Paola De Castro. The formats of scientific papers

NECOBELAC Module

The formats
of scientific articles
How to write a scientific paper
Paola De Castro

Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma

P. De Castro • The formats of scientific articles • NECOBELAC T1 Course. Dublin - May, 9, 2012

FIRST STEPS: basic questions
WHY shall I write an article? (select target)
WHICH information will I share? (select information)
WHERE shall I publish it? (select journal)
WHOM shall I write it with? (select co-authors)
WHAT are my resources? (budget and time)
HOW shall I write an article?
2


SELECTION
Scientific content, authors, target…
Track the latest results

Publication types
•Journals
(national, international, high IF, online,
high rejection rate…)
•Books or chapters therein
•Technical reports, conference proceedings
•Leaflets
•Posters
•Conference papers/communications, PPTs
•Web “documents” (blogs, wikis, answers, etc.)
3


BE FAMILIAR WITH RULES
Basic editorial rules
and best practices
applying to all publications
Specific rules
per publication type or discipline
Editorial style of the journal

Contributions within a journal
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Editorials
Comments
Correspondence
Viewpoints
Original, research articles
Review articles
Case histories
Book reviews
REFER TO THE JOURNAL
Instructions to authors
Table of contents
Published articles

4


NECOBELAC
Topic maps

5


WRITING A JOURNAL ARTICLE…
TECHNICAL
ISSUES

Title
Abstract
Key words
Structure

Illustrations
References
ETHICAL
ISSUES

ROLE
S

6

Authorship
Conflicts of interest
Copyright
Privacy
Be aware of the responsibilities
of editors, authors, referees,
editorial staff

Instructions to authors
for over 6,000 journals in
the health and life sciences

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
First and last step for article writing.
Submit to the right journal!

7

Authors’ guides
within the journal

What can I deposit in a repository?

8


BASIC SOURCES
NECOBELAC pre-course reading
“Vancouver style”

EASE guidelines for Authors

Last up-dating April 2010

9


in 19
languages

WHY?
Concise
Comple
te
Easy

“ICMJE and Vancouver style”

In Vancouver
a SMALL GRUOP OF EDITORS (NEJM, BMJ, Ann Int Med, Lancet, etc.)
met in 1978
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF MEDICAL JOURNAL EDITORS (ICMJE)
Uniform Requirements
for Manuscripts submitted to Medical Journals:
Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication
“Vancouver style”
10


What is
the “Vancouver style”?
INITIALLY…
Guidelines on standard formats of manuscripts
and, in particular, bibliographic references
TODAY
“de facto” standard shared by the most prestigious medical journals (700)…
It includes both manuscript preparation, and ethical issues

11


Instructions for authors refer to
the Uniform requirements (ICMJE)
or “Vancouver style”

12


Contents of “Vancouver style”
I.

Statement of Purpose

II.

Ethical Considerations
in the Conduct and Reporting of Research

III.

Publishing and Editorial Issues
related to Publication in Biomedical Journals

IV.

13

Manuscript preparation and submission


II. Ethical considerations
A. Authorship
B. Editorship
C. Peer-review
D. Conflict of interest
E. Privacy
F. Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research


14


A. Authorship
Who can be defined as author in the by-line?
Authorship credit should be based on
1) Substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis
and interpretation of data
2) Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content
3) Final approval of the version to be published.
Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.
Funding , data collection or supervision does not allow authorship
15


II. Ethical considerations A. Authorship

WHICH ORDER for authors?
There must be agreement among authors
•
•
•
•

Alphabetic order
First, the project leader or person in charge of the Dpt
Last , the person in charge
Other order

Guest, ghost, gift authors
16


PubMED - Advanced search
allows search for last author

17

II. Considerazioni etiche. A. Authorship

Examples of “Group Authorship”
Name, surname,
on behalf of the HPV
Pathogen-ISS Study
Group*
Indicate
ALL names of the group members
in the Footnote or Appendix

18


On behalf
of the...
Study group

XXXX
Study group

II. Ethical considerations. A. Authorship

Domino effect
in error duplication
If group author is not clearly defined
• wrong publication
• wrong indexing
• wrong citation
CREATE AWARENESS AMONG
• authors
• editors
• indexers

19


II. Ethical considerations. A. Authorship

Searching Group authors in PubMed

Insert CN (collective name)
In your query for group author

20



B. Editorship
Editor (editor in chief)
Person responsible for its entire content

Editorial Freedom– The editor in chief has full authority of the editorial content
Editorial Board – Advisory Board
Collaborate with editors to establish and maintain
the journal editorial policy

Referees

21



C. Peer Review
DEFINITION
Unbiased and independent assessment of manuscripts submitted to journals
by experts (peers) who are not part of the editorial staff

“Extention” of the scientific proces
It applies to both traditional and OA journals

