The snapshot: abstract and keywords

第一部分：摘要

Your paper’s abstract is critical because many researchers will read that part only, rather than reading the entire paper. Therefore, it is critical that it provides an accurate and sufficiently detailed summary of your work so that those researchers can understand what you did, why you did it, what your findings are, and why your findings are useful and important. Your abstract must be able to stand alone, that is, to function as an overview of your study that can be understood without reading the entire text. Readers interested in learning details than could not be included in the abstract will inevitably proceed to the full text. Therefore, the abstract does not need to be overly detailed; for example, it does not need to include a detailed methods section.

Even though the abstract is one of the first parts of your paper, it should actually be written last. You should write it soon after finishing the other sections, while the rest of the manuscript is fresh in your head, enabling you to write a concise but comprehensive summary of your study without overlooking anything important. Requirements for abstracts differ among journals, so the target journal’s instructions for authors should be consulted for specific details.

以下是摘要写作的几个要点

Despite differences among journals, there are a few general rules that should be obeyed when writing an abstract:

　　• The word limit should be observed; 250 words is probably about average and commonly adopted as a word limit for abstracts, but many journals request shorter abstracts (for example, Nature Articles and BBRC both have a 150-word limit) while many others (for example, BioMed Central journals) allow longer ones. This is one very good reason why the target journal should be identified before you write your paper.
　　
　　• Technical jargon should be avoided so that the abstract is understandable for a broad readership, although what is considered “technical” may vary depending on the target journal’s audience. For example, “a test of anxiety” would generally be clearer than “elevated plus-maze test” in an abstract, unless the journal was specifically targeted to behavioural researchers. Usually, there simply isn’t enough space in the abstract to define and explain technical terminology. If such terminology is unavoidable, it should be defined in simple terms where it is first used.

　　• Like technical jargon, abbreviations should be limited as much as possible, although their acceptability may again depend on the target journal. For example, HIV is likely to be acceptable in abbreviated form by most journals. By contrast, RT-PCR might be considered acceptable by a journal reporting molecular biology techniques, but it would need to be spelt in full (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) in most journals at first use. Many journals provide a list of acceptable abbreviations on their websites. Necessary abbreviations used three or more times should be defined at first use; however, abbreviations used only once or twice should be spelled out in full unless doing so causes the word limit to be exceeded. Abbreviations that are defined in the abstract will need to be defined again at first use in the main text.

　　• Although some journals do allow references to be cited in the abstract, the vast majority do not. Therefore, unless you plan to submit to a journal that allows it, you should not cite references in your abstract.

举一个BBRC的投稿指南来说明

If we look at the instructions to authors for BBRC, we can see the following guidelines:

　　• The Abstract should be on page 2, i.e., after the title page

　　•The Abstract must be a single paragraph that summarizes the main findings of the paper in fewer than 150 words.
　　
　　• A list of up to 10 keywords useful for indexing or searching should be included after the Abstract.

Some journals request structured abstracts divided into sections such as background, objectives, methods, results, and conclusions. Clinical journals may require additional or alternative sections. Therefore, it is again necessary to check the target journal’s instructions for authors to determine the particular formatting/outline requirements prior to writing.

第二部分：关于keywords

Abstracts are frequently followed by a list of keywords selected by the authors. The instructions for authors will state how many keywords are required and may even provide a list of recommended keywords. Choosing appropriate keywords is important, because these are used for indexing purposes. Well chosen keywords enable your manuscript to be more easily identified and cited. Thus, the keywords should be as specific to your manuscript as possible, and general terms, which could apply to an enormous number of studies, should be avoided.

Example:
Let’s consider some appropriate keywords for the example title from the previous post:

“ Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration” (note that this title is and one of two suggested alternatives for the poor title in the example in the previous post).

好的关键词
Good keywords would be: okadoic acid, hippocampus, neuronal degeneration, MAP kinase signaling, and possibly mouse (or rat or whatever experimental animal was used).

有待改进的关键词
Poor keywords would be: neuron, brain, OA (as an abbreviation), regional-specific neuronal degeneration, and signaling

欢迎丁香园论坛的各位会员踊跃参与下面的“关键词练习”；

Exercise:

Suggest 3–5 suitable keywords to accompany the title in the exercise in the previous post: “Carvedilol produces dose-related improvements in LV function and dose-related reductions in mortality and hospitalization rate in subjects with chronic heart failure from systolic dysfunction”.

