辑学术总监 Dr. Daneil McGowan 撰写的 How to Write a World Class Paper 系列英文讲义。Dr. McGowan 通过轻松诙谐的语言，以期刊审稿人的视角深入浅出地为大家解析期刊编辑对文章的评判标准，指出并解决母语非英语的作者在撰写英文学术论文过程中经常遇到的问题。希望能够对大家有所帮助。在每一讲的最后都会有互动练习，欢迎大家踊跃参与。在这里还需提请各位注意，Dr. McGowan 的母语是英语，无法阅读中文，因此请大家尽量使用英文回帖，如有任何需要与他沟通的学术和语言问题也请使用英语，Dr. McGowan 会及时回复大家的。 Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入 理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。
标签: 学术论文写作
