Page 100 - How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 8th Edition 8th Edition

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Chapter 16
How to Keyboard the Manuscript

Then the black-bright, smooth-running clicking clean
Brushed, oiled and dainty typewriting machine,
With tins of ribbons waiting for the blows
Which soon will hammer them to verse and prose.
—John Masefield

Importance of a Well-Prepared Manuscript

When you have finished the experiments and written up the work, the final typing of the manuscript is not important
because, if your work is good, sound science, it will be accepted for publication. Right? That is wrong. Not only will a
badly typed (word-processed) manuscript fail to be accepted for publication, but also, in most journal operations, a
sloppily prepared manuscript will not even be considered.

At the Journals Division of the American Society for Microbiology, which is not atypical in this respect, every newly
submitted manuscript is examined first simply on the basis of the typing. As an irreducible minimum, the manuscript
must be typed (not handwritten), double-spaced (not single-spaced), on one side of the sheet only (not both sides);
three complete copies (including three sets of tables, graphs, and photographs) must be provided; and reasonable
adherence to the style of the journal (appropriate headings, proper form of literature citation, presence of a heading
abstract) must be in evidence. If the manuscript

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fails on any of these major points, it may be immediately returned to the author, or review may be delayed until the
author supplies the missing materials.

Consider this a cardinal rule: Before the final copy of your manuscript is prepared, carefully examine the Instructions
to Authors of the journal to which you are submitting the manuscript. Some journals and publishers— the American
Society for Microbiology (1998), the American Medical Association (1998), the American Psychological Association
(1994), and the American Chemical Society (Dodd, 1997) being good examples—issue remarkably complete and
helpful instructions (style manuals). Also look carefully at a recent issue of that journal. Pay particular attention to
those aspects of editorial style that tend to vary widely from journal to journal, such as the style of literature citation,
headings and subheadings, size and placement of the abstract, design of tables and figures, and treatment of footnotes.

By the way, an increasing number of journals seem to be refusing to accept text footnotes. The main reason for this is
the significant printing cost of carrying the footnotes at the bottom of the page, in a different type font, and of having
to recompose each page that carries a footnote in order to put the footnote at the bottom of that page (after the
compositor identifies which footnotes are cited on which pages). Furthermore, footnotes are disruptive to readers,
making papers more difficult to read quickly with comprehension. Therefore, do not use footnotes unless a particular
journal requires them for some purpose. Most journals require "present address" footnotes if an author has moved;
some journals require that the names of manufactured products be footnoted, with the footnotes giving the names and
addresses of the manufacturers. Whenever somewhat extraneous material needs to be mentioned, do it parenthetically
in the text. Some journals have a "References and Notes" section at the end of each paper, thus obviating the need for
text footnotes.

In an ideal world, perhaps good science could be published without regard to the format of the carrier (the typed

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