How to write a scientific manuscript

Yodi Mahendradhata
1. How to write the introduction?
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Provide a context or background for the study (that is, the

nature of the problem and its significance).

• State the specific purpose or research objective of, or

hypothesis tested by, the study or observation.

• Cite only directly pertinent references, and do not include data

or conclusions from the work being reported.
 Possible structure: C-P-R
• Context
– Study context
– State-of-the-art
– Brief

• Problem.
– Why the reader needs to read further
– Generic statements
• "So far no-one has investigated the link..."
• "The above-mentioned solutions don't apply to the case ...“
 Possible structure: C-P-R
• Response
– Highlight study contribution
– Highlight novel aspects
– Highlight differences with previous studies
 Don‘t forget....

Be aware of who will be reading your manuscript

and make sure the Introduction is directed to that
audience*

*Source: San Fransisco Edit

2. How to write the method?
 ICMJE Recommendations

• The guiding principle of the Methods section should be clarity

about how and why a study was done in a particular way.

• The section should include only information that was available at

the time the plan or protocol for the study was being written;

• All information obtained during the study belongs in the Results

section

• Clearly describe the selection of participants, including eligibility

and exclusion criteria and a description of the source population.
 ICMJE Recommendations

Identify methods, equipment, and procedures in sufficient detail

to allow others to reproduce the results.
• Give references to established methods, including statistical
methods
• provide references and brief descriptions for methods that
have been published but are not well-known;
• describe new or substantially modified methods, give the
reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations.
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a

knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to judge its
appropriateness for the study and to verify the reported results.

• When possible, quantify findings and present them with

appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such
as confidence intervals).

• Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as P

values, which fail to convey important information about effect size
and precision of estimates.
 ICMJE Recommendations

• References for the design of the study and statistical methods

should be to standard works when possible

• Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols.

• Specify the statistical software package(s) and versions used.

3. How to write the results?
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Present your results in logical sequence in the text, tables, and

figures, giving the main or most important findings first.

• Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text;
emphasize or summarize only the most important
observations.

• Provide data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified

in the Methods Section.
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Extra or supplementary materials and technical details can be

placed in an appendix

• Give numeric results not only as derivatives (e.g. percentages) but

also as the absolute numbers, and specify the statistical
significance attached to them, if any.

• Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument

of the paper and to assess supporting data.
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries;

• Do not duplicate data in graphs and tables.

• Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as

“random”, “normal,” “significant,” “correlations,” and “sample.”
4. How to write the discussion?
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Briefly summarize main finding

• Explore possible mechanisms/explanation
• Compare and contrast with other studies
• State limitations
• Explore implications
 ICMJE Recommendations

• Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study in the

context of the totality of the best available evidence.

• Do not repeat in detail data or other information given in other

parts of the manuscript
 Practical tips
• Do not force your readers to go through everything you went
through in chronological order.

• State the message of each paragraph upfront:

– Convey in the first sentence what you want readers to remember from the
paragraph as a whole.
– Focus on what happened, not on the fact that you observed it.
– Then develop your message in the remainder of the paragraph, including
only that information you think you need to convince your audience.
5. How to write the conclusion?
 ICMJE recommendation

Link the conclusions with the goals of the study

but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions
not adequately supported by the data
 Practical tips*
• State the most important outcome of your work.

• Interpret your findings at a higher level of abstraction.

• Show whether, or to what extent, you have succeeded in

addressing the need stated in the Introduction.

*Ref: Nature Scitable (2014)

 Practical tips*
• Show what your findings mean to readers.

• Make the Conclusion interesting and memorable for them.

• Consider including an idea of what could or should still be

done

*Ref: Nature Scitable (2014)

 Do not ....*
• Do not rewrite the abstract. Statements with “investigated” or
“studied” are not conclusions.

• Do not introduce new arguments, evidence, new ideas, or

information unrelated to the topic.

• Do not apologize for doing a poor job of presenting the material.

• Do not include evidence (quotations, statistics, etc.) that should be in

the body of the paper.

*Source: San Fransisco Edit

6. How to write the abstract?
 ICMJE recommendations*
• Background
• Purpose
• basic procedures
• main findings
• principal conclusions

*Source: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html#b
 ICMJE recommendations*

• emphasize new and important aspects of the study or

observations,

• note important limitations,

• not overinterpret findings.

*Source: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/manuscript-preparation/preparing-for-submission.html#b
 Abstract style?
• As a summary of work done, it should be written in past tense

• An abstract should stand on its own, and not refer to any other part
of the paper

• Focus on summarizing results - limit background information to a

sentence or two

• What you report in an abstract must be consistent with what you

reported in the paper
 The four C’s of abstract writing*
• Complete — it covers the major parts of the project.
• Concise — it contains no excess wordiness or unnecessary
information.
• Clear — it is readable, well organized, and not too jargon-
laden.
• Cohesive — it flows smoothly between the parts.

*Source: https://urc.ucdavis.edu/conference/write.html
 Keywords?*
• Ensure abstract at top of database search results listing

• Identify six search phrases/keywords people looking for this

work might use

• Refer to Medical Subject Heading (MeSH)

• Use those exact phrases in abstract

7. How to write the title?
“[A good title is] the fewest possible
words that adequately describe the
contents of the paper”
Day & Gastel 2006
 The characteristics of a desirable title*

• Informative
• Accurate
• Clear
• Concise
• Attention commanding

*Ref: Lipton 1998

 Guidelines for a good title*
• Use the selected key words in the title. Preferably start the title with
those words, as words earlier in a title will get more value.

• Make the title descriptive.

• Only the first 65 characters (including spaces) will be shown in

Google. So use the most important words within the first 65
characters.

*Source: Tips for Authors: Writing and Search Engine Optimization (Springer.com)
One more thing....
And one last thing....
Responses to misconduct (COPE, 1999)
• A letter of explanation to the authors, where there appears to be a genuine
misunderstanding of principles.
• A letter of reprimand and warning as to future conduct.
• A formal letter to the relevant head of institution or funding body.
• Publication of a notice of redundant publication or plagiarism.
• An editorial giving full details of the misconduct.
• Refusal to accept future submissions
• Formal retraction of the paper from the scientific literature, informing other
editors and the indexing authorities.
• Reporting the case to the General Medical Council, or other such authority or
organisation
Revenge of the editors...
Yodi_Mahendradhata@yahoo.co.uk