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

Importance of syntax
How to prepare the title
Preparing the text

In titles, be especially careful of syntax. Most of the grammatical errors in titles are matters of faulty word order.

A paper was submitted to the Journal of Bacteriology with the title “Mechanism of Suppression of Nontransmissible Pneumonia in Mice Induced by Newcastle Disease Virus.” Unless this author had somehow managed to demonstrate spontaneous generation, it must have been the pneumonia that was induced, not the mice. (The title should have read: “Mechanism of Suppression of Nontransmissible Pneumonia Induced in Mice by Newcastle Disease Virus.”)

If you no longer believe that babies result from a visit by the stork, we offer this title (Am. J. Clin. Pathol. 52:42, 1969): “Multiple Infections Among Newborns Resulting from Implantation with Staphylococcus aureus 502A.” (Is this the “Staph of Life”?)

Another example (Clin. Res. 8:134, 1960): “Preliminary Canine and Clinical Evaluation of a New Antitumor Agent, Streptovitacin.” When that dog gets through evaluating streptovitacin, we’ve got some work we’d like it to review. A grammatical aside: Please be careful when you use using. The word using might well be the most common dangling participle in scientific writing. Either there are some more smart dogs, or using is misused in this sentence from a manuscript: “Using a fiberoptic bronchoscope, dogs were immunized with sheep red blood cells.”

Dogs aren’t the only smart animals. A manuscript was submitted to the Journal of Bacteriology under the title “Isolation of Antigens from Monkeys Using Complement-Fixation Techniques.”

Even bacteria are smart. A manuscript was submitted to the Journal of Clinical Microbiology under the title “Characterization of Bacteria Causing Mastitis by Gas-Liquid Chromatography.” Isn’t it wonderful that bacteria can use GLC?