【交流】Nature Reviews Neuroscience 前任编辑 Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第八讲 ：“如何完成一个出色的论文图表”？

Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第八讲

Display items: a picture tells a thousand words


好图胜千言：“如何完成一个出色的论文图表”

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

第一期：Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第一讲： “How to write a world class paper”（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:“如何完成一个出色的论文图表”？

“好图胜千言”
Dr. McGowan论文写作系列第八讲 — Display items: a picture tells a thousand words


图表自明：和摘要一样重要
In the tip on abstract I mentioned that many readers will only read the abstract of your paper, and so the abstract needed to be self-contained, describing all of the important findings and their significance. Some readers will go further than just the abstract and look at the display items to validate the findings described in the abstract, but still not read the entire paper. Thus, like the abstract, the display items in your paper (along with their associated legends) need to be able to stand alone and be understood without the need to refer to the text of the paper.

Display items include figures and tables, which are essentially graphical representations of the results described in the text. Simply put, they are the most effective and efficient way to present your results. With good figures and tables you will be able to impart to the reader exactly what you found in your study in a relatively short period of time (that is, much faster than it would take the reader to read the entire paper). Researchers in rapidly moving fields or with limited time to keep up to date with advances in their field will appreciate the rapidity with which they can be informed of your findings; journals editors and peer reviewers will appreciate the clarity. Therefore, it is worthwhile devoting some thought and attention to developing good quality figures and tables that clearly convey your results.

一个好的图表是这样炼成的：As with the other sections of scientific manuscripts, there are certain ‘rules’ that should be followed when generating display items.

第一点
First, if you have a target journal in mind already, consider how many display items they allow and ensure that you do not exceed that limit. If you have more results to describe than can be simply shown in the allowable number of display items, some may need to be included in a Supplementary Information section, or described in the text with the statement “(data not shown)”. However, only the least important or peripheral findings should be described in this way, and all findings that support your hypothesis need to be shown. Thus, you may need to consider an alternative journal if your first choice will not allow you to present all of your important data. By contrast, if a journal allows more display items than is necessary to show your findings, do not add redundant or unnecessary display items simply because you can. All display items must have a clear and necessary purpose.

第二点
Second, the data shown in figures and tables needs to be easy to interpret. Consider how much data you wish to show in a given display item and how it can be organized to convey the important message. Therefore, rather than combining multiple parameters or treatments into a single graphic, consider splitting the data across multiple simpler graphics that can be grouped together in a single figure. Remember to clearly label any graph axes, table columns and rows, and components of diagrams if appropriate. Trendlines, scale bars and the results of any statistical tests should be also shown, where relevant, for example by using an asterisk to indicate significance, or a variety of symbols to indicate different levels of significance. With large samples, report the % change or % difference as well as absolute values.

第三点
Third, the legends accompanying display items need to be able to stand alone such that the display items are entirely understandable without the need to read the entire manuscript. That means abbreviations should not be used or need to be defined, and technical terms should be avoided. It should be clear exactly what was done and what was seen. Statistical tests should be briefly described in the legends, with p values given and any symbols used defined.

图表说明多用现代时态Legends, including their headings, should be written in the present tense with the exception of any methods described within them. For example, use “Western blot showing an increase in the levels of p53 after…” rather than “Western blotting showed that the levels of p53 increased after…”.

最后一点
Finally, there should be no redundancies between the display items and the text. Therefore, do not produce a display item to show information that can easily and briefly be stated in the text, and do not duplicate information among tables and figures, for example, by making a table to show the same information already conveyed in a figure. Do not embed figures and their legends within the text of the manuscript you plan to submit. The publisher will put your text and display items into a template ‘proof’ that will be specific to the target journal. What they usually require from authors is a separate file containing display items (occasionally these can be placed at the end of a manuscript files) and a text file that includes figure and table legends listed together at the end (usually following the references). Check the instructions for authors of your intended target journal for their specific requirements.

By preparing good quality, clear display items before writing the results section, this section will practically write itself. The display items can be grouped in a logical order that progresses your argument or progressively strengthens your hypothesis. With one subsection and one display item for each of the major findings, the subsection headings will be similar to the relevant legend headings, and the text in each subsection will provide a brief description of the findings shown in each display item, complete with the results of statistical analyses, with the reader being referred to the display items for more detail.

现在，大家来看以下的例子：

Tables are a great way to present large amounts of necessary data with minimal description required. The table shown above is a truncated version of a table in a paper published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (doi:10.1172/JCI37622; reproduced with permission). The data presented clearly and economically in this table would have required a considerable amount of word space to describe in the text, but the use of a table makes the information available without the need for a wordy description. All that was required to describe this in the main text was the following statement: “Clinical characteristics of all patients and tumor samples are summarized in Table 1”. The figure below, taken from the same paper, contains many of the elements of a successful display item described in this tip and listed in the checklist below.

Checklist 备忘录
　　　
1.‘Stand alone’ legends
2.Comply with the allowable number of display items
3.Avoid redundancy among display items or between display items and text
4.Divide data showing different effects or parameters among different panels within the same display item
5.Use scale bars, trendlines and clear labels, and show the results of statistical tests
6.Avoid or define all symbols and abbreviations
7.With large samples, show % changes/differences as well as absolute values
8.Submit figures in a separate file or at the end of the manuscript file rather than embedded in the main text
9.Check the instructions for authors for any specific requirements regarding format, size, color, number of items and any other parameters

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！

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