How Many Pages Should the Summary Section of the Review Paper Be?

Editor'southward annotation: This 2014 mail service conveys the advice of a researcher sharing his experience and does not correspond Elsevier'south policy. However, in response to your feedback, we worked with him to update this post so it reflects our practices. For example, since it was published, we have worked extensively with researchers to raise visibility of not-English language research – July ten, 2019

Update: In response to your feedback, we have reinstated the original text so you lot can see how it was revised. – July xi, 2019

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When you organize your manuscript, the first thing to consider is that the gild of sections volition be very unlike than the order of items on you checklist.

An commodity begins with the Championship, Abstruse and Keywords.

The commodity text follows the IMRAD format, which responds to the questions below:

• Introduction: What did you/others do? Why did yous do information technology?
• Methods: How did you do information technology?
• Results: What did you find?
• And
• Discussion: What does it all mean?

The master text is followed by the Conclusion, Acknowledgements, References and Supporting Materials.

While this is the published structure, nonetheless, nosotros oft apply a different order when writing.

Steps to organizing your manuscript

1. Prepare the figures and tables.
2. Write the Methods.
3. Write upward the Results.
4. Write the Discussion. Finalize the Results and Give-and-take before writing the introduction. This is considering, if the discussion is insufficient, how tin you objectively demonstrate the scientific significance of your piece of work in the introduction?
5. Write a clear Conclusion.
6. Write a compelling introduction.
7. Write the Abstract.
8. Compose a concise and descriptive Title.
9. Select Keywords for indexing.
10. Write the Acknowledgements.
11. Write upwards the References.

Next, I'll review each pace in more item. But before you set out to write a paper, there are two of import things you should practice that will ready the groundwork for the entire process.

• The topic to be studied should be the first issue to be solved. Define your hypothesis and objectives (These will go in the Introduction.)
• Review the literature related to the topic and select some papers (about 30) that can be cited in your paper (These will exist listed in the References.)

Finally, keep in mind that each publisher has its ain style guidelines and preferences, so always consult the publisher'due south Guide for Authors.

Step 1: Prepare the figures and tables

Remember that "a figure is worth a thousand words." Hence, illustrations, including figures and tables, are the about efficient style to present your results. Your data are the driving force of the newspaper, so your illustrations are critical!

How practice you make up one's mind between presenting your data as tables or figures? By and large, tables give the actual experimental results, while figures are oftentimes used for comparisons of experimental results with those of previous works, or with calculated/theoretical values (Figure 1).

Whatever your choice is, no illustrations should indistinguishable the information described elsewhere in the manuscript.

Another of import gene: effigy and table legends must be cocky-explanatory (Effigy 2).

When presenting your tables and figures, appearances count! To this end:

• Avoid crowded plots (Figure iii), using but three or 4 information sets per figure; use well-selected scales.
• Think most advisable centrality label size
• Include articulate symbols and information sets that are easy to distinguish.
• Never include long boring tables (e.g., chemical compositions of emulsion systems or lists of species and abundances). You can include them as supplementary material.

If you are using photographs, each must take a scale marker, or scale bar, of professional quality in one corner.

In photographs and figures, use colour only when necessary when submitting to a print publication. If dissimilar line styles can analyze the meaning, never apply colors or other thrilling furnishings or you volition be charged with expensive fees. Of course, this does not apply to online journals. For many journals, you can submit indistinguishable figures: one in color for the online version of the journal and pdfs, and another in black and white for the hardcopy journal (Figure four).

Another common problem is the misuse of lines and histograms. Lines joining data but can be used when presenting time series or consecutive samples data (e.grand., in a transect from coast to offshore in Figure five). However, when at that place is no connexion between samples or at that place is non a gradient, y'all must utilize histograms (Figure 5).

Sometimes, fonts are too small-scale for the journal. You lot must have this into business relationship, or they may be illegible to readers (Figure half-dozen).

Finally, you must pay attention to the apply of decimals, lines, etc. (Figure 7)

Step 2: Write the Methods

This department responds to the question of how the trouble was studied. If your paper is proposing a new method, y'all demand to include detailed information so a knowledgeable reader can reproduce the experiment.

However, do not repeat the details of established methods; use References and Supporting Materials to point the previously published procedures. Broad summaries or key references are sufficient.

Reviewers will criticize incomplete or wrong methods descriptions and may recommend rejection, considering this section is critical in the process of reproducing your investigation. In this way, all chemicals must be identified. Do non utilize proprietary, unidentifiable compounds.

To this end, it's important to use standard systems for numbers and nomenclature. For example:

• For chemicals, use the conventions of the International Marriage of Pure and Applied Chemistry and the official recommendations of the IUPAC–IUB Combined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature.
• For species, employ accustomed taxonomical nomenclature (WoRMS: World Register of Marine Species, ERMS: European Annals of Marine Species), and write them always in italics.
• For units of measurement, follow the International Organization of Units (SI).

Present proper control experiments and statistics used, once again to make the experiment of investigation repeatable.

List the methods in the same lodge they will appear in the Results section, in the logical order in which you did the inquiry:

1. Description of the site
2. Description of the surveys or experiments done, giving information on dates, etc.
3. Description of the laboratory methods, including separation or treatment of samples, analytical methods, following the gild of waters, sediments and biomonitors. If you have worked with dissimilar biodiversity components start from the simplest (i.e. microbes) to the more circuitous (i.e. mammals)
4. Description of the statistical methods used (including confidence levels, etc.)

In this section, avoid adding comments, results, and discussion, which is a mutual error.

Length of the manuscript

Once more, look at the journal's Guide for Authors, simply an ideal length for a manuscript is 25 to twoscore pages, double spaced, including essential data but. Here are some general guidelines:

• Championship: Short and informative
• Abstract: one paragraph (<250 words)
• Introduction: one.five-2 pages
• Methods: 2-3 pages
• Results: half dozen-viii pages
• Give-and-take: iv-6 pages
• Conclusion: 1 paragraph
• Figures: 6-8 (one per page)
• Tables: 1-iii (i per page)
• References: 20-l papers (2-iv pages)

Stride three: Write up the Results

This section responds to the question "What take you found?" Hence, just representative results from your research should be presented. The results should be essential for discussion.

Even so, remember that most journals offering the possibility of adding Supporting Materials, so employ them freely for data of secondary importance. In this style, do not try to "hide" data in the hope of saving it for a afterwards paper. You may lose evidence to reinforce your conclusion. If information are too abundant, y'all can employ those supplementary materials.

Employ sub-headings to keep results of the same type together, which is easier to review and read. Number these sub-sections for the convenience of internal cross-referencing, but always taking into account the publisher'south Guide for Authors.

For the data, determine on a logical society that tells a clear story and makes it and piece of cake to understand. Generally, this will be in the same order as presented in the methods section.

An important consequence is that you must non include references in this section; you lot are presenting your results, so you cannot refer to others here. If you refer to others, is because you lot are discussing your results, and this must be included in the Discussion section.

Statistical rules

• Indicate the statistical tests used with all relevant parameters: east.m., mean and standard deviation (SD): 44% (±3); median and interpercentile range:  7 years (four.5 to 9.v years).
• Employ mean and standard deviation to report normally distributed data.
• Apply median and interpercentile range to report skewed data.
• For numbers, use two significant digits unless more than precision is necessary (2.08, non 2.07856444).
• Never use percentages for very small samples eastward.g., "one out of two" should not be replaced past l%.

Step 4: Write the Word

Hither you lot must respond to what the results mean. Probably it is the easiest section to write, just the hardest section to go right. This is because information technology is the most important section of your article. Here you get the risk to sell your data. Take into account that a huge numbers of manuscripts are rejected considering the Give-and-take is weak.

Yous need to make the Discussion corresponding to the Results, only exercise not reiterate the results. Here you need to compare the published results by your colleagues with yours (using some of the references included in the Introduction). Never ignore piece of work in disagreement with yours, in turn, y'all must face information technology and convince the reader that you are correct or improve.

Accept into account the following tips:

one. Avoid statements that go beyond what the results tin can support.

two. Avoid unspecific expressions such as "college temperature", "at a lower rate", "highly significant". Quantitative descriptions are ever preferred (35ºC, 0.5%, p<0.001, respectively).

3. Avoid sudden introduction of new terms or ideas; you must present everything in the introduction, to be confronted with your results here.

4. Speculations on possible interpretations are immune, but these should be rooted in fact, rather than imagination. To accomplish good interpretations think about:

• How exercise these results chronicle to the original question or objectives outlined in the Introduction section?
• Exercise the data support your hypothesis?
• Are your results consistent with what other investigators have reported?
• Discuss weaknesses and discrepancies. If your results were unexpected, try to explain why
• Is there another way to interpret your results?
• What farther research would exist necessary to answer the questions raised past your results?
• Explain what is new without exaggerating

5. Revision of Results and Give-and-take is not merely paper piece of work. You may do further experiments, derivations, or simulations. Sometimes y'all cannot clarify your idea in words because some critical items have not been studied substantially.

Step v: Write a articulate Determination

This section shows how the work advances the field from the present country of cognition. In some journals, it's a separate section; in others, it's the last paragraph of the Discussion section. Whatever the case, without a clear conclusion section, reviewers and readers will find it difficult to judge your work and whether it merits publication in the journal.

A common error in this section is repeating the abstract, or just listing experimental results. Trivial statements of your results are unacceptable in this section.

You should provide a clear scientific justification for your work in this section, and indicate uses and extensions if appropriate. Moreover, you can suggest future experiments and point out those that are underway.

You can propose present global and specific conclusions, in relation to the objectives included in the introduction

Step six: Write a compelling Introduction

This is your opportunity to convince readers that you clearly know why your work is useful.

A proficient introduction should reply the post-obit questions:

• What is the problem to be solved?
• Are at that place whatever existing solutions?
• Which is the all-time?
• What is its main limitation?
• What do you hope to reach?

Editors similar to see that you have provided a perspective consistent with the nature of the journal. You need to introduce the main scientific publications on which your piece of work is based, citing a couple of original and important works, including contempo review manufactures.

However, editors hate improper citations of too many references irrelevant to the piece of work, or inappropriate judgments on your own achievements. They will think yous take no sense of purpose.

Here are some additional tips for the introduction:

• Never apply more words than necessary (be curtailed and to-the-point). Don't make this section into a history lesson. Long introductions put readers off.
• We all know that you are keen to nowadays your new data. Just practise not forget that you need to requite the whole picture at starting time.
• The introduction must be organized from the global to the detail betoken of view, guiding the readers to your objectives when writing this paper.
• Country the purpose of the paper and inquiry strategy adopted to reply the question, but exercise not mix introduction with results, give-and-take and conclusion. Ever keep them divide to ensure that the manuscript flows logically from 1 department to the next.
• Hypothesis and objectives must be clearly remarked at the end of the introduction.
• Expressions such as "novel," "first time," "offset ever," and "image-changing" are not preferred. Apply them sparingly.

Step 7: Write the Abstract

The abstract tells prospective readers what yous did and what the important findings in your research were. Together with the title, it's the advertizement of your article. Brand it interesting and hands understood without reading the whole article.  Avoid using jargon, uncommon abbreviations and references.

You lot must be accurate, using the words that convey the precise meaning of your inquiry. The abstract provides a brusque description of the perspective and purpose of your paper. It gives key results but minimizes experimental details. Information technology is very important to remind that the abstract offers a brusk description of the interpretation/conclusion in the concluding sentence.

A clear abstract will strongly influence whether or not your work is further considered.

However, the abstracts must exist go on as brief every bit possible. Just check the 'Guide for authors' of the journal, but ordinarily they have less than 250 words. Here's a good example on a short abstract.

In an abstruse, the two whats are essential. Here's an case from an article I co-authored in Ecological Indicators:

1. What has been done? "In recent years, several benthic biotic indices accept been proposed to be used as ecological indicators in estuarine and littoral waters. One such indicator, the AMBI (AZTI Marine Biotic Index), was designed to establish the ecological quality of European coasts. The AMBI has been used besides for the determination of the ecological quality condition within the context of the European Water Framework Directive. In this contribution, 38 different applications including six new instance studies (hypoxia processes, sand extraction, oil platform impacts, technology works, dredging and fish aquaculture) are presented."
2. What are the main findings? "The results show the response of the benthic communities to different disturbance sources in a simple style. Those communities act as ecological indicators of the 'health' of the system, indicating clearly the gradient associated with the disturbance."

Step 8: Compose a concise and descriptive title

The championship must explain what the paper is broadly about. It is your first (and probably just) opportunity to attract the reader's attending. In this way, remember that the first readers are the Editor and the referees. Also, readers are the potential authors who will cite your article, so the first impression is powerful!

Nosotros are all flooded by publications, and readers don't accept time to read all scientific product. They must be selective, and this pick ofttimes comes from the title.

Reviewers volition check whether the championship is specific and whether it reflects the content of the manuscript. Editors detest titles that make no sense or fail to represent the subject matter adequately. Hence, go on the championship informative and concise (clear, descriptive, and not too long). Yous must avoid technical jargon and abbreviations, if possible. This is because you demand to attract a readership as large equally possible. Dedicate some fourth dimension to call up about the title and talk over information technology with your co-authors.

Here you tin can see some examples of original titles, and how they were changed after reviews and comments to them:

Example 1

• Original championship: Preliminary observations on the effect of salinity on benthic community distribution within a estuarine system, in the North Bounding main
• Revised title: Effect of salinity on benthic distribution inside the Scheldt estuary (North Body of water)
• Comments: Long title distracts readers. Remove all redundancies such as "studies on," "the nature of," etc. Never use expressions such as "preliminary." Exist precise.

