CHALLENGES IN WRITING SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

  

A feedback mail titled ‘CHALLENGES IN WRITING ARTICLES’ that I got from one of my followers asking questions concerning her challenges in writing scientific article inspired this post.

I will just post her questions and try to answer them as best as I can

Hello Dr Ify,

I wish to thank you so much for having interest to teach and put me through writing and publication.

I have questions to ask you that will help me

Question 1

Assuming I have an Article, I am writing on a topic of interest, how will I write my abstract bearing in mind that no research was carried out?

Answer

I believe that the article you are referring to here is ‘REVIEW ARTICLE’.  This is a type of article you write by solely depending on reviewing other people’s published scientific article in your area of interest. Data from previously published articles in your area of interest are reviewed and conclusions are also drawn. Review article does not involve results from author’s current research. The abstract section of review article contains the following sections

•      Introduction

•      Aim

•      Methods

•      Results (your findings)

•      Conclusion / Recommendation

 The result in this case should be your findings from conducting extensive literature review of previously published scientific articles. To read more on how to write a review article, read our previous blog tiltled WRITING A REVIEW ARTICLE? THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Question 2

What is the criteria that one can use to select a journal?

Answer

What I consider before selecting a journal for possible publication of my research article includes the following but not restricted to them

a.       The journal must be in my area of research

b.      The Journal must not have been listed in any published Journal list as questionable, predatory, pseudo, deceptive, unscrupulous, illegitimate, or dishonest journal or publisher. Predatory journals have these features: they do not engage in expert peer-review, editing, archiving, indexing, and they always promise instant publication.  International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) defines predatory or pseudo-journals as journals that accept and publish almost all submissions and charge article processing (or publication) fees, often informing authors about this after a paper’s acceptance for publication. They often claim to perform peer review but actually do not and may purposefully use names similar to well established journals.

c.       I take note of the editorial quality of the journal and their per review process

d.      I consider the indexing status of the journal that I want to publish my article in. A quality journal will be indexed by major bibliographic and citation databases such as MEDLINE®, Elsevier Scopus and EMBASE, Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science, Cumulative Index for Allied and Health Literature (CINAHL), and others.

e.       I consider and read thoroughly the author rights and copyright agreement.

f.        I consider the journal reputation/business model/ethics and also members of the editorial board

Question 3

How do you write a cover letter when you want to submit your manuscript?

Answer

A good introductory cover letter is your opportunity to highlight the significance of your research and “sell” its concept to journal editors and should contain the following:

·         Editor’s name (when known)

·         Name of the journal to which you are submitting

·         Your manuscript’s title

·         Article type (review, research, case study, etc.)

·         Submission date

·         Brief background of your study and the research question you sought to answer

·         Brief overview of methodology used

·         Principle findings and significance to scientific community (how your research advances our understanding of a concept)

·         Corresponding author contact information

·         Statement that your paper has not been previously published and is not currently under consideration by another journal and that all authors have approved of and have agreed to submit the manuscript to this journal

Question 4

Is Article processing charge the same thing as Processing fee? If yes, at what point is the fee paid?

Answer

 Yes article processing charge is also known as Processing fee.

An article processing charge is a fee which is sometimes charged to authors to make a work available open access in either an open access journal or hybrid journal. This fee may be paid by the author, the author's institution, or their research funder. Some publishers waive the fee in cases of hardship or geographic location while some Journals are completely free without article processing fee.

Some journals collect the fee at the point of submission while others accept the publication fee only when your article has been accepted for publication.

Question 5

Assuming, you want to withdraw your manuscript from a journal, how will you write the letter to the editor. How long does it take them to reply?

Answer

When you want to withdraw a manuscript already submitted to a particular journal for possible publication, you need to write to the editor asking for the withdrawal of the said manuscript and also stating the reason(s) while you want to withdraw the manuscript. Some journals may respond to your letter within the shortest possible time, while other may take a longer time depending on their workload.