They don’t all have to relate to information contained in the title, so let your imagination run wild: it is the type of keyword rather than the content (the word itself) that is important to consider.

对于上述练习，希望各位可以例举3至5个合适的关键词；同时也欢迎发来您自己的英文摘要以获得Daniel的改进建议。您可以下载Daniel与Elsevier共同撰写的How To Write A World Class Paper演讲稿，其中详细介绍了文章标题、摘要、结构的写作，以及如何回复审稿意见等内容，供大家学习参考。

如果希望获得好的修改建议，也鼓励各位贴出自己的文章“摘要和关键词”供大家学习参考

In addition to completing the exercise, you can send the title from your own manuscript so that the DXY community and I can help you improve it.

Dr. Daniel McGowan
分子神经科学博士

Dr. Daniel McGowan曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑，负责约稿，管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑（Edanz Group） 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. McGowan有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验，主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。

精彩回顾

第二期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第二讲：“摘要和关键词（附PPT和在线修改）”

第一期：Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第一讲： “How to write a world class paper”（标题练习）

编者按：在本帖中，理文编辑学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan将向大家展示如何写出吸引读者的“cover letter”。

请大家注意，尽管理文编辑设在中国，Dr. McGowan的母语是英语，因此请各位尽量使用英语交流，这也是一个很好的锻炼机会！

The cover letter: your sales pitch

Competition for publication space and for editors’ attention is now very high, and it is no longer sufficient to send a manuscript to a journal editor along with a letter saying little more than “please find my manuscript attached”. The cover letter is your opportunity to directly address the editor of your target journal. It can be used to set your study apart from others and directly explain to the editor why your findings are important and why they should be published in their journal.

There are a number of important components of a cover letter, all of which should be included. These components are described in detail in the attached Edanz Cover Letter Template, which can be used to develop your own cover letters by following the suggestions in the comments and replacing the bracketed sentences with the types of sentences explained. The format of this letter is applicable for most if not all submissions, although additional sections may be required for some types of paper; for example, information about deposition of clinical trial data would most likely need to accompany a report of a clinical trial, and information about the deposition of sequence data into public databases would possibly need to be provided where such data has been obtained.

As always, the target journal’s instructions to authors should be consulted; these will most likely outline the information that absolutely must be included in the cover letter. Another source of this information is the journal’s submission webpages. Although not all of the components listed below and described in the cover letter template will be described as required on the target journal’s webpages, all should be included in your letter, because to do so will increase your chances of grabbing the editor’s attention.

以下是cover letter写作的几个要点

The following principals apply to cover letter development:

• Some journals have different editors for the different areas of research the journal covers and you can choose the most appropriate one based on area and occasionally also editor profiles. Address your letter personally to the appropriate editor, e.g., “Dear Dr. Smith”. If one cannot be readily identified, address your letter to the editor-in-chief.

• Begin by providing the title of your manuscript, the section/publication type you would like to see it published as, and the name of the journal you are submitting it to.

• You then need to provide a very brief background and rationale for your study, explaining why you did what you did. This can be followed by a brief description of the results.

• The following paragraph is very important. You will need to explain the significance of your findings to the research community, and specifically to the readers of your target journal. If you find it difficult to explain why the readers of that journal would be interested in your findings, then you may need to select a more appropriate journal. Editors will only send papers to review that they think will be of interest to their readers. Studying the ‘aims and scope’ of your chosen journal might help with this.

• The last paragraph of the letter should contain any statements or declarations required by the target journal. These usually include declarations of any conflicts of interest, grant support or other sources of funding, a statement that all authors have read and approved the manuscript and a statement that the same manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere. Confirmation of each author’s qualification for authorship may also be required.

• Finally, include details for correspondence and a polite farewell.