Case ii

• Original title: Activeness of antibiotics on leaner
• Revised title: Inhibition of growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by streptomycin
• Comments: Titles should be specific. Retrieve nigh "how volition I search for this piece of information" when you blueprint the championship.

Instance 3

• Original title: Fabrication of carbon/CdS coaxial nanofibers displaying optical and electrical properties via electrospinning carbon
• Revised title: Electrospinning of carbon/CdS coaxial nanofibers with optical and electric properties
• Comments: "English needs help. The title is nonsense. All materials have backdrop of all varieties.  You could examine my hair for its electrical and optical properties! You MUST be specific. I haven't read the paper only I suspect there is something special about these backdrop, otherwise why would you be reporting them?" – the Editor-in-Chief.

Effort to avoid this kind of response!

Footstep 9: Select keywords for indexing

Keywords are used for indexing your newspaper. They are the characterization of your manuscript. It is true that now they are less used by journals because you tin search the whole text. However, when looking for keywords, avoid words with a broad meaning and words already included in the title.

Some journals require that the keywords are not those from the journal name, considering it is implicit that the topic is that. For example, the journal Soil Biological science & Biochemistry requires that the discussion "soil" not exist selected equally a keyword.

Just abbreviations firmly established in the field are eligible (east.m., TOC, CTD), avoiding those which are not broadly used (eastward.thousand., EBA, MMI).

Again, check the Guide for Authors and look at the number of keywords admitted, label, definitions, thesaurus, range, and other special requests.

Pace ten: Write the Acknowledgements

Here, you can thank people who accept contributed to the manuscript but non to the extent where that would justify authorship. For example, here you can include technical assistance and assist with writing and proofreading. Probably, the virtually important affair is to thank your funding agency or the agency giving yous a grant or fellowship.

In the case of European projects, exercise not forget to include the grant number or reference. Also, some institutes include the number of publications of the organisation, e.g., "This is publication number 657 from AZTI-Tecnalia."

Step 11: Write up the References

Typically, there are more mistakes in the references than in any other function of the manuscript. It is one of the most abrasive problems, and causes great headaches among editors. Now, it is easier since to avoid these trouble, because there are many available tools.

In the text, y'all must cite all the scientific publications on which your work is based. Only exercise not over-inflate the manuscript with also many references – it doesn't brand a better manuscript! Avoid excessive self-citations and excessive citations of publications from the same region.

Minimize personal communications, do not include unpublished observations, manuscripts submitted but not notwithstanding accepted for publication, publications that are non peer reviewed, grey literature, or articles not published in English.

As I have mentioned, you will find the most authoritative data for each journal'due south policy on citations when you consult the journal's Guide for Authors. In full general, you should minimize personal communications, and exist mindful as to how y'all include unpublished observations. These will be necessary for some disciplines, merely consider whether they strengthen or weaken your paper. You might also consider articles published on research networks prior to publication, just consider balancing these citations with citations of peer-reviewed research. When citing research in languages other than English, be aware of the possibility that not everyone in the review process will speak the language of the cited paper and that it may exist helpful to find a translation where possible.

Y'all can use whatever software, such as EndNote or Mendeley, to format and include your references in the newspaper. Nearly journals have now the possibility to download small files with the format of the references, allowing you to change information technology automatically. Too, Elsevier'due south Your Paper Your Fashion program waves strict formatting requirements for the initial submission of a manuscript as long as it contains all the essential elements being presented here.

Brand the reference list and the in-text commendation conform strictly to the style given in the Guide for Authors. Call back that presentation of the references in the right format is the responsibility of the author, non the editor. Checking the format is normally a large job for the editors. Make their work easier and they will appreciate the effort.

Finally, cheque the following:

• Spelling of author names
• Year of publications
• Usages of "et al."
• Punctuation
• Whether all references are included

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In my next commodity, I will give tips for writing the manuscript, authorship, and how to write a compelling comprehend letter. Stay tuned!

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References and Acknowledgements

I take based this paper on the materials distributed to the attendees of many courses. It is inspired by many Guides for Authors of Elsevier journals. Some of this information is also featured in Elsevier's Publishing Connect tutorials. In addition, I take consulted several web pages: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/, world wide web.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/index.html.

I desire to admit Dr. Christiane Barranguet, Executive Publisher of Aquatic Sciences at Elsevier, for her continuous support. And I would like to thank Dr. Alison Bert, Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier Connect; without her assistance, this series would have been impossible to complete.

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Source: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/11-steps-to-structuring-a-science-paper-editors-will-take-seriously

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