How to write and publish a scientific paper - Barbara Gastel, Robert A. Day 2022

Checking your manuscript
How to submit the manuscript
Publishing the paper

Great journals are born in the hands of the editors; they die in the hands of businessmen.

—Bernard DeVoto

Checking your manuscript

Before submitting your manuscript, review the instructions to authors from the journal. If the journal provides a manuscript-submission checklist, remember to use it. Make sure that you have followed all the instructions. If a manuscript deviates substantially from what is required, it may be returned for correction of the problems before it even undergoes review on its merits.

Unless the journal (or the style manual that it says to use) instructs otherwise, follow these guidelines:

· Double-space.

·  Use margins of at least 1 inch (at least about 25 mm).

·  Left-justify the text; leave a “ragged” right margin.

· Start each section of the manuscript on a new page. The title and authors’ names and addresses are usually on the first page, which should be numbered 1. The abstract is on the second page. The introduction starts on the third page, and each succeeding section (materials and methods, results, etc.) then starts on a fresh page. Figure legends are grouped on a separate page. Traditionally, the tables, figures, and figure legends have been assembled at the back of the manuscript. Currently, though, some journals ask authors to insert them in the text or to provide them as separate files.

Grammar-checking and spell-checking software can help, but you should not rely on them too heavily. Grammar checkers can alert you to possible problems in grammar and style. But given their limitations, you should accept their suggestions only if you confirm that they are correct. Almost all spell-checkers provide for the creation of custom dictionaries—for example, for scientific terms and unusual words; also, some specialized spell-checkers are commercially available. Spell-checkers recognize definite misspellings, but not those typographical errors that result in a word that exists but is wrong (for example, as occurs embarrassingly often, pubic instead of public). Thus, proofreading is still necessary to make sure that the correct word has been used and to detect errors such as missing words. In addition to proofreading the manuscript yourself, try to have someone do so who has not seen the manuscript before and therefore may notice problems that you miss. Consider also reading the manuscript aloud, as doing so can aid in noticing difficulties.