Writing your Research Paper: Tips from EASE Editors

The European Association of Science Editors, AJE American Journal Experts, and Research Square are very pleased to introduce a new EASE guideline document to support authors in writing high quality articles, choosing the most appropriate journals to submit to, and improve success in their research publishing journeys.

Writing your Research Paper: Tips From EASE Editors is a revised and reimagined edition of flagship EASE resource, EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles to be Published in English, which has been created in a collaboration between EASE, AJE, and Research Square. Members of EASE Council, and experienced academic editors, journal managers, manuscript editors, translators, and copy editors have contributed to a new edition with up-to-date information and guidance on modern journal publishing, insights into models, techniques and details such as pre-prints and open access, research and publishing ethics, factors to consider when choosing journals, identifying predatory journals, and more.

But why the need for such a guide?  Why ensure it is regularly updated?

Before you start writing

The world of research publishing has some traditional constants and some fast-moving contemporary features that present an ever-evolving array of challenges for authors, whether they are a new PhD candidate with their first manuscript, or the work of a seasoned tenured scholar. Technical requirements, best practices, guidelines and writing styles develop over time, so keeping up with the expectations of journals and the optimal ways to achieve the greatest impact with your writing can become a task in itself, as much as producing the article in a form we are satisfied enough with to submit.

First, let’s ask some of the more perennial questions that can help inform some of the ways we write and where we submit.  Why do we publish in journals?  What do they do for authors, and why does the right journal make a difference?

Journals give your work visibility among other researchers in your field, and the right journal will make your work visible to those people most able to integrate your work into their own.

Journals find these suitable readers for you by making research discoverable through sophisticated distribution networks of libraries, institutes, organisations, and even personal subscribers.  You may be able to post a document to a blog and have a small circle of colleagues read it, but a reputable journal can increase the number of potential relevant readers enormously.

Unlike a blog, which you may leave to expire, journals ensure research is permanently available in the scholarly record, and index it alongside the experts of your field, your influences, peers and other research papers that contribute to the ongoing development of your subject area.

Being published in the right journal includes you in the active research community, helping to enhance your network, increase potential for new collaboration and contacts. Discussing your work with other experts in the field can prevent waste and increase efficiency of the research process, by enabling others to build on your work, and avoid duplication of efforts.

These are just some of an even longer list of possible benefits that journals can give to your work, especially when choosing the most appropriate title. We consider these in more detail, and several other features in the full Writing your Research Paper guide.

https://info.aje.com/tips-from-ease-editors-ebook

This pressure to choose the right journal can often become a stressful task, and you may even be facing some academic pressure to publish in some very specific, high profile, journals in your field. Because of these factors, choosing the ideal journal for your work can be critical and difficult. The right journal can affect the impact your paper may have once published, and even the chances of your paper getting to review in the first place.

Facing the submission process

Another of the traditional issues of academic publishing everyone must face – from novice researchers to professors – is the experience of rejection, and most nerve-wracking of all is the threat of immediate rejection.

The most common reasons for papers to be immediately rejected on submission are that they fall outside the journal’s aims and scope or fail to comply with the instructions for authors. Understanding what journals want to publish and whether your paper matches their editorial goals and requirements is key to successful submissions.

Carefully read information about the journal, its mission, aims, and scope. These sections should state the topics, research methods and designs, or article types and formats the journal publishes. Be sure that your work appropriately matches these subjects.

Secondly, read the submission requirements and instructions carefully to ensure your paper can comply and ensure that your paper is formatted appropriately for your target journal before you submit.

Reading the instructions for authors will give you valuable information about formatting your paper. Many researchers build up a list of the journals in their field that their paper would be suitable for, and keep an quick reference list of formatting requirements (or a link to the journal page).

Identifying your target journal (or better, journals), early on ensures you can format your paper appropriately as you begin assembling your submission and getting in to your writing process.  Take the chance to pay attention to the writing of articles published in your target journal too, to learn from the phrasing, style and presentation of the published articles.

Writing your first draft

We have now spent some time thinking about why we publish in journals, and why choosing the right journal makes a difference, but what about the paper we want to submit?

Writing your Research Paper: Tips From EASE Editors provides a wealth of information and experience to guide you in structuring and phrasing your text, and presenting your figures, tables and images.

A research paper should tell a story: this might be the complete description of a long, complex study or a short account of a simple experiment or a part of a larger study. Either way, it should have a clear message that incorporates four key points:

• Introduction: What questions were addressed and how you came to ask them
• Methods: What was done to answer your questions
• Results: What was found (Choose which results you need to answer the research question described in the paper, as these will form your figures and tables.)
• Discussion/Conclusion: What the findings mean in the context of other research.

Journals can combine some of these sections or have additional sections but these are the key four components of typical papers, that are essential to communicating new research knowledge.

Remember that the version of your paper that you submit is unlikely to be accepted in its submitted form.  While it is important to be thorough and mindful of your writing, and aim to produce the highest quality work you can, your paper is going to be reviewed, and almost certainly subject to change before it will be accepted. So don’t fret too much over particular sentences or phrases. As the infamous Voltaire quote goes, “Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

In addition to determining which papers a journal will publish, the peer review process that your paper will go through is widely held to improve the presentation and communication of research. Constructive feedback will help you frame your ideas in the most effective ways, and offer you valuable insights and advice that you can apply to your subsequent papers as much as the one under review

Learn with EASE

To provide you with more tips on finalising your drafts and support the launch of the new Writing your Research Paper guide, EASE will join AJE for a live webinar event, Structuring your manuscript: Tips from an editor, presented by Shalini Garg, Editor in Chief of The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, with EASE Council Member Yateendra Joshi. In this event, Shalini will explain how to ask an interesting question to frame your research, how to tell the full story of your work, and show how it advances on previous work. She will also give more advice on how to choose an appropriate journal and write an editor-eye-catching cover letter to get your submission to review.

https://info.aje.com/july-2024-webinar-registration

The nine different chapters in our Writing your Research Paper guide dig further into the ideas presented in this blog post, provide detailed information on many of the elements involved in helping you identify the journals and structure your writing, to maximise the potential in your paper, reach the most appropriate audiences, and enhance your career.

Register for the AJE webinar now and put it in your calendar, download Writing your Research Paper: Tips From EASE Editors in advance of the session, and come ready with your questions on writing and submitting your research.

https://info.aje.com/tips-from-ease-editors-ebook

To give your papers even more polish, increase your confidence in your own writing abilities, and unlock your full potential as an academic author, EASE will hold a four-session online training course, the EASE School for Manuscript Editors and Academic Authors, led by Yateendra Joshi, freelance copy-editor and trainer, EASE Council member, and former chair of the EASE Training Committee. The course is particularly suitable for early-career researchers and manuscript editors but will benefit all those involved in writing and editing scientific documents irrespective of the level of experience and expertise.