Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic rules of writing
- 2 Comments on scientific language
- 3 Drafting the manuscript
- 4 Choosing a journal
- 5 Preparing a graph
- 6 How to design tables
- 7 Title
- 8 Authors
- 9 Abstract
- 10 Introduction
- 11 Methods
- 12 Results
- 13 Discussion
- 14 Acknowledgments
- 15 References
- 16 Numbers
- 17 Abbreviations
- 18 Common statistical errors
- 19 Typing
- 20 The covering letter
- 21 Dealing with editors and referees
- 22 Correcting proofs
- 23 Authors' responsibilities
- Literature needed on your desk
- Further reading
- Literature cited
- Index
7 - Title
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Basic rules of writing
- 2 Comments on scientific language
- 3 Drafting the manuscript
- 4 Choosing a journal
- 5 Preparing a graph
- 6 How to design tables
- 7 Title
- 8 Authors
- 9 Abstract
- 10 Introduction
- 11 Methods
- 12 Results
- 13 Discussion
- 14 Acknowledgments
- 15 References
- 16 Numbers
- 17 Abbreviations
- 18 Common statistical errors
- 19 Typing
- 20 The covering letter
- 21 Dealing with editors and referees
- 22 Correcting proofs
- 23 Authors' responsibilities
- Literature needed on your desk
- Further reading
- Literature cited
- Index
Summary
For every person who reads the whole of a scientific paper, about five hundred read only the title (Kerkut 1983). One way to improve this statistic could be to make the title declarative by including what the paper says, not just what it covers.
Whenever possible, use a declarative rather than a neutral title
This title is neutral:
Influence of aspirin on human megakaryocyte prostaglandin synthesis.
John Vane, in his classic paper published in Nature in 1971, put it more expressively:
Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis as a mechanism of action of aspirin-like drugs.
(In 1988, Vane was awarded a Nobel Prize in acknowledgment of his discovery. Vane told us how aspirin relieves pain.) A few journals, however, still ask for nondeclarative titles in their Instructions for Authors – JAMA and N. Engl. J. Med. are two. Yet declarative titles may be found in these journals. Here is one from JAMA (Wechsler et al. 1998):
Increased levels of cigarette use among college students. A cause for national concern.
And here is an example from N. Engl. J. Med. (Bolla et al. 1997):
Improved survival in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer treated with radiotherapy and goserelin.
The following declarative title is taken from the biological sciences (Marvin 1964):
Birds on the rise.
Goodman et al. (2001) recommended that the study design also be included in the title, as follows (Heart Protection Study Collaborative Group 2002):
MRC/BHF Heart Protection Study of cholesterol lowering with simvastatin in 20,536 high-risk individuals: a randomised placebocontrolled trial.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- How to Write and Illustrate a Scientific Paper , pp. 42 - 46Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003