CH450 CHEMICAL WRITING AND PRESENTATION
Writing Manuscripts: Title and Authors
Importance of Title
The title will be read by thousands of people (either in the journal contents pages or in
abstracting/indexing databases), even though few people may read the whole paper.
First impressions are strong impressions, hence it is advisable to choose the title with
great care.
Good Titles
Good titles should describe adequately the paper’s contents in the fewest possible
words. The terms in the title should highlight the contents of the paper.
Title Styles


Descriptive or Label Style. Title is a label, not a sentence, so that verbs and
articles (“a” and “the”) are missing. Many journals require or prefer this style.
Assertive Sentence Style. Here, the title is a sentence, with subject, verb and
object. To many, such titles are overemphatic or even dogmatic and in many
cases, the actual conclusions stated later in the paper are much more tentative
than the title suggests. However, this style is common in some prestigious
journals (e.g. Nature, Science) and in biomedical journals and is generally
becoming more common.
Example: W. Greenrod and M. Fenech. The principal phenolic and alcoholic
components of wine protect human lymphocytes against hydrogen peroxide- and
ionizing radiation-induced DNA damage in vitro. Mutagenesis, 18, 119-126 (2003).
What Not to Include in Titles






Articles (“a”, “the”)
Verbs and words such as “Study” and “Investigation”
Abbreviations (e.g. PS for Polymer-Supported or GC for Gas Chromatography)
Chemical Formulas (e.g. (COOH)2 for Oxalic Acid)
Proprietary (Trade) Names
Jargon
The above is a guide for writing label style titles (the majority).
Example: D.P. De Schutter, D. Saison, F. Delvaux et al. Optimization of wort volatile
analysis by headspace solid-phase microextraction in combination with gas
chromatography and mass spectrometry. J. Chromatogr. A, 1179, 75-80 (2008).
The above authors use a label title with no articles, verbs, abbreviations (e.g. HSSPME,
GC and MS), formulas, proprietary names, nor jargon.
Exceptions are to be found from time to time; some journals allow certain scientific
abbreviations.
1
Example 1: C. Gouveia and E.V. Soares. Pb2+ inhibits competitively flocculation of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J. Inst. Brew., 110, 141-145 (2004).
This title is an assertive sentence title and it also contains a chemical formula. A
corresponding label title might be “Inhibition of Competitive Flocculation of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Lead (II) Ions”.
Example 2: S. Bor, C. Bor-Caymaz and N.A. Tobey. Esophageal exposure to ethanol
increases risk of acid damage in rabbit esophagus. Dig. Dis. Sci., 44, 290-300 (1999).
Example 3: A. Barden, R.R. Zilkens, K. Croft et al. A reduction in alcohol consumption is
associated with reduced plasma F2-isoprostanes and urinary 20-HETE excretion in men.
Free Rad. Biol. Med., 42, 1730-1735 (2007).
This title is an assertive sentence title and it also contains a chemical abbreviation,
HETE. A corresponding label title might be “Reduction in plasma F2-isoprostanes and
urinary hydroxyeicosatrienes in men as a result of reduced alcohol consumption”.
Series Titles and Hanging Titles
These title types (usually of the Descriptive or Label style) are quite common and have a
general statement followed by a more specific statement.
Series titles are of the type “ Mesoionic Compounds. Part IV. Synthesis and Alkaline
Hydrolysis of Mesoionic 1,2,3,4-Oxatriazole-5-ones”. Some journals allow them and they
were once common. However, what happens if Part IV is quickly accepted for
publication, whereas there is a delay with Part III, which was submitted a few weeks
earlier?
Hanging titles are better. A colon (:), a full stop (.) or a hyphen (-) (depending on the
journal preference) can be used to separate the two statements.
Example 1: “The Structure of the Potassium Channel: Molecular Basis of K+ Conduction
and Selectivity”. Science, 280, 69 (1998).
Example 2: M. Assuncão, M.J. Santos-Marques, V. de Freitas et al. Red wine
antioxidants protect hippocampus neurons against ethanol-induced damage: a
biochemical, morphological and behavioral study. Neuroscience, 146, 1581-1592 (2007).
Example 3: N.V. de Gaujelac, N. Vivas, M-F. Nonier, C. Absalon and G. Bourgeois.
Study and quantification of monomeric flavan-3-ol and dimeric procyanidin quinonic
forms by HPLC/ESI-MS. Application to red wine oxidation. J. Sci. Food Agric., 81, 11721179 (2001).
Construction of Title: Importance of Syntax
Syntax means word order, which if incorrect can convey the wrong meaning. Although
the real meaning of the title is often obvious, syntax error is nonetheless serious: a title
should not need translating. Many syntax errors have a comical twist to them, but even
so, they do not reflect well on the authors.
2
Example: “Mechanisms of suppression of Nontransmittable Pneumonia in Mice Induced
by Newcastle Disease Virus”.
This title implies that the mice were induced by the virus (!). Change of syntax gives the
correct meaning:
“Mechanisms of suppression of Nontransmittable Pneumonia Induced in Mice by
Newcastle Disease Virus”.
Authors: Who is Included?

The list of authors should reflect a system of credit
“Few would dispute that researchers have to take responsibility for papers that have
their names on them. A senior laboratory figure who puts his or her name on a paper
without direct supervision or involvement is unquestionably abusing the system of credit.
There have been occasions where distinguished scientists have put their names
irresponsibly on a paper that has turned out to contain serious errors or fraud. Rightly,
some of them have paid a heavy price. (Editorial, Nature, p. 831, 26 June 1977)
What Sequence of Names?

Order of authorship should be decided early in the project and certainly before
the manuscript is written

There are no fixed rules, but maybe the best presentation is main author (who
did most or all of the work) first and the senior author marked with * (to whom
correspondence should be directed). The main author is likely to be a graduate
student or post-doctoral fellow, whereas the * author is more likely to be a
supervisor.

Include only significant contributors. This may be beyond your control, even
though you performed most of the work and are writing the paper: it is not
uncommon for heads of laboratories or institutes or other prestigious people to
be included, even though their direct contributions are small or even nil. The
average number of authors per paper is rising (Day and Gastel, p. 46).
3