This document discusses the process of writing and publishing manuscripts. It covers types of articles, manuscript preparation, finding the right journal, submission process, and peer review. The key steps are preparing the manuscript according to journal guidelines, selecting a suitable journal based on scope and quality, submitting to the journal, and undergoing peer review where reviewers assess scientific quality before the editor makes a decision. Common reasons for rejection include being out of scope, flawed methodology, uninteresting question, or poor presentation.

1. Manuscript Writing and Publication
September, 2020
By; Dr. Sagad Omer Obeid Mohamed
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0597-2397
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sagad_Mohamed

2. Types of articles
1. Original articles; contain new data, details, and outcomes.
2. Review papers; comprehensive summary of developments on a
specific topic.
3. Letters/communications; intended for quick and early
communication of significant new discoveries/advances, without
including too much data or detail.
4. Research elements such as dataset, software, study protocol,
videos, and much more

3. The process starts with
manuscript preparation

4. Manuscript Preparation
General rules:
• Manuscript document should be in Microsoft word.
• Use double line spacing, “Times New Romans” font size 12
• Include line and page numbering
• Use SI units
• Use abbreviations wisely
• Do not use page breaks in your manuscript
• Do not use Color and shading;
• Parts of the table can be highlighted using superscript, numbering,
lettering, symbols or bold text.

5. General rules: cont.
• Avoid plagiarism (use plagiarism checker).
• Omit needless words.
• Write numbers less than 10 in words.
• Do not begin a sentence with numbers.
• Do not use percentage if the sample size is v. small.
• Create a flow between sentences
• Avoid repetitions
• Avoid citing too old references

6. High-quality writing:
• Increases the chances of acceptance for publication
• Increases the impact of an article within the research community
• Increases the faith of readers in the quality of the research.
Poor-quality writing :
• frustrate editors and reviewers.
• Increases the chances of rejection.
Remember

7. How to avoid language issues?
1. Double check by an expert.
2. Asking a native English speaker colleague to review your
manuscript.
3. Using a professional language editing service;
For example (www.besteditproof.com).
Visit:
https://www.springernature.com/gp/authors/campaigns/writing-in-
english

9. First Page
Include:
• Title
• Authors (names, E mail addresses, and affiliations)
• Corresponding authors details

10. Title
• The title is the main advertisement for your article
• poorly-titled article may never reach its target readers.
• Leave out phrases such as ‘a study of’, ‘investigations into’,
‘observations on’.
• avoid using abbreviations and jargon.
• Identify the article’s main issue.
• Begin with the article’s subject matter.
• Short as possible.
• Interesting and make people want to read further

11. Authors
• Only authors who’ve made an intellectual contribution to the
research should be credited;
• ICJME criteria.

12. Abstract
• Describe the research in 200-300 words.
• Write the abstract last, so it reflects the content accurately.
• Summarize the problem, objectives, method, results, conclusions, and
3-5 words
• Do not include references, figures or tables.
• Enough detailed for readers to decide whether or not to read the
whole paper.

13. Introduction/Background
Include the following 4 parts:
1. Provide context and background info. about the main issue.
2. State the problem being investigated, its contextual background,
and the reasons/importance of the problem.
3. State the questions you’re answering and explain any findings of
others that you’re challenging or furthering.
4. Briefly and logically lead the reader to your implications,
hypotheses, research questions, and the aim of your study.

14. Method
• Detailed enough that readers can replicate your research, and assess
whether the methods justify the conclusions.
• Use the past tense
• Explain the procedures you followed and structure this information as
logically as possible.
• If they’ve been published before, cite the original work, including your
amendments if you’ve made modifications.
• Identify the equipment and the materials you used, specifying their source.
• State the what types of data were recorded
• Name any statistical tests and software used for analysis.

15. Results
• Explain largely in text
• Have a clear and logical flow.
• Start with descriptive statistics to summarize individual observations
from a study and estimate a typical value (measures of central
tendency) and the spread of values (measures of dispersion).
• Tables and figures must be numbered separately; should have a brief
but complete description (Title +/- legend).
• No interpretation in Results.

16. Discussion
• Explain the clinical significance of your study results and the meaning
of your results in the context of what was already known about the
subject.
• Do not repeat the results again.
• Link this section back to the introduction, referring to your questions
or hypotheses, and cover how the results relate to your expectations
and cited sources.
• All interpretations and speculations are based on fact, not
imagination.
• Mention any Strengths/limitations/ further suggestions for
experiments, uses and extensions.

17. Conclusion
• Conclusions should be clearly and closely related to the data
obtained in the study. Far-reaching speculations generally
should be avoided.

18. References
What should be cited?
• Only articles and abstracts that have been published or are in press.
• Do not cite websites (unless you are citing a high-quality, scientific,
trusted agency such as WHO, UNICEF, NHS, … or citing a software).
References format?
• Manually, EndNoteX9, Or www.citethisforme.com

19. The scientific paper is a communications tool. Clarity and
precision of expression are critically important.
After drafting the manuscript, ask for critical appraisal and
review by a senior/expert colleague.

20. Now, the next step is
finding the right journal

21. The 4 Ways to find a relevant journal
1. Asking an expert/senior colleague.
2. Searching by publishers (each publisher has hundreds of journals).
3. Searching by online journal suggestion/selector tools (for examples:
Springer-suggestor, Edanz, Cofactor, ….)
4. Checking the references of your manuscript and find where they were
published.

22. The 4 Factors to Take into consideration:
Select the right journal depending on;
1. Journal’s aims and scope on the journal homepage.
2. Journal’s Metrics (speed, indexing, and impact).
3. Journal’s rules (for example: publication fees, if there is any waivers for
authors from low income countries…)
4. Quality of your study !! (Always consult a senior/expert colleague)

23. • There is no clear cut point/definition for “good journal”. But,
 For a beginner researcher, look for journals indexed in MEDLINE (Pubmed)
with an impact factor (IF) more than 1.
 For an expert researcher, look for journals indexed in Scopus and MEDLINE
(Pubmed) and with an impact factor (IF) more than 3 - 4.
Advanced researcher can defined their target IF !

25. Examples for Publishers
• Springer
• Biomed Central (BMC)
• Hindawi
• Elsevier
• Wiley
• Taylor & Francis
• Sage
• PLOS
• Wolters Kluwer
• Oxford University Press
• Cambridge University Press
• De Gruyter
• MDPI
• BMJ Publishing Group
• Frontiers
• Atlantis press

26. APC (Article processing charges)
• Some publishers (such as Hindawi and BMC) provide automatic full
APC waivers for all manuscripts submitted by authors from Low-
Income Countries.
• Other publishers provide waivers for manuscripts submitted to some
of its journals.
• Other publishers provide waivers (full or partial) upon reasonable
request before submission.
• Other publishers do not provide waivers at all.
• Usually, local journals have no publication fees/charges.

27. Now, the next step is
Manuscript submission

28. Before submission,
• note that each journal has specific requirements regarding: writing a
cover letter, word count, abstract style, tables/figures count,
reference style… etc.
• Make sure you have read the instructions to authors carefully
before submitting to the journal.
• If you did not comply to these instructions, your submission will be
returned back.

29. Peer review
• Aside from assessing the abstract, English language of the article and
references, reviewers assess the scientific quality of the work;
• For more information about peer review, see
https://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_Guidelines_For_Peer_Reviewers_
2.pdf

30. Examples
• Does the paper fit the standards and scope of the journal it is being considered
for?
• Is the research question clear?
• Was the approach appropriate?
• Is the study design, methods and analysis appropriate to the question being
studied?
• Does the study challenge existing paradigms or add to existing knowledge? Does
it develop novel concepts?
• Are the methods described clearly enough for other researchers to replicate?
• Are the methods of statistical analysis and level of significance appropriate?
• Could presentation of the results be improved and do they answer the question?
• Are the conclusions appropriate?

31. Editorial decision
• After peer review, the editor will make a decision:
1. Acceptance (rare)
2. Conditional acceptance after minor revisions
3. Conditional acceptance after major revisions
4. Rejection

32. Common causes for rejection
• The study is out of the journal’s scope.
• The hypothesis/method is wrong.
• The question being asked is not interesting.
• The question being asked has been adequately answered already and
no need for further repetition.
• Research does not suit the esteemed journals with high impact.
• The study is obviously underpowered;
• Poor presentation and language.