如果希望获得好的修改建议，也鼓励各位贴出自己的文章“cover letter”供大家学习参考，请使用本帖随附的Cover Letter Template练习写作自己的投稿函。

这个“现成”的投稿函不仅可以用于各位即将投出的稿件，也会帮助你关注研究的重要部分，包括基本原理和重要性，通过仔细斟酌研究的重要性进而在众多期刊中选择最合适的目标期刊。Dr. Daniel McGowan会尽量回复每位提供的投稿函。

您也可以下载Daniel与Elsevier共同撰写的How To Write A World Class Paper 演讲稿，其中详细介绍了文章标题、摘要、结构的写作，以及如何回复审稿意见等内容，供大家学习参考。

完整PPT资料请看

请大家注意，尽管理文编辑设在中国，Dr. McGowan的母语是英语，因此请各位尽量使用英语交流，这也是一个很好的锻炼机会！

克服语言的障碍：非英语母语的作者 如何学会用英语写作？
Overcoming the language barrier: writing in English for non-native authors

“Journal editors, overloaded with quality manuscripts, may make decisions on manuscripts based on formal criteria, like grammar or spelling. Don't get rejected for avoidable mistakes; make sure your manuscript looks perfect” (quote from a senior executive at a large international publishing house).

Scientific writing is difficult enough for many authors who have English as their first language; for non-native English-speaking authors, writing a paper in English represents a massive challenge that can make or break their paper’s chances of publication. With increased pressure on publication space and increased demands on editors’ time many journals are introducing language screening protocols to check submissions before they reach the editor’s desk; some editors simply choose to overlook papers that are too poorly written to consider or send for review in the knowledge that, among the submissions they receive, will be well written studies containing interesting and robust science. However, all is not lost for non-native English-speaking authors: by being aware of some of the most common scientific writing language errors and how to avoid them, you can improve the quality of your paper and increase its chances of being accepted.

It is helpful to think of the writing process in the same way that you think about performing experiments; that is, the language needs to be easily and accurately understood by the reader, without multiple possible interpretations arising. In experiments, we use controls to rule out alternative hypotheses. In language, we must avoid ambiguities and unnecessary text (such as repetition and redundancies) to get our message across clearly. Scientific writing should possess what I call the three “C”s: clarity, conciseness and correctness (accuracy). The key to achieving this is to be as brief and specific as possible without omitting any details that might be essential for the reader to fully understand your meaning. In other words, say no more than you need to accurately convey your message. Although writing that fails to meet this standard is sometimes described as “sloppy” or “lazy” writing, authors are frequently unaware that what they have written is unclear and ambiguous. Thus, attention to detail and an appreciation of how your writing could be misinterpreted are essential. What follows is just a small selection of error types that, when present in large numbers, could result in your paper going straight to the ‘rejected’ pile.

冠词/ 单复数 (Articles/Plural vs singular)

Articles (a/the) are adjectives that modify nouns. Where they are used incorrectly the reader can be left wondering if you are referring to a specific thing or to a non-specific item or category. Worse, they could interpret the text incorrectly and make a wrong assumption. Incorrect use of articles can also lead to confusion relating to singular vs plural senses. The word “the” should be used in conjunction with a noun referring to a particular item or group of items (it can be used with both plural and singular nouns); for example, “the sections were/the section was then stained with H&E” implies that the sections you had referred to in recent sentences were stained. By contrast, “a” should be used in conjunction with non-specific nouns; for example, “a section was then stained” infers that a single section, any section, was stained. “A” should only be used to refer to a single item or category, and should not be used in conjunction with plural nouns; that is, “a sections” would be incorrect. Asian authors frequently leave articles out of sentences making them sound awkward and unnatural, which would be the case when omitting the “the” in “adenovirus was injected into the fourth ventricle”.

Nouns are used in the plural sense by adding an “s” to the end (in most cases). In the absence of an article, it can sometimes be unclear if the wrong sense (plural vs singular) has been used. For example, in the sentence “Acetyl group was added”, the reader is not clear whether the author means “An acetyl group was added” or perhaps “Acetyl groups were added”. Thus, when referring to multiple items, the plural sense should be used to avoid potential confusion. This is commonly forgotten when describing figures (use “arrowheads” rather than “arrowhead” where there is more than one in the figure; likewise, use “solid bars” rather than “solid bar” when referring to a bar chart with multiple bars).

再如：
• “A biopsy was obtained…” (describing a single biopsy).
• “Biopsies were obtained from eight patients…” (no article necessary unless these biopsies had already been introduced to the reader, in which case they would need to be referred to in the specific sense “The biopsies were obtained…”).

