17.1 General advice

Every journal will have its own style and will give guidance on how to write and format a paper for them. Read and follow this carefully. Do not try to copy the final formatting you see in the published journal; this final version is the publisher’s job. You should just submit a standard word processed document that meets the requirements they ask for.

The length of the paper will vary between journals, so check the guidance, but in general aim for around 3000 words (excluding references, acknowledgements and abstract). The longer it is, the harder it is to read and it will take up too much space, which will mean your chance of getting it published is reduced.

Chapter 5 discussed the critical appraisal of papers and it is worth revisiting this information before you start to write. Bear in mind what criteria others will use to judge your paper when it is published and make sure you have addressed all the potential areas for criticism.

Advice on choosing where you want to publish your work is given in Chapter 15, Section 15.3.

17.2 What goes in each section?

There is a fairly rigid format for writing a scientific paper, which includes title, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusion, acknowledgements and literature cited. This format allows people to locate the information they need quickly and read the paper on a variety of different levels. Table 17.1 summarises the content of each section and the subsequent information provides more detailed advice.

Table 17.1 A summary of the content of each section of a scientific paper.

Section of paper	Contents
Title	A succinct guide to the contents of the paper
Abstract	What did I do in a nutshell and what were the results?
Introduction	What is the problem?
Methods	How did I look at the problem?
Results	What did I find out?
Discussion and Conclusion	What does it mean?
Acknowledgements	Who helped?
Literature cited	Whose work did I refer to?

17.2.1 Title page

Your paper should begin with a title that succinctly describes the contents of the paper. It should be short and unambiguous, yet be an adequate description of the work. Use descriptive words that you would associate strongly with the content of your paper: the patient group studied, the treatment, the location, the response measured or the key result. A majority of readers will find your paper via electronic database searches and those search engines frequently use key words found in the title. The clearer your title the more easily your paper will be found by others and then read – the whole point of writing in the first place.

You will also include the authors’ names and institutional affiliations on the title page. Generally, the person leading the project and writing the paper will be the first author. If you are working in a team you will need to discuss this. Further advice on authorship was given in Chapter 15, Section 15.4.

You will also include in this section the name and full contact details of the corresponding author, who is the person the journal editor will communicate with, and will be the contact point for enquiries once the paper is published. You may also have to name the guarantor for the paper; this person accepts full responsibility for the work and the conduct of the study, has access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish.

Most journals will ask for your suggestions for key words (refer to Chapter 4, Section 4.1.1 for advice on choosing search terms; the same strategy can be used here) and a short running title, which can be published as a header at the top of every page.

17.2.2 Abstract

The abstract is one of the most important sections of your paper since it is what most people will use to decide whether to read the whole paper, and it will be freely available on websites and electronic databases. Since it is a self-contained summary of the whole paper always WRITE IT LAST.

An abstract with a full paper should have a similar content and be written in the same way as that described in Chapter 16, Section 16.1. However, there are a few issues specific to abstracts accompanying papers.

In a paper you will generally have a stricter word limit of only 200–300 words. This is partly because of the limits Medline and other databases place on the space allowed for the abstract, with anything longer being truncated. Since you will want the whole of your abstract displayed on these databases, stick to the limit.

In a paper an abstract should not contain:

references to other literature

abbreviations that are used in the full text – you must write it in full

any sort of illustration, figure, or table, or references to them

Once you have the completed abstract, check to make sure that the information in the abstract completely agrees with what is written in the paper.

17.2.3 The introduction

The introduction should establish the context of the work being reported. Do this by discussing the relevant research literature and summarising the current understanding of the problem you are investigating. Next state the purpose of your work in the form of the hypothesis, question, or problem you investigated. You can use statements like: ‘The purpose of this study was to …’ or ‘We investigated three possible mechanisms to explain the …’. Briefly explain the rationale for the approach you have taken, saying why you have chosen to explore the problem in this particular way.

Do not include details of how you measured outcomes since this will be done in the methods section. However, if you are using a novel methodology the merits of this technique versus the usual method should be discussed briefly. For example, if you were looking at rheumatoid arthritis and hand function, and had developed a new way to assess function you might discuss the problems with current methods and why your new method is better.

The introduction should answer the questions:

What was I studying?

Why was it an important question?

What did we know about it before I did this study?

How will this study advance our knowledge?

The structure of the introduction can be thought of as an inverted triangle; the broadest part at the top representing the most general information and focusing down to your statement of purpose and rationale. A good way to get on track is to sketch out the introduction backwards; start with the specific purpose and then outline the scientific context, and then you’ll have a good sense of what level and type of general information to begin the introduction with.

17.2.4 Methods

In this section you explain exactly how you carried out your study so another researcher could replicate the work. The following broad areas should all be included:

Study design (such as randomised controlled, case control, survey, phenomenology, grounded theory).