Of Publishing Scientific Papers

Publishing Provenance-rich Scientific Papers

Complete documentation and reproducibility of results are important goals for scientific publications. Standard scientific papers, however, usually contain only final results and document only parameters and processing steps that the authors considered important enough. By recording the complete provenance history of the data leading to a publication one can overcome this limitation and allow r...

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Effective writing and publishing scientific papers, part III: introduction.

Check if the introduction has a funnel shape with clear sections on B general background (what is this all about?); B what is known and what is unknown about this specific subject (why was this study needed, and why is it important?); B primary research question (what did we want to know?); and B study aim and design (what did we do to answer the research question?). Look at the length of the i...

Effective writing and publishing scientific papers, part VI: discussion.

Check if the discussion has a clear inverted funnel shape with distinct sections providing: -A summary of main findings (What did we find?); -Comparisons with other studies (What is known?, What is new?, and How does this fit in?), -Strengths and limitations (Are the findings true? -Implications (Are the findings important? What can we do with them?). Answer the research question in the first p...

Effective writing and publishing scientific papers, part IX: authorship.

Discuss authorship and develop a written authorship document (including lead authorship) at an early stage during a project. Check and follow ICMJE criteria on contributorship and authorship. Authors should have (1) contributed substantially to the conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (2) contributed to writing the paper or revising it critically f...