WRITING SCIENTIFIC

PAPER
WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC
INFORMATION?
Scientific information
- certified through peer review
- published in scientific journals
Other types of information
- no peer review
- not published in scientific journals
What is peer review?
- It is the process used in the
publication of articles in scientific
journals
- Consists of submitting the scientific
work to the evaluation of one or
more specialist in the area
- The process certifies the quality of
the articles published in a scientific
journal
SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION
Articles
Papers
Books
WHAT IS SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE
Written by scientists / researchers
 Has a peer review
 Is the primary way to communicate to peers the results of an investigation
Is published in journals with knowledge certification mechanisms
ELEMENTS TO COMPOSE A
SCIENTIFIC

ARTICLE
ABSTRACT
Brief summary of the article where its objective is included, methodology
used to solve the problem and the results achieved

INTRODUCTION
It situates the reader in the context of the researched subject, offering a global
vision of the study. It presents the problem of study (WHAT), the objectives
(FOR WHAT PURPOSE) and the methodology used in the study (HOW and
WHERE)
METHOD
Describes the method used with accurate information, so that the experiment
can be repeated by another person, with the same or identical results
RESULTS
The author describes what he observes in the experiment. It
presents arguments and results that support their data. May have
schemas and pictures
DISCUSSION
Interpretation of results. The author highlights all the knowledge
acquired, through the discussion of the results obtained
CONCLUSION
Response to the hypothesis presented in the introduction and the
objectives of the study. They synthesize the main results
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Articles or other works consulted and quoted in the article
TYPES OF SCIENTIFIC
ARTICLES
oArticle
oThe author describes for the first time the study and the results of a research paper

oReview article
oReview articles are critical reviews in which the author organizes, integrates and evaluates previously
published studies
PUBLISHED CONFERENCE
PAPERS
PAPERS
Papers are often published in Proceedings and are the result of communications at
conferences organized in scientific institutions
It is usual that the works that appear in the proceedings have been previously
published
Before being published, the work is usually released as a preprint
SCIENