Spotlight: Scientific Article

Scientific articles are one way to communicate your science to peers. This includes not only your scientific results, but also the question that drove you in the first place and the methods and workflow you used to come to your conclusions.

A guide through your scientific work

Scientific communication has many facets and ranges from book our journal publications to oral presentations or from posters to videos and web blogs. Each of these communication practices has its own character and social interaction potential. Hence, a scientific article is a unique format which should be handled as uniquely as any other scientific communication.

The most important thing when designing an article is to keep in mind that it will not be part of a public reading but must be stand for itself and comprehensible for your peers.

Some starting points and examples

The following references will provide a good basis for making up your mind about how you are going to present your work and design a good article:

• Let’s start at the top of the line: Gewin (2018) How to write a first-class paper. Nature 555: 129-130. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02404-4.
• The most important part of your article is the abstract since your peers will decide based on this very paragraph if they continue reading or not. Nature has one example on how to write a good one.
• • A more workflow oriented guide has been posted e.g. by Borja in 2014 in an Elsevier blog.
• And if you prefer a complete book, this is one example of many: Mack (2018) How to Write a Good Scientific Paper. SPIE. https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2317707

Use the references and examples as means in finding your own way to write a good scientific article. The tips are no rules; they are guidelines you could build upon. Please, keep your individuality and your ability to learn from previous experience.