TYPES
Blinded
double blinded
open

VARIABLES
No. of referees
Times
Procedures (online)

Peer review is widely debated topic, BUT there is no doubt that it helps
editors deciding which manuscripts are suitable for the journals
-improving the quality of reporting

22


Pre-publication history
of an article in BMC Public Health
Submission
Review report
Re-submissions

Note on PRIVACY
Reviewers’ comments
should not be published
without
authors’, reviewers’ and
editor’s consent

23


REVISION: different levels of responsibility
1. AUTHORS’ REVISION
before submission
read instructions to authors
read again after some time (one-two days)
use check lists

2. INITIAL EDITORIAL REVIEW
after submission (before peer review)
A paper may be rejected if
it is not compliant with journal scope and formats
it has poor English

3. PEER REVIEW
after submission
Minor revisions
Major revisions
Authors! Take it seriously!
Be prepared to answer
all points raised by reviewers

4. TECHNICAL EDITING
after acceptance
Journal editorial staff

Revision improves quality and guarantees a learning opportunity
24



D. Conflicts of interest
Conflicts of interests exist when
•
an author
•
his/her institution
•
an editor
•
a reviewer
•
members of the editorial staff
have financial or personal relations
that inappropriately influence
their actions and decisions (bias)

These can have a negative influence on scientific judgement

25


EXAMPLE of
“Disclosure of Conflicts”

Ethical considerations

E. Privacy and confidentiality
It not only applies to
PATIENTS and study participants

Written informed consent

but also to
AUTHORS, EDITORS and REVIEWERS

This picture
would not be suitable
for publication
26


III. Publishing and Editorial issues
Obligation to publish negative studies
provided that they are statistically significant
Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern
Editors-authors and scientific fraud (COPE)

The number of Retractions
is dramatically increasing
(PubMed)
27


III. Editorial issues

COPYRIGHT
•
•
•

Most scientific journals still ask for copyright transfer
OA journals follow a different policy
Authors should be able to negotiate their rights

Creative Commons Licenses

Copyright agreements strongly affects deposit in OA repositories
28


USEFUL TOOLS to manage copyright
SHERPA/ROMEO
publishers’ copyright policies & selfarchiving

29


SPARC Author Addendum
to secure your rights

IV. Manuscript preparation

STRUCTURE of a scientific article
title
abstract
introduction
materials and methods
results
discussion
conclusions
plus

30

ATTENTION!
Do not exceed the required
number of words

acknowledgements, if any
references
appendices, if any


THE IMRAD STRUCTURE

Introduction
Background information
State specific purpose of the study
Limit references
Do not include data or conclusions

Material and methods
Describe (patients, animals, etc.)
Define material and equipment
Illustrate procedures
Compare with other methods

31

Results
Show results in logical order
Point out only relevant data

And
Discussion and conclusions

Stress only new aspects
Do not repeat what was written in the methods
Avoid conclusions which are
not associated to reliable data



Guidelines for the transparent
reporting of health research

It includes the major reporting
guidelines for scientific research
and guides for authors

32


IV. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Abstract and key words
ALWAYS FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

ABSTRACT
Be carefully that it reflects the content of the article
Report background, basic procedures , main findings in logical way
TYPES: Descriptive, informative, structured, graphical

KEY WORDS
Use MESH terms (MEdical Subject Headings)
33


MESH terms from the NLM

MESH terms
MEdical Subject Headings
(NLM)

34



Bibliographic references
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Include only essential references,
“in press “papers may be accepted, but avoid “personal communications
REFERENCE STYLE AND FORMAT
Authors should consult NLM Citing in medicine
References should be numbered consecutively in the text
Only some Journals check accuracy of the references
Authors are responsible for their correctness

35


NLM – Citing in Medicine

EXAMPLES for
•Articles in journals
•Books
•Other published material
•Unpublished material
•Electronic material

36


Basic elements of citation
•
•

Title of the cited document

•

Container (journal, book, etc.)

•
•

37

Author (personal or group)

Year of publication
Other data
publisher, city for books
vol. and pages for journals


Tables and figures
WHEN AND HOW TO USE THEM?
Tables  details
Graphs  trends

Include only necessary data

A figure is worth 1000 words
FOR ALL IMAGES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
38

Comply with instructions to authors
Verify that they are mentioned in the text
Check consistency of data with text
Include them in separate files
Number them consecutively
Make captions self sufficient
Check copyright
….

Units of measurement (IS)
Abbreviations and Symbols


Last, but not least…

The cover letter
your chance to speak to the editor
BASIC INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED
Editor name(s)
Originality of submission
No competing financial interests
Desired reviewers
Corresponding author

39

Do not summarize the paper,
but say why it is special
for the journal


Any Question?
Thank you
Paola De Castro

Paola.decastro@iss.it


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