Ten Principles to Improve the Likelihood of Publication of a Scientific Manuscript

Citation: J.M. Provenzale (2007) Ten Principles to Improve the Likelihood of Publication of a Scientific Manuscript. American Journal of Roetgenology (RSS)
DOI (original publisher): 10.2214/AJR.06.1003
Semantic Scholar (metadata): 10.2214/AJR.06.1003
Sci-Hub (fulltext): 10.2214/AJR.06.1003
Internet Archive Scholar (search for fulltext): Ten Principles to Improve the Likelihood of Publication of a Scientific Manuscript
Download: http://www.ajronline.org/doi/full/10.2214/AJR.06.1003
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Summary

This review is meant for those that have done good research and know the fundamentals of writing a scientific article, but may need some tips to help get their research published. Most of these tips come into play before the manuscript is even written. Organization is a very important aspect of a published manuscript and comes up in several pieces of advice in the article. The basic organization of the manuscript is important, including the order of the Materials, Methods, and Results section. The article also emphasizes the need to be clear. A good research article will clearly state the research question as well as the rationale of why the study will answer the question and why that is important. Being clear in the Materials and Methods section is also helpful for getting published. Readers of the article need to clearly understand how the study was conducted, which is explained in these sections. These sections should be written so someone else could reproduce the study if they so chose. Being clear is key in a good manuscript, but so is being concise. Readers must understand and be able to digest the information given to them in the article, so being concise is also important. The Discussion section is a particularly important part of the manuscript that should be concise. This section should also be where the researcher explains why their study results are important, but at the same time it’s important not to overstate the significance of their results. Something that may seem hard to do but is just as important to include is the limitations of the study and explain any unexpected results. Finally, taking in the suggestions of readers and making changes accordingly is a necessity, even if those changes are significant. J.M. Provenzale addresses several key fundamentals in writing a successful scientific research manuscript. In the 10 pieces of advice explained, the reader will hopefully discover ways to help better their chances of getting their research published.