逗号，短横线和“which”(Commas, hyphens and “which”)

Used incorrectly these three elements of writing can introduce ambiguities, and the potential for subsequent misunderstanding, into your writing. For example, in the sentence “Because Aβ42 levels were elevated in 75% of AD patients in studies using our method [6,7], it is critical to obtain fresh samples”, moving the comma after method to follow the word “patients” (or addition of a new comma there) would completely change the meaning. Similarly, in the phrase “calcium-induced calcium release”, omission of the hyphen completely changes the meaning of the sentence. When the hyphen is present “calcium-induced” is a compound adjective modifying the noun “calcium release”; when the hyphen is absent, “induced” is a verb describing the effect of calcium on calcium release. Thus, it is critically important to use hyphens with such compound adjectives to avoid misunderstandings. However, no hyphen is required to combine an adverb and an adjective; for example “highly intense staining” and “high-intensity staining” are both correct, but “highly-intense staining” is not.

举例：
• “Glutamate receptors mediated synaptic plasticity…” (tells the reader that Glu receptors are involved in the development of synaptic plasticity).
• “Glutamate receptor-mediated synaptic plasticity…” (identifies synaptic plasticity involving Glu receptors as the subject of the sentence; note the change from plural to singular because “receptor” is being used in a general sense and not to refer to a single receptor).

The word “which”, when used incorrectly, can also induce considerable confusion. It is often used incorrectly instead of “that”. Both introduce clauses that modify nouns, but “that” should be used to introduce defining or restrictive clauses and “which” should be used to introduce non-defining or non-restrictive clauses. For example, in “the sections that were positive for GFP were subjected to cell counting procedures”, the “that” introduces a defining clause that defines exactly which sections were subjected to cell counting. By contrast, in “the sections, which were positive for GFP, were subjected to cell counting procedures”, the sections that were subjected to cell counting are rather loosely defined, possibly referring to sections that have been described in the previous or recent sentences. The clause about GFP positivity provides the reader with additional information, but is not essential to understand the meaning of the sentence; that is, it is disposable. Because “which” is used in this way, writers need to ensure that it is absolutely clear what the “which” is actually referring to, possibly whatever immediately precedes it (most commonly) or possibly the main subject of the sentence. For example, the sentence “microglia migrated to the site of the lesion, which was associated with increased levels of ED-1” is somewhat vague, because it is unclear if the “which” is referring to the lesion or to the migration of microglia. If there is ever any doubt about such a sentence, it is best to rephrase it completely; for example “migration of microglia to the site of the lesion was associated with increased levels of ED-1” or “microglia migrated to the site of the lesion, and immunohistochemical analysis revealed increased levels of ED-1 at this site”, both of which are unambiguous.

分别” Respectively” (Respectively)

The word respectively is frequently misused by native and non-native English-speaking authors alike, and, as with the other elements described above, its misuse can lead to confusion and ambiguities. It is often clearer not to use this term at all, but it can be useful to economise on words where there are two corresponding lists. For example, it is quite useful in the sentence “The latencies to withdrawal from a painful stimulus in control and transgenic mice were 3 s and 2 s, respectively”, meaning that control mice withdrew after 3 s and transgenic mice withdrew after 2 s. If describing something much shorter than “The latencies to withdrawal from a painful stimulus”, for example average weights, respectively is not necessary; “Control mice weighed 20±3 g and transgenic mice weighed 17±2 g” is better than “Control mice and transgenic mice weighed 20±3 g and 17±2 g, respectively”, which contains one additional word. Note that “respectively” can only be used to refer to two corresponding lists at one time, and cannot be used to refer to more. Thus, the sentence “The latencies to withdrawal from 5 g and 10 g painful stimuli in control and transgenic mice were 3 s and 2 s, respectively” is incorrect and impossible to understand.

• “The proportions of monocytes positive for CD163, CD7 and CD11a were 45%, 63% and 70%, respectively” (the “respectively” makes clear that the three percentages refer to each of the three markers in the same order).

