How to get published: Tips on making your paper stand out
If you work in science or academia, you know that a research paper is the main way to showcase your research achievements. Years of long work hours, running experiments, and endless analysis culminate in a written report that you want to get published in a top-tier journal so it can have the highest impact. This article outlines how to make your article stand out and facilitate the publication process.
Create a clear structure
The goal of an article is to communicate research findings to a broader audience. It should be a clear, concise, and logical summary of the key aspects of the research process involved in the paper. The key components of an article include: the state of the art of your research field, the research question, the research gap, what you will do to address the gap (i.e., the methods), what you found (i.e., the results), and whether what you found answered the research question (i.e., the conclusion).
All these elements need to be presented in a clear way so that readers can understand what you did. Below, we break down the common structure of a research article into crucial pointers that many researchers can sometimes forgo.
Introduction
The introduction is the first section of a research paper and provides background information and context for the study. It includes a clear and concise statement of the research question or problem being addressed, as well as the purpose and significance of the study.
The introduction also contains a summary and synthesis of the existing research on the topic. This review of the literature summarizes the key studies and theories relevant to the research question, as well as opposing research to present the full scope of what has been conducted in your area. The literature review should provide context for the study and help to situate the research within the broader field of study. In other words, it needs to help readers understand why the research question in your paper is needed.
After reading your introduction, it should be explicitly clear to the reader:
what the research gap is. The reader needs to understand quickly what is currently missing in the field of study and how your article will fill this gap.
what your research question is. What will you be trying to answer in this article?
why answering this research question is important. In other words, why should we care?
Methods
The methods section is a detailed description of the methods used to collect and analyze data. The methods and research design must be logically related to the research question, meaning the design you use in your methods needs to be able to answer your research question accurately.
For example, if you are interested in comparing the effects of different levels of dosage of a drug, you are probably going to opt for an experimental design which will allow you to compare the effects of the drug in a group receiving the treatment with another group that receives a placebo. You are likely not going to go for a case study, which will only give you information on one particular individual’s experience with the drug, as this will not be representative.
The methods section also includes a clear and concise description of the participants in the study, the data collection measures used, the materials used in your study, and a detailed data analysis plan. Including enough detail in this section is crucial so that others can replicate your work.
Results
The results section is where you list your findings. The key thing here is that the results of your study need to correspond to how you collected the data. For example, if you used a 2x2 design in your methods, you will typically present the results as an analyses of variance (ANOVA) corresponding to both levels of the design.
The results section is also linked to the research question and methods section. Don’t present results which are not addressing the main research question or which are not part of your analysis plan. If you want to include additional results here, you can present them as “exploratory” findings rather than main results. This helps distinguish between analysis you planned with ones you thought about doing during the analysis stage, which can help limit biases.
The results also need to be presented in a clear order. Start with your most important findings and work your way down.
Another key tip when writing the results section is to avoid interpreting the results. For instance, don’t write what the results might mean, but only what direction the numbers are going in. For example, if you found a significant relationship between drug dosage and age, discuss whether that relationship has positive or negative correlation only rather than an interpretation of what it might mean (save that part for the discussion section!)
Discussion and conclusion
The discussion is the section of the research paper is where you interpret and summarize your results. This section discusses how your findings relate to other studies in the field, as well as what the implications are of your work (see below). The discussion should also address any limitations of the study and suggest directions for future research.
The conclusion is the final section of a research paper and is typically used to summarize the main points of the study and to highlight the implications of the findings. It should provide a clear and concise summary of the key findings and their significance, and should also suggest directions for future research.
When the reader finishes reading your paper, they should be able to say:
what you found and what the results mean
why these results are important
how can the results inform us about future research?
what were the limitations of your study?
Increase readability
Your article is the main way your research will get disseminated into the world and you want others to be able to understand what you did. The first mistake many researchers make is using complex, technical language that is difficult to understand and hard to follow. This decreases the readability and will deter readers from reading your article.
To increase the readability of your paper, make sure you define any key terms in the beginning. Don’t introduce new key terms halfway through the paper, as the reader won’t be able to keep track of them all. Stay consistent with how you use the terms and keep that phrasing or wording the same throughout the paper. Avoid using jargon or complex technical terms. Not all readers will know these terms, which will create frustration during the reading experience.
A helpful technique to increase readability is to present information as if you’re writing for high schoolers. Make sentences short and to the point. Include one main idea per paragraph and always start the paragraph with a sentence about what the upcoming paragraph will be about.
You can use guidances like the Flesch Kincaid system to gauge what grade level you’re writing corresponds to (pro tip: use online calculator like this one). The rule is, aim for a 10th-11th grade reading level for optimal clarity and simplicity.
Pre-register your study
Pre-registration is the process of writing down your research plan before starting your study.
This is a fairly new practice where researchers create a detailed plan of how they will conduct their study prior to starting. Pre-registering includes writing what your hypotheses are, which specific methodologies you’ll use, and which analyses you’ll conduct. Then, this plan is registered to a public, open-access repository such as Open Science Framework (OSF) where it’s “frozen” so you can’t go back and change it later.
Pre-registration helps reduce bias in research and enhances openness. By asking researchers to stipulate what they will do before starting the study, it makes it less likely that they will engage in biases like selective reporting. Other researchers can also find your pre-registration openly available before data collection, increasing openness and availability.
Pre-registering your study also enhances replicability. Other researchers can find your work and replicate it easily by following your detailed plan. This greatly improves the scientific process and the reliability of results. For more on reproducibility and openness, check out our blog on responsible research practices.
Engaging in this process will show editors that you took the time to plan out your research and conduct it carefully. This will make your paper more likely to be accepted and published due to the rigor and thoroughness on your part.
Discuss implications, recommendations, and limitations
These three aspects have the tendency to be ignored or overlooked in many research papers. However, including them will greatly increase the impact and meaning of your work and facilitate your paper getting published.
In short:
Implications are what the study’s findings mean and why they are important. They can be practical or theoretical and describe significance of the research and may suggest directions for future research.
Recommendations are specific suggestions for action or further research that are based on the study's findings. These might include recommendations for policy, practice, or further research.
Limitations are the constraints or limitations of the study. They may impact the validity or generalizability of the findings and should be addressed in every work. Limitations might include the sample size, the study design, or the methods used to collect and analyze data.
Takeaways
For your next paper, make sure you incorporate a clear structure throughout the manuscript where each section gives the reader key pieces of information. Make your reader’s life easier by increasing the readability of your paper so that they actually read and understand it. Engage in good research practice by planning out and pre-registering your study in advance. Don’t forget to discuss the implications, recommendations, and limitations of your study. Ensuring your paper has all these elements will greatly improve the quality of your paper and fast-track it for publication.
