I have been an editor for 6 months now and read about a hundred papers, and this is what I have learnt so far. As an author myself and a publisher of journals where I talked to external editors all the time, here is what we wish we could tell authors, in no particular order(1/n)
1. Write your paper like you are telling a story. Build up and find the connection from Fig 1 to 2 to 3, & explain the rationale behind each experiment or idea, what the results were, and how it contributes to the main message of the paper. (2/n)
A good way to start is to put your all data on the table, and figure out what the connecting thread is. Remember you are telling a story. Your readers should follow you reaching the conclusions of your paper, and maybe even reach the same conclusions as you do as they read! (3/n)
2. @Tcoenye already let the cat out of the bag with this one, but please PLEASE use double spacing in your text. We read your papers on the screen these days and it is really hard on our eyes if we have to decipher closely fitted text. Thank you very much 😊(4/n)
3. Remember the audience you are writing for. If you want to submit in a broad scope journal, your audience will be fairly far removed from your field. OTOH, a field specific journal would not need a basic explanation of the field. Accommodate your writing accordingly. (5/n)
4. It is always a good idea to break up your results into sections & summarize each section either in the title, or at the end of it. An editor should get the main message of each experiment, without needing to know the details (I leave that to the reviewers). (6/n)
5. It might be a good idea to have someone outside your field read what you have written. My fave story is I got my chemical engineer brother to read my cell biology/genetics thesis, and it made a huge difference to the narration. (7/n)
6. Keep your sentences short: one sentence = one fact. Try not to use conjunctions too much, they just make your sentences clunky, long and hard to understand. Remember the more quickly the editor and readers get the point, the better. (8/n)
7. Oh here is one: please don’t add loads and loads of acronyms in your paper. If you absolutely need to do this, please then provide a glossary of terms that editors can refer to. (9/n)
8. Ethics stuff: Don’t plagiarize! This basically means taking someone else’s ideas, words, sentences, figures, anything that someone else has created and not giving them the proper credit. This is also why your references should always be up to date. (10/n)
9. More ethics stuff: Please also don’t submit your paper to more than one journal at a time, as this is a violation of the COPE ethical code. (11/n)
10. Not all journals require this, but it is always good to talk about the limitations of what you have presented. This really shows the audience that you have thought thoroughly about your work, and shows a level of critical thinking and self reflection. (12/n)
11. Again, not all journals require this, but it is always nice for your readers to know the broader implications of your work and how it benefits the community. This is especially important if you are thinking of submitting to a broad scope journal. (13/n)
12. Cover letters are great to summarize the background, the hypothesis and the conclusion of your paper to the editor. Also this is also the perfect place to talk about any conflicts of interest, or anything you want the editor to know. (14/n)
13. Another thing: report any modifications or enhancements you make to your figures. You certainly don't want @MicrobiomDigest after you :D (15/n)
This is barely touching the surface really, so if you want to know more, check out researcheracademy.elsevier.com (@Researcheracad). Sign up is free, and you get access to tons of information on everything academia. (15/15)