Comparisons are frequently made in the results sections of papers, and it is especially important to compare “like with like”. One common error made by non-native authors is overlooking this simple rule and leaving the reader to make an assumption about what is being compared. At best, the language will appear unnatural but the meaning clear; at worst, the wrong meaning can be imparted. As an example, the sentence “Expression levels of p53 in smokers were compared with non-smokers” should actually be “Expression levels of p53 in smokers were compared with those in non-smokers”. Another frequent error with comparisons is the use of relative terms (for example, higher, greater, more) without a reference. In the sentence “transgenic mice showed higher levels of cortisol” it is unclear what these levels were higher than; thus, a “than clause”, such as “than control mice”, is required. The reader might make this assumption automatically, but in some cases alternative inferences will be possible; the goal of accurate scientific writing has to be the removal of all assumption. Because comparisons of results are critical to their interpretation and, ultimately, their significance, it is critical that you convey to the reader exactly what is being compared. Finally, the word “between” should be used for comparisons of two findings, but “among” should be used for comparisons of three or more.

举例：
• “The levels of ubiquitinated proteins were higher in patients than in control subjects” (the “than clause” provides a reference for the term “higher”).
• “The levels of ubiquitinated proteins in patients were higher than those in control subjects” (unlike the first example, where patients and controls are both on the same side of the comparing term, that is, they are both mentioned after “higher”, here, patients and controls appear either side of the comparing term; therefore, it is necessary to add “than those” to compare like with like).
• “There was no significant difference in the levels of ubiquitinated proteins between patients and controls” (“between is appropriate here for a comparison of two groups).
• “There were no significant differences in the levels of ubiquitinated proteins among AD patients, PD patients and controls” (among is appropriate for comparisons of more than two groups; note the change to the plural differences because more than one type of difference is possible with more than two groups).

蛋白质和基因的命名(Protein and gene nomenclature)

One very common cause of confusion is use of the incorrect nomenclature to describe changes in the levels of genes, their mRNAs or the proteins that they encode. Constant changing from describing gene expression levels to protein levels and back again can also add to the confusion, especially because the names are often the same. Therefore, it needs to be completely clear to the reader exactly what level you are talking about. Nomenclature differs among species, but generally gene names should be described in italics and protein names in normal font. Case (upper vs lower) is often used to distinguish between species: generally, for mouse, rat and chicken, gene names are spelt with an upper case first letter and the rest in lower case; for humans, primates and some domestic species, gene names are spelt with all capital letters. Descriptions of mRNAs generally use the gene name (for example, “levels of p53 mRNA”) or you can refer to the mRNA “for” a given protein (for example “levels of the mRNA for p53”). The word “expression” is usually used to describe gene expression and can induce confusion when used to describe protein and mRNA levels; in most cases referring to proteins the word “expression” can simply be replaced with the word “level” (or “levels”). Be aware of the correct nomenclature for your species of subject and ensure that everywhere you refer to a protein, gene or mRNA by name in the text it is completely clear which of those you are referring to.

总结(Summary)

These are just a few of the most common errors made by non-native English-speaking authors in their scientific writing. There are of course many more that can’t be dealt with here, but they all have the same result: a loss of clarity and/or introduction of ambiguity. If you apply the three “C”s when writing your next paper, with an awareness of some of the traps that can lead to ambiguities or a loss of clarity, you will automatically improve your chances of getting your study published. If you also focus on removing any repetition and redundancy, and apply attention to detail to ensure that your meaning is clearly conveyed in each sentence, you will increase them further. As a general rule, it is a good idea to keep sentences simple, using shorter expressions wherever possible, rather than long, complicated and confusing. The slogan for the Beijing Olympics was “One world, One dream”; when it comes to scientific writing you should think “One sentence, One idea”. The simplest solution is always the best.

练习/Exercise

请各位检查一下近期自己写过的英语论文，回顾文中是否存在上述列举的错误。欢迎各位积极贴出典型的错误例句以及建议的修改方法（请确保使用英文），也期待大家应用上面说到的三“C”标准来纠正这些错误。Dr. McGowan将逐一对大家修改好的例句进行回复，并列举出他自己遇到的此类问题。祝各位好运！

您也可以下载Daniel与Elsevier共同撰写的How To Write A World Class Paper 演讲稿，其中详细介绍了文章标题、摘要、结构的写作，以及如何回复审稿意见等内容，供大家学习参考。