Inexperienced authors often encounter difficulty writing a scientific article. That’s partly because guidelines vary widely between journals. For instance, some ask for no more than a 150-word abstract, whereas others require 300 words, not counting headings. Then, too, depending upon the journal (or conference) you’re submitting to, the type of information required will vary, and much of the variability pertains to the presentation of data. A good practice is to review recent issues of a journal before you set out to write the first word of a manuscript or presentation.

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One Step at a Time

Having written several hundred manuscripts and conference presentations, Dr. Justin Moore, Associate Editor of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, has written a whole series of posts that step you through the process one article section at a time. He begins with writing the introduction, and then progresses through to the abstract, methods, results, and discussion. He even helps you write a cover letter to a journal, teaches you how to let journal editors do (some of) the work for you, and ends by explaining how to select the “best” journal as an outlet for your work. tips tools writing round-up

More Tools to Help You Prepare

If you’re more of a visual learner, we’ve got you covered. Check out these short tutorials, which break down all the information into easy-to-follow instructions with examples.

Start with How to Write an Abstract tutorial and then work your way through these others:

• How to Write the Methods Section of a Scientific Article
• How to Write the Results Section of a Scientific Article
• How to Write the Discussion Section of a Scientific Article

Writing in Boxes

When you’re finished and ready to write your own article, we’ve got one more tool you don’t want to miss. It’s an eLearning tool called “Writing in Boxes for Scientific Journals.” It’s just what it sounds like, a guided module that helps you complete a rough draft of an article by having you enter information into one box after another until you’re finished. It’s simple to use, but just in case you’re unsure, we’ve worked up another tutorial to show you how to use it. 

Publishing in Academic Journals

You might also enjoy this recent podcast episode from the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Dr. Lloyd F. Novick. Check out the Editor’s Podcast: Publishing in Academic Journals. 

 

Questions?

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