1. Getting Published in Science
Professor David Male

2. Why do you publish ?
• If you do not publish, no-one knows what you have done
• Publications are a key component of your CV
• A laboratory needs to publish, in order to get funding
• Writing papers is a good basis for writing a thesis
• Planning for a paper is a good way to plan experiments
• Referees often provide useful advice on what is expected

3. Where do you publish ?
• Academic Journals – Peer reviewed
– Print and electronic (sometimes require payment)
– Electronic, open access (usually requires payment)
• Books/ Review articles (sometimes commissioned)
• Conference abstracts (sometimes reviewed)

5. Authors
• First author – the person who has done the most lab-work
or fieldwork and produced the most figures/tables of data.
• Last author – the project director ie the person who has
got the money (PI).
• Middle authors – people who have contributed data or
unique reagents.
• Corresponding author – the person that submits the
paper and communicates with the journal.
However the normal practice varies between subjects

6. The actual author(s)
• Usually the first author, but it may be the PI with
contributions from other authors
All authors are jointly responsible for the publication
All authors should have read all of the manuscript and agreed to it before
submission
All authors should be able to answer questions on the paper if they are asked
to do so – eg at a meeting.

7. When are you ready to publish ?
• Typically a PhD needs 2-3 publications (but it depends
on the subject area)
• Needs to be a complete piece of work, not a progress
report
• The level of detail in a publication is much less than in
a thesis – background and pilot experiments are not
usually included.
• Negative results are often difficult to publish unless
they support positive findings, and they then require
excellent positive controls.

8. A scientific paper has a narrative
• What you investigated and why Introduction
• What other people think about
this subject and why
• What are the key questions
• What you did Materials and methods
• What you saw Results
• How did you interpret your
observations?
• How does it answer the questions Discussion
• How does this relate to previous
findings

9. Writing
Abstract & Keywords
Introduction Selective editing 1st year report
Methods
Figures and legends
Results Narrative text
Tables and footnotes
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References

10. Title
• Sending signals: how bacteria communicate with plants
Or
The mechanisms of NodD1-mediated transcription at
Nod gene promoters.
Ten times more people will read the title than read the abstract
Ten times more people will read the abstract than the paper
….give yourself the best chance.

11. Which Journal ?
• Chose Journal on the readership – what journals
are in your reference list?
• Select by impact factor – quality generally counts for
more than quantity. – impact factors are subject
dependent.
• What type of publications do they accept?
- rapid publications, short reports, standard papers
Read the instructions for authors carefully

12. Writing the paper
• Start by reading CAREFULLY Journal regulations – or
you will be rewriting after all other work.
• Word/page limit
• Number of figures - Black and white in print vs colour
format (tif/jpg) resolution (dpi) fonts (size/consistency)
• Layout and headings, column widths
• Submission format – word/pdf/html
• References how labelled and recorded ?

13. Style: Active or passive
• We cultured the cells for 48h at 37°C.
• The cells were cultured for 48h at 37°C.
Be consistent
The cells were cultured for 48h, after which we added the cytokine and
the cells were then cultured for a further 48h, before extracting the
nuclear proteins.

14. Tenses
• Species of the genus Eleonaceae were found in areas
of highest humidity
• Species of the genus Eleonaceae are found in areas of
highest humidity
Be aware of what you are writing
The particles were detected using a beta-counter and have energy 25mev.
Macrophages are normally found in all tissues of the body, however we did
not detect them in our samples.
The compound was found to have a molecular weight of 187Da but it is not
present in smoke from car tyres.

15. Avoid ambiguity
• The protein may be phosphorylated on amino acid
serine-27 or serine-42.
The protein is phosphorylated on either amino acid serine-27 or serine-42.
The protein is phosphorylated on amino acid serine-27 and/or serine-42.
The protein may be phosphorylated on either of these amino acids, but our
results do not tell us which it is.
Under specific conditions, either one or the other or both amino acids may
become phosphorylated.

16. Qualified statements
• Qualify statements only once
• Aim for precision even in qualified statements
The data may suggest that the molecular weight of the protein could be
approximately 147kDa.
The data indicate that the molecular weight of the protein is approximately
147kDa.
The boiling point of the compound is approximately 67°C.
The boiling point of the compound is in the range 65.5°C - 68°C.

17. Response from the journal
• Many excellent papers are rejected – this is not an
affront to your dignity or intelligence.
• Referees take a deal of time to review your paper –
sometimes they get it wrong or fail to understand what
you have written, but mostly their points are valid.
• Wait 24 hours before firing off a reply to the journal.
• Consult all of your fellow authors.
• Do what is asked, if it is reasonable…………..
• Make point by point responses when resubmitting.

18. Questions and discussion