【交流】Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第一讲 ：How to write a world class paper（标题练习）（附PPT）

How to Write a Manuscript

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。

精彩系列讲座

第一期：Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第一讲： “How to Write a Manuscript”（标题练习）

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）”

第三期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第三讲：“cover letter的练习”

第四期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第四讲：“Nature Reviews Neuroscience 前任编辑帮您修改语言问题”

第五期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第五讲：“如何做好研究设计和预先规划工作。 ”

第六期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第六讲：“如何选择合适的目标期刊？”

第七期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第七讲：“如何撰写规范的IMRaD格式？”

第八期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第八讲：“如何完成一个出色的论文图表？”

第九期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第九讲：“让统计学告诉你的结果意味着什么？”

第十期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第十讲：“如何回复审稿意见? ”

第十一期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第十一讲：“科研伦理和论文发表道德”

第十二期： Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第十二讲：“投稿，最后检查”

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文章标题。

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！

Making a good first impression: the importance of writing a good title

The title of your paper is a “hook” that should be used to attract readers—it is your opportunity to “sell” your paper to readers browsing a table of contents or search results. A poor title will cause potentially interested researchers to overlook your work and may attract the wrong audience. By contrast, a good title will attract the relevant researchers and increase the number of citations you receive. Therefore, it is important to get it right.

A good title should be as brief as possible while still communicating the main finding(s) of the paper. Avoid excessive detail and unnecessary use of field-specific jargon and abbreviations. Your title must be understandable by a broad scientific audience, some of whom may not have a detailed knowledge of your particular field. How broad depends on the particular target journal—consider the readership of your target journal and write a title that can be easily understood by all, not only those in your immediate field. The target journal’s instructions for authors should also be consulted to ensure that character limits are complied with and to identify whether a running (short) title is also required.

Good title checklist

-  Specific
-  Concise
-  Communicates the main findings
-  Will attract readers
-  Does not begin with the, a, or an
-  Avoids use of non-standard abbreviations

下面来举个例子进行说明



分析1：This title is too long, contains non-standard abbreviations and a redundancy, and is too specific in parts.

分析2；Further, many journals do not want titles that begin with the, a, or an. A better alternative would be: “Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration”.

分析3：“MAP kinase-dependent neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration” would probably also be acceptable, depending on the target journal, because the abbreviation MAP is widely used and understood.

欢迎丁香园论坛的各位访友踊跃参与下面的“标题练习”；

Exercise:

Suggest a good alternative title for the following using what you’ve learned about writing good titles.

“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”

如果希望获得好的修改建议，也鼓励各位贴出自己的文章标题供大家学习参考

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.

更多精彩内容请下载完整的“Writing for Success”系列培训材料。