Here I am going to provide the most important information, tips and hints how to write a scientific manuscript. I will focus on information on how to prepare an original research manuscript, that is meant to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. Although, the description I will provide, will in most parts also be applicable for writing a thesis, no matter if it is a bachelor, master or PhD thesis, I will call the document “manuscript” throughout all parts of the series. Compared to other descriptions of this kind, I will further provide tips based on my experience as editor and proofreader, so you can prevent the most commonly conducted mistakes and flaws from the beginning on.
Most commonly, a manuscript is structured into the following consecutive sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion. As writing the manuscript in this order is not very useful, I will describe the writing process in the following order that I think is easiest:
Results
Materials and Methods
Discussion
Introduction
Conclusion
Abstract
Title
Additionally, I will also provide information about key words, highlights, acknowledgements, abbreviations, author contribution, funding statement, data availability, ethics statement and the cover letter.
I will begin with some tips how to get started:
Choice of Journal
If you are preparing a manuscript for peer-reviewed publication, it is helpful, if you decide on a journal as early as possible in the writing process. Download the Authors Guide of the journal, and adhere to the journal’s formatting requirements while preparing figures and writing. Some journals have very strict rules of formatting, while others keep it to the authors. If you are unsure how to format, have a look at some articles that where recently published by the journal of choice and check how it is formatted there.
Today, many predatory journals are out there, that offer very fast and often cheap publication of your data. Please make sure that you are not taking the bait and chose a trustworthy journal. Well-established publishing houses are, for example, Elsevier, Plos, Springer, Frontiers, Nature, BMC, Karger, and each one publishes many different journals covering certain scientific areas. However, be aware that journals from the same publisher can vary vastly with regard to impact and prestige. A good way to find a suitable journal is to check in which journals articles were published that are relevant to your research field.
Even if your study is a conglomeration of negative results you can still publish these data if the study was well designed and executed. For more information see here. Publication of negative data is important because it can prevent unnecessary repetition of the experiment and may thus help reducing the use of test animals.
Referencing
You should start reading into your topic as early as possible. A well-performed literature search takes longer than you might think and the effort is underestimated by most beginners. Don’t be one of them! Knowing what is already published about your research topic will bolster your writing from the beginning, as you learn how a well-written manuscript is structured. After reading a well-written manuscript, go back and try to analyze what made this manuscript for you so good to understand. Was it the structure, data presentation, language, choice of words, or else?
While reading, you should collect all relevant articles in a reference managing program. Using such software will greatly simplify writing by simultaneously adding the reference of choice. The most commonly used commercial referencing program, based on my experiences, is Endnote. Additionally, some other commercial and cheaper programs as well as free referencing programs are available. See here a current comparison of available programs. By using such a program, you can not only cite while you write but also create a reference list and change the style of your referencing any time during writing. Almost each journal has its own referencing style. So, if you decide to switch your submission to another journal, you can easily change the referencing style of your manuscript by just changing the output style.
After these prearrangements, let’s get started …
… by gathering all information you already have, like protocols, lab journal, posters and presentations that contain data you may want to show in the manuscript. Based on all this information, you should select the most important data and develop a story you are going to tell the reader. It is very fruitful, if you can do this brain storming process together with your supervisor or co-author(s). The most relevant data will be shown in the main manuscript. If you have additional data that support the main story but are not necessary for proof, show them as supplementary data/ supporting data. Often, also negative data are shown as Supplementary data.
The data collection has an additional positive effect: It prevents that you start writing in front of a blank page, a situation that many people find paralyzing when starting to write.
Today’s conclusion to get started:
I:
Choose the journal you want to publish in
II:
Choose a reference program and use it to collect all relevant articles of your research topic
III:
Collect all information you already have about your writing project
