Dr. M. Kevin O Carroll
BDS, MSD
Fellow, American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Diplomate, American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology
Professor Emeritus, University of Mississippi School of Dentistry
International Consultant, Chiang Mai University Faculty of Dentistry

Scientific Paper
 Written and published report describing original research results
 Must be written in a certain way
 Must be published in a certain way

Scientific Paper

What do we mean by “written in a certain way?”
 Following a certain format
 IMRAD
 I ntroduction
 M ethods
 R esults a nd
 D iscussion

Scientific Paper


What do we mean by “published in a certain way?”
“Valid” or “Primary” Publication
 Difficult concept to explain
 A number of tests

Scientific Paper
Examples of non-primary publications
 Abstracts
 Theses
 Conference Reports
 Government Reports
 Institutional Bulletins

Scientific Paper
Tests for Primary Publication
 First disclosure containing sufficient information to enable peers to
 1) assess observations
 2) repeat experiments and
 3) evaluate intellectual processes

Scientific Paper
Tests for Primary Publication
 Susceptible to sensory perception
 Essentially permanent
 Available to scientific community without restriction
 Available for regular screening by secondary services
(indexing)

Scientific Paper
What Does All This Mean?
 First Disclosure


Oral presentation? – No
Scientific abstract from a meeting? – No
 First Disclosure must be in a form that allows the peers of the author, either now or later, to fully comprehend and use the information that is disclosed

Scientific Paper
What Does All This Mean?
 Peers must be able to
 1) assess the observations
 Did you do a proper literature review?
 Did you design the experiment properly?
 2) repeat the experiments
 Are they described in sufficient detail that I can repeat them? and
 3) evaluate intellectual processes
 Are your conclusions justified by the results?

Scientific Paper
What Does All This Mean?
 Susceptible to sensory perception

Normally it means “published” but now includes media such as:
 Print
 Journals, film, microfiche
 Audio
 Electronic
 Must still pass the other tests

Scientific Paper
What Does All This Mean?
 Permanent
 In a form that libraries will keep in their permanent collections
 So, not newsletters or bulletins that may be thrown away after short periods such as a few months or a year

Scientific Paper
 Primary publication is
 The first publication of original research
 In a form whereby peers can repeat the experiments and test the conclusions, and
 In a journal or other source document readily available to the scientific community

Scientific Paper
 Peers of the author is now generally accepted to mean pre-publication peer-review

So, just any journal, even if it is in a library’s permanent collection, does not constitute primary or valid publication
 It must be a peer-reviewed journal

Peer-reviewed Journals

Editor

Editorial Board

Helps the editor establish editorial policy

Manuscript reviewers

Help the editor identify manuscripts for publication

Accept

Reject

Accept after modifications

Peer-reviewed Journals

Manuscript reviewers

Editor usually selects 2 or 3 reviewers per manuscript

Very specific instructions

Evaluate the experimental procedure

Do the results justify the conclusions?

Check one third of the references for accuracy

Scientific Paper

Understanding the concepts of valid or primary publication and proper form will make the writing task easier than it would otherwise be.

Scientific Manuscript

Before a scientific paper is published it is referred to as a scientific manuscript

After publication it may be referred to as a paper or an article

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Scientific Manuscripts

Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Title

Title is read by thousands of people

Abstract is read perhaps by hundreds

Whole article may be read by only a few people

Isn’t that a great pity, especially after you have spent so may hours writing the manuscript?

Sad but true

Title

If your title does not convey the essence of the paper, nobody will bother to read the paper

Every word in the title must be chosen with great care

The syntax (relationship between the words) must be carefully managed

Think of the title as a label for the paper, something that will entice the reader

Title

The fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents of the paper

Ideally not a sentence

Unless you have a strong message backed up by strong evidence

No waste words (A, the, an, “Observations on”)

Long titles are usually less meaningful than short ones


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”

Short but tells us little


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”

Short but tells us little

“Preliminary observations on the effect of certain antibiotics on various species of bacteria”


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”

Short but tells us little

“Preliminary observations on the effect of certain antibiotics on various species of bacteria”

Longer but tells us no more


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”

Short but tells us little

“Preliminary observations on the effect of certain antibiotics on various species of bacteria”

Longer but tells us no more

“Action of streptomycin on Mycobactrium tuberculosis”


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”

Short but tells us little

“Preliminary observations on the effect of certain antibiotics on various species of bacteria”

Longer but tells us no more

“Action of streptomycin on Mycobactrium tuberculosis”

Better, but still too general


Title
Specific

“Actions of antibiotics on bacteria”

Short but tells us little

“Preliminary observations on the effect of certain antibiotics on various species of bacteria”

Longer but tells us no more

“Action of streptomycin on Mycobactrium tuberculosis”

Better, but still too general

“Inhibition of growth of Mycobactrium tuberculosis by streptomycin”


Title
Syntax very important in titles

“Mechanism of suppression of nontransmissible pneumonia in mice induced by
Newcastle disease virus”


Title
Syntax very important in titles

“Mechanism of suppression of non-transmissible pneumonia in mice induced by Newcastle disease virus”



Mice that were induced by . . . virus?
Pneumonia that was induced
So, why separate the “induced” from the “pneumonia?”

Title

“Mechanism of suppression of nontransmissible pneumonia in mice induced by
Newcastle disease virus”

Revision:

“Mechanism of suppression of nontransmissible pneumonia induced in mice by
Newcastle disease virus”

Title

“Multiple infections among newborns resulting from implantation with staphylococcus aureus”

Revision:

“Multiple infections resulting from implantation of newborns with staphylococcus aureus”

Title

Be careful when you use “using”

Most common dangling participle in scientific writing

“Isolation of antigens from monkeys using compliment fixation techniques.”

Title

“Isolation of antigens from monkeys using compliment fixation techniques.”

Revision:

“Isolation of antigens from monkeys by means of compliment fixation techniques.”

Title




Do not use abbreviations
“hydrochloric acid” or “HCl” in a title?
If you were looking for an article in an index, you would look under “hy” not “hc”
Furthermore, if you were compiling a bibliography from a computer service, you would find only some of the literature if some authors used (or editors accepted) abbreviations and others did not

Title

Do not use jargon, proprietary names or outdated terminology

They lead to problems with indexing

Title

Do not use series titles (“ . . . Part I. . . . .” etc.)

The part before the Roman numeral is usually so general as to be useless

The article can be hard to understand unless all parts are available to the reader

They cause problems for editors (What happens if Part IV is accepted but Part III is rejected or delayed in review?) and indexers

Title

A hanging title is better (a colon is used instead of the Roman numeral) but still causes indexing problems

Editors increasingly believe that each published paper should present the results of an independent, cohesive study

Scientific Manuscripts


Title
Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Authors and addresses

Order of names

No universal agreement

Most popular is listing in order of seniority (in relation to the study)

First author should be the one who did most or all of the research

Subsequent authors should be in order of importance to the study

Authors and addresses

Order of names

The tendency of laboratory directors or department chairs to have their names on all manuscripts coming out of their labs or departments should be discouraged

Nobody in the scientific community is fooled

Authors and addresses

Order of names

Some journals now require all authors to sign a statement accepting intellectual responsibility for the research results being reported

In the US there have been cases of institutions having to return millions of dollars of research funding to the government because of such fraudulent authorship

Authors and addresses





Proper and consistent form
Last name, first name, middle initial(s)
Always use the same form
If you sometimes use John K. Smith and other times J. K. Smith, your work will be difficult to locate
If you change your name (e.g., upon marriage) people who do not know you will not be able to find all your work

Authors and addresses




Degrees and titles
This will be determined by the specific journal
There are two principal journals in my field and they have different philosophies One accepts degrees but not titles (Dr., Prof., etc), the other does not.
No matter where you wish to publish, read the
Instructions to Authors first. They will provide the information you need.

Authors and addresses


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

Degrees and titles
An interesting problem for indexers.
George Kennedy and Desmond Brown, colleagues of mine published a paper.
George’s degrees and qualifications were B.D.S., D. Orth.,
F.D.S., R.C.S. and Desmond’s was B.D.S.
When the article appeared in the Index to Dental Literature, the authors were listed as:
Kennedy G, Orth D, Brown D
It looked as if there were three authors because the indexer misidentified George’s second degree as an author

Authors and addresses




Addresses
With one author, one address is given, the one where the research was done
If, before publication, an author has moved to another address, the new address should be indicated in a “Present address” footnote
With multiple authors, each in a different institution, the addresses should be listed in the same order as the authors

Authors and addresses

Addresses

With three authors in two instutions, problems sometimes arise

A common solution is to place a superscript a, b, or c after their names and before the addresses

Consult the Instructions for Authors

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title


Author(s) and addresses
Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Abstract






Mini-version of the paper
Brief summary of each section of the paper
Written in one paragraph <250 words
Some journals now require a structured abstract consisting of a few paragraphs
Headings matching the sections of the paper
Although read first, it should be written after the manuscript is finished, when you know what to put in it

Abstract

Purpose of abstract

Enables reader to
 identify the contents of the paper quickly and accurately
 determine its relevance to their interests, and
 decide whether they need to read the whole paper

Abstract

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




Structure of abstract
State the principal objectives and scope of the investigation
Describe the methods employed
Summarize the results
State the principal conclusions
Write it in the past tense because it refers to work completed
Never place results or conclusions in the abstract that are not stated in the paper

Abstract







Structure of abstract
Will be published by itself, so should be selfcontained
Should not contain any abbreviations or references
Language should be familiar to potential reader
Omit all unnecessary details
Remember, the first person who will read it is the reviewer
If the abstract is not good, the paper may be rejected

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title
 Author(s) and addresses


Abstract
Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Introduction

Purpose of Introduction

Awaken the reader’s interest

Prepare the reader, whether or not they are specialists in your field, to understand the paper

Introduction

Suggested rules

Consider the level of audience and determine the amount of description you need to provide

Begin writing while the work is still in progress

Everything is fresh in your mind

Writing early may identify problems in methodology

Co-authors are still available for consultation

Introduction

Suggested rules



Provide sufficient background information to enable the reader to understand and evaluate the results of the present study without having to refer to previous publications
Provide the rationale for the study
Clearly and briefly describe your purpose in writing the paper

Introduction






Suggested rules
Write in the present tense because you are describing what is known and what question or problem you want to investigate
Present the nature and scope of the problem
Review the pertinent literature
State the method of the investigation
If necessary, the reason for choosing a particular method should be stated

Introduction

Suggested rules

Some controversy regarding what else should be in the Introduction

Introduction

Some say

State the principal results of the investigation

State the principal conclusions suggested by the results

Do not keep the reader in suspense; this is not a detective story!

If you hold back the results until later in the paper, the reader may lose interest

Introduction





Others say
The answers to the question should not be in the Introduction
Similarly, results should not be in the
Introduction, nor should implications
Purpose of Introduction is leading in
Answers and implications sound like the end of the abstract. They close off rather than lead in

Introduction

Safest policy is to study the style of the journal in which you wish to publish

Introduction

Suggested rules

If you have published a preliminary note or abstract on this study, you should mention it, with the reference, in the Introduction

If related work is about to be published elsewhere, say so in the Introduction, usually towards the end

Such references help to keep the literature tidy for those who have to search it

Introduction

Suggested rules

The Introduction is the place to define any specialised terms or abbreviations you intend to use, especially for readers who are not in your specialty

Use only standard abbreviations unless you will be using them often in the paper

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract


Introduction
Materials and
Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Materials and Methods

Purpose of Materials and Methods

Describe in detail the experimental method

Defend, if necessary, the experimental design

Enable the reader to duplicate the study

Materials and Methods

Most readers will probably skip this section

You (should) have summarised the methods in the Introduction

So, why give details?

The scientific method requires that your results, to have scientific merit , must be reproducible, and for the results to be judged reproducible, you must provide the basis for repetition of the study by others

Materials and Methods

The fact that the experiments are not likely to be reproduced is beside the point; the potential for reproducing the same or similar results must exist or your paper does not represent good science

When your paper is submitted for peer review, a good reviewer will read this section very carefully

Materials and Methods

If there is serious doubt that your experiments could be repeated, the reviewer will recommend rejection of your manuscript no matter how awe-inspiring your results

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction


Materials and Methods
Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Results

Do not start the Results section by describing methods you forgot to include in the materials and methods section!

Write in the past tense

Provide representative data, not endlessly repetitive data

Results

If one or just a few determinations are to be presented, they should be described in the text

Repetitive determinations should be presented in tables

Any determinations should be meaningful

If statistics are used to describe the results, they should be meaningful statistics

Results

The results should be short, without unnecessary words

This section is often the shortest, especially if preceded by a well-written Materials and methods section and followed by a well-written
Discussion

State the results clearly and simply

They constitute the new knowledge you are contributing to the world

Results

Do not repeat in words information already contained in the tables

Do not say “It can be clearly seen in Table I that streptomycin inhibited . . .”

Instead, say “Streptomycin inhibited . . . (Table
I)”

Results

Do not misuse “it”

An example:

The patient’s left leg became numb at times but she walked it off. . . . On her second day the knee was better, and on the third day it had completely disappeared.”

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results

Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Discussion

Usually the hardest section to write

Many papers are rejected because of faulty
Discussion sections even though the data are valid and interesting

Often too long

Sometimes the true meaning of the data is obscured by an incorrect interpretation presented in the Discussion

Discussion

Components of a good Discussion

Discuss (not repeat) the principles, relationships and generalisations shown by the results

Identify any exceptions or lack of correlation and define unsettled points

Discussion

Components of a good Discussion




Show how your results and intrerpretation agree or contrast with previously published work
Discuss the theoretical implications of your work as well as any practical applications
State your conclusions clearly
Summarise your evidence for each conclusion

Discussion

Components of a good Discussion

Finish with a short summary of the significance of the study

Scientific Manuscripts
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Title
Author(s) and addresses
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results


Discussion
Acknowledgements




References
Tables
Illustrations
Other considerations

Acknowledgements




Acknowledge any significant technical help you received from any individual
Acknowledge the source of any special equipment, cultures or materials
Acknowledge any sources of financial assistance
Show the wording of the acknowledgement to whomever you are thanking, so that they are not embarrassed in case you said too much or not enough

Acknowledgements

There is no need to write an essay describing how grateful you are

“I thank John Smith for . . .”

However, if acknowledging an idea, suggestion or interpretation, be specific about it.

“I thank John Smith for his assistance” is not enough

Scientific Manuscripts

Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion


Acknowledgements
References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

References


List only significant published references


If reference to unpublished data, theses, abstracts, etc., is essential, you can add it as a footnote
If a reference is to a paper that has been accepted for publication (not just submitted), list it as “In
Press”)
Check all parts of every reference against the original publication, both before the manuscript is submitted and again at the galley proof stage

Both indexers and typesetters can make mistakes

References

There are far more mistakes made in the
References section than in any other section of scientific manuscripts

The References section can be tedious and you may not want to spend the time getting it right

But if you do not cite the references correctly, the reader will not be able to find the reference

References

Reviewers are asked to check references and if they see a lot of errors they may recommend rejection of the paper, just because they are annoyed

Remember, reviewers are not paid for what they do

You are relying on them to give you suggestions for improving your manuscript


Reference styles
References


Thirty three different styles
Three most commonly used



Name and Year system
Alphabet-number system
Citation order system

References

Check with the journals in which you wish to publish

Use the system they use!

“Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts
Submitted to Biomedical Journals” (The
Vancouver System) favours the Citation order system

References





Name and year system
Very convenient for authors
In the text write “Smith and Jones (2004)”
Even after adding many references during production of the paper, this one will always stay the same
If another reference to a different part of the same paper is made it can be identified as
“Smith and Jones (2004a)

References

Name and year system

Inconvenient for readers and publishers if there are many references

Increases cost to publishers because of extra ink and space

Readers have to read over many parenthetical references to continue reading the text

References

Name and year system

In the text the reference is written “Smith and
Jones (2004)”

In the References section the papers are listed alphabetically by first authors’ last names and then by date

References

Alphabet-number system

Modification of name and year system

In the text write “(2)” at the end of the sentence

In the References section, the papers are listed in numerical order

References

Citation order system

Much better for readers than the other systems

Most difficult for authors

Saves costs for publishers

System recommended by Vancouver System

References

Citation order system

In the text the reference is written as a superscript numeral, with 1 being the first reference cited, 2 the second, etc

In the References section the papers are listed in numerical order

References

Journal abbreviations

Standard abbreviations should be used

These can be found in the relevant Indexes to the literature

References

Citation in the text

Do not routinely place the reference at the end of the sentence

Place it at the point in the sentence where it applies

Sometimes this will be at the end, but not always

References

Citation in the text

“Johnson 1 reported that . . .”

“The decrease in cardiac output reported by
Johnson (1998) cannot be explained by . . .”

References

The various systems vary in how the citations are written in the References section

Check with “your” journal about which system to use

Examples of one reference in each of the three systems

References



Name and Year system

Sproul, J., H. Klaaren, and F. Mannarino. 1993. Surgical treatment of Freiberg’s infraction in athletes. Am. J. Sports Med. 21:381-384.
Alphabet-number system

1. Sproul, J., H. Klaaren, and F. Mannarino. 1993. Surgical treatment of Freiberg’s infraction in athletes. Am. J. Sports
Med. 21:381-384.
Citation order system

1. Sproul J, Klaaren H, Mannarino F. Surgical treatment of
Freiberg’s infraction in athletes. Am J Sports Med 1993; 21:381-
4.

References

Name and Year system

Day, R.A. 1994. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 4 th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

Huth, E.J. 1986. Guideline on authorship of medical papers. Ann. Intern. Med. 104:269-274.

Sproul, J., H. Klaaren, and F. Mannarino. 1993.
Surgical treatment of Freiberg’s infraction in athletes. Am. J. Sports Med. 21:381-384.

References

Alphabet-number system

1. Day, R.A. 1994. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 4 th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

2. Huth, E.J. 1986. Guideline on authorship of medical papers. Ann. Intern. Med. 104:269-274.

3. Sproul, J., H. Klaaren, and F. Mannarino. 1993.
Surgical treatment of Freiberg’s infraction in athletes. Am. J. Sports Med. 21:381-384.

References

Citation order system

1. Huth EJ. Guidelines on authorship of medical papers. Ann Intern Med 1986; 104:269-274.

2. Sproul J, Klaaren H, Mannarino F. Surgical treatment of Freiberg’s infraction in athletes. Am
J Sports Med. 1993; 21:381-384.

3. Day, R.A. How to write and publish a scientific paper. 4 th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1994.

Scientific Manuscripts
 Title
 Author(s) and addresses
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 Acknowledgements
 References
 Tables
 Illustrations
 Other considerations

Books

Academic Writing for Graduate Students


Swales JM, Feak CB
University of Michigan Press 1994

Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers


Zeiger M
McGraw-Hill 2000

How To Write and publish a Scientific Paper. 4 th ed


Day RA
The Oryx Press 1994

Web Sites
 www.lib.umich.edu/taubman/pubguide.html
 www.psywww.com/resource/apacrib.htm
 www.icmje.org/#users

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