FROM : Preparing a manuscript for publication: A user-friendly guide (PMC2528624)

STEP 1: FINDING THE TIME TO THINK

To write, one needs something to say, which requires thinking time.
There are many times in the day that are ideal for thinking, such as while doing rote tasks that do
not require ones full attention (eg, riding the bus or walking to work, shovelling snow, gardening or
taking a shower). Develop the habit of using some of these times to think about writing.

What to think about?

In preparing to write, think about the answers to the following questions:

What do you want to say about this topic what is your key message?
Why do you care about this?
Who is the intended audience, and therefore, what format and type of journal should this piece be
submitted to?
Why would this audience be interested?
Who might want to work on this paper with you?

Capture these ideas in a notebook, a file folder or your personal digital assistant, or by sending e-
mails to yourself. Review and refine the answers. Regularly review this ideas file. Once your ideas
are focused, you are ready to write.

STEP 2: FINDING THE TIME TO WRITE

Five minutes here and five minutes there does not work for writing. You need real time set aside
to write. The solution: schedule time for writing by making an appointment in your weekly planner
a one- or two-hour block once or twice a week.

When and where to write?

Writing is a complex task that requires you to be at your best. Are you a morning person or one who
works best at night? Do you need a warm-up period (ie, a preliminary task, perhaps dictating your
case notes) to set you up to write or are you a quick study? What type of environment do you find
most conducive to a complex task a quiet room, background music, a cup of tea, etc? To minimize
distractions and interruptions while writing, where is the best place for you to write your
workplace office, your home office or the library? A do not disturb sign may help.
FROM :Six things to do before writing your manuscript
(By Angel Borja, PhD Posted on 12 May 2014, Elsevier)

1. Think about why you want to publish your work and whether it's publishable.
Writing a paper starts well in advance of the actual writing. In fact, you must to think about why you want to publish
your work at the beginning of your research, when you question your hypothesis. You need to check then if the
hypothesis and the survey/experiment design are publishable. Ask yourself:

1. Have I done something new and interesting? 3. Is my work related directly to a current hot topic?

2. Is there anything challenging in my work? 4. Have I provided solutions to some difficult

problems?

If all answers are "yes," then you can start preparations for your manuscript. If any of the responses are "no," you can
probably submit your paper to a local journal or one with lower Impact Factor.

When responding to these questions, you should keep in mind that reviewers are using questionnaires in which they
must respond to questions such as:

1. Does the paper contain sufficient new 6. Is the discussion relevant, concise and
material? well documented?

2. Is the topic within the scope of the 7. Are the conclusions supported by the
journal? data presented?

3. Is it presented concisely and well 8. Is the language acceptable?

organized?
9. Are figures and tables adequate and
4. Are the methods and experiments well designed?, are there information
presented in the way that they can be duplicated? Are they too many?
replicated again?
10. Are all references cited in the text
5. Are the results presented adequately? included in the references list?

2. Decide what type of the manuscript to write.

You have at least three options on the type of manuscript:

1.Full articles, or original articles, are the most important papers. Often they are substantial completed pieces of
research that are of significance as original research.

2.Letters/rapid communications/short communications are usually published for the quick and early communication
of significant and original advances. They are much shorter than full articles (usually strictly limited in size, depending
on each journal).

3.Review papers or perspectives, summarize recent developments on a specific hot topic, highlighting important
points that have previously been reported and introduce no new information. Normally they are submitted on invitation
by the editor of the journal.

When looking at your available information, you must self-evaluate your work: Is it sufficient for a full article, or are
your results so thrilling that they should be shown as soon as possible?

You should ask your supervisor (if you are a PhD student) or a colleague for advice on the manuscript type to be
submitted. Remember also that sometimes outsiders i.e., colleagues not involved in your research can see things
more clearly than you.
Whatever type of article you write, plan to submit only one manuscript, not a series of manuscripts. (Normally editors
hate this practice, since they have limited space in the journals and series of manuscripts consume too many pages for a
single topic or an author/group of authors)

3. Choose the target journal.

A common question is how to select the right journal for your work. Do not gamble by scattering your manuscript to
many journals at the same time. Only submit once and wait for the response of the editor and the reviewers.

The most common way of selecting the right journal is to look at the articles you have consulted to prepare your
manuscript. Probably most of them are concentrated in one or two journals. Read very recent publications in each
candidate journal (even in press), and find out the hot topics and the types of articles accepted.

Also consider the high rejection rates of the journals (e.g.,Nature,Science,The Lancet and Cell are >90 percent), and if
your research is not very challenging, focus in more humble journals with lower Impact Factors. You can find a
journal's Impact Factor on its webpage or via Science Gateway

4. Pay attention to journal requirements in the Guide for Authors.

After selecting the journal for submission, go to the web page and download the Guide for Authors, print out it and read
the guidelines again and again!

They generally include detailed editorial guidelines, submission procedures, fees for publishing open access, and
copyright and ethical guidelines. You must apply the Guide for Authors to your manuscript, even the first draft, using
the proper text layout, references citation, nomenclature, figures and tables, etc. Following this simple tip will save your
time and the editor's time. You must know that all editors hate wasting time on poorly prepared manuscripts. They
may well think that the author shows no respect.

5. Pay attention to the structure of the paper.

More and more journals have new types of structure for their articles, so it's crucial to consult the Guide for Authors.
However, in general, most of them follow the same structure:

1. A section that enables indexing and searching the usually divided into: Introduction, Methods,
topics, making the paper informative, attractive Results, Discussion and Conclusions.
and effective. It consists of the Title, the Authors
3. A section that includes the Acknowledgements,
(and affiliations), the Abstract and the Keywords.
References, and Supplementary Materials or
2. A section that includes the main text, which is annexes.

The general structure of a full article follows the IMRAD format, introduced as a standard by the American National
Standards Institute in 1979, which responds to the questions below:

Introduction: What did you/others do? Why did you do it? And

Methods: How did you do it? Discussion: What does it all mean?

Results: What did you find?

6. Understand publication ethics to avoid violations.

One of the worst things in science is plagiarism. Plagiarism and stealing work from colleagues can lead to serious
consequences, both professionally and legally. Violations include data fabrication and falsification, improper use of
human subjects and animals in research, and using another author's ideas or wording without proper attribution. It's also
possible to commit ethics violations without intending to. Educational resources include the Publishing Ethics Resource
Kit (PERK) from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Elsevier's Ethics in Publication & Research
website.