潜在的审稿人通常在收到同行评审邀请时,只会看到文章的标题和摘要。只有在接受审稿邀请后,他们才能获得完整的论文全文和其他支持材料。因此,你的文章标题和摘要对于吸引和确保正确的审稿人进行审稿至关重要。
在这篇文章中,国际科学编辑-ISE将和大家一起讨论:如何通过优秀的文章标题和摘要给审稿人留下良好的第一印象,确保你的论文能发给最合适的同行评审专家。
在论文从投稿到接收的过程中,标题同样非常重要。英国的一项针对期刊编辑的调查显示,一个好的标题能够占到论文写作技巧印象分的50%左右。
一个结构良好的标题(通常为10-20个单词)能让审稿人立即理解论文的内容,而无需阅读全文。你的目标应该是尽可能让标题简洁而富含信息量。
摘要
结构良好的摘要(通常为200-300个单词)通常遵循IMRD / C模式
(Introdcution, Method, Result, Discussion/Conclusion)结构,读起来类似于一篇缩小版的论文。
看起来容易做起来难,写一个好摘要是一件很令人头疼的事,甚至有只凭借写摘要这件事本身就是可以发篇论文的:
在构建摘要时,要考虑以下几点:
•保持简明扼要的介绍。
•在引言中阐述这项研究的理由。
•明确说明研究假设/目标。
•保持方法简洁,为结果和结论节省空间。
•结果应构成摘要的主体部分。
•用词要兼顾效果的方向和大小(例如 e.g., lower, fewer, reduced; greater, more, increased )和运用数字。
例如,
差的题目:“Daily pain scores differed significantly between gabapentin-treated patients and placebo-treated patients”
好的题目:“Daily pain scores were significantly lower in gabapentin-treated patients compared to placebo-treated patients (2.8 vs. 5.1, p<0.001)”
•包括文章所有的发现。结果应该清楚地反映完整的报告,即不仅要提出具有统计意义的结果,还要排除那些不具有统计意义的结果。
•包括任何矛盾或负面的调查结果。
•提及研究的所有局限性。
•阐述与假设/目标相关的主要结论。
优秀的标题和摘要举例
文章标题
The seroprevalence of untreated chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and associated risk factors in male Irish prisoners: a cross-sectional study, 2017 [2]
Abstract
Introduction: Data on chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection prevalence in European prisons are incomplete and impact the public health opportunity that incarceration provides. We aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of untreated chronic HCV infection and to identify associated risk factors in an Irish male prison.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving a researcher-administered questionnaire, review of medical records and HCV serology.
Results: Of 422 prisoners (78.0% of the study population) who participated in the study, 298 (70.6%) completed the questionnaire and 403 (95.5%) were tested for HCV antibodies. Of those tested, 92 (22.8%) were HCV antibody-positive, and of those, 53 (57.6%) were HCV RNA-positive, 23 (25.0%) had spontaneous clearance, 16 (17.4%) had a sustained viral response, 10 (11.0%) were co-infected with HIV and six (6.0%) with hepatitis B virus. The untreated chronic HCV seroprevalence estimate was 13.1% and the seroprevalence of HCV among prisoners with a history of injecting drug use (IDU) was 79.7%. Risk factors significantly associated with past HCV infection were IDU (p < 0.0001), having received a prison tattoo (p < 0.0001) or a non-sterile community tattoo (p < 0.0001), sharing needles and other drug-taking paraphernalia (p < 0.0001). Small numbers of prisoners had a history of sharing razors (n=10; 3.4%) and toothbrushes (n=3; 1.0%) while incarcerated. On multivariable analysis, history of receiving a non-sterile community tattoo was the only significant risk factor associated with HCV acquisition (after IDU was removed from the model) (p = 0.005, β = 0.468).
Conclusion: The level of untreated chronic HCV infection in Irish prisons is high, with IDU the main associated risk.
结构较差的标题和摘要
文章标题
Injecting drug use is a risk factor for hepatitis C virus in Irish prisons [2, modified]
该标题仅仅关注了研究的一个方面 - 在研究中确定的HCV的关键风险因素,即注射吸毒史。然而,其实这个研究也确认了其他风险因素,该研究还量化了各种形式疾病的血清阳性率。因此,这个标题并不能表明实际上文章数据是要更丰富的多。
摘要
Introduction: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health concern and a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality globally. Despite national guidelines on HCV screening for all prisoners and a community equivalence of care in relation to HCV treatment access, most Irish prisoners are not screened or treated for HCV infection.
这个引言并没有为这项研究提供明确的解释,也并没有说明研究的目的。
Methods: Serological screening for hepatitis B virus (HBV), HCV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was carried out in 422 prisoners in Mountjoy Prison in Dublin, Ireland. A sustained viral response (SVR) was defined as HCV RNA-negative status at 24 weeks after completion of interferon-based treatment and 12 weeks for direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment. Chronic HCV infection was defined as ongoing active infection (HCV RNA-positive) 6 months or more after initial exposure (self-reported data from prisoners’ electronic medical records).
这里描述的方法过于具体,占用了文章研究主旨所需的宝贵空间。
Results: Of the 403 prisoners tested for HCV antibodies, 92 were HCV antibody-positive, and of those, 53 were HCV RNA-positive, 23 had spontaneous clearance, 16 had an SVR, 10 were co-infected with HIV and six with HBV. The untreated chronic HCV seroprevalence estimate was 13.1% and the seroprevalence of HCV among prisoners with a history of injecting drug use (IDU) was 79.7%. Risk factors significantly associated with past HCV infection were IDU, having received a prison tattoo or a non-sterile community tattoo, sharing needles and other drug-taking paraphernalia.
与上面给出的写得好的例子相比,这里的结果内容大幅减少。许多相关的研究结果被排除在外。效果的大小也尚未说明。
Conclusion: Targeting prisoners with a history of IDU for active HCV is a priority given the high HCV prevalence rates in this group.
这一结论难以遵循,因为它没有针对研究目标进行解决。
如何推荐合适的审稿人
大多数期刊现在要求作者推荐两到三名潜在的审稿人。如果你的建议与期刊编辑的意见一致,你的建议很可能会得到采纳。对作者来说,千万不要小看了推荐审稿人的举动,有时候,他对于你文章最终走向或对你个人的学术影响可能是巨大的。因此,值得花时间仔细选择潜在的审稿人,让自己处于编辑的角度考虑问题。
通常认为,博士后研究人员提供的同行评审报告最为全面[3]。因此,期刊编辑通常的目标会确保至少有一名相关研究人员担任审稿人。寻找你所在地区崭露头角的研究人员,特别是那些最近发表过论文的作者。
向编辑提供一个清晰的描述,阐述每个你推荐的审稿人都合适的原因。如果你能明确地证明他们的合理性,你的选择更有可能被采纳。
总结:用少量的用词恰当的陈述出论文的主要内容(标题、摘要),突显出亮点,结果详实、同时能够更加吸引读者阅读,增加编辑和审稿人的好感,并推荐几名审稿人,阐述理由,做到这几点才是吸引合适审稿人的关键。
参考文献:
1. Ketcham CM, Hardy RW, Rubin B, Siegal GP. What editors want in an abstract. Lab Investig. 2010 90(1):4–5. http://doi.org/10.1038/labinvest.2009.122
2. Crowley D, Lambert JS, Betts-Symonds G, Cullen W, Keevans M, Kelly E, Laird E, McHugh T, McKiernan S, Miggin SJ, Murphy C. The seroprevalence of untreated chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and associated risk factors in male Irish prisoners: a cross-sectional study, 2017. Euro Surveill. 2019 Apr 4;24(14).
3. Callaham ML, Tercier J. The relationship of previous training and experience of journal peer reviewers to subsequent review quality. PLoS Med. 2007 Jan 30;4(1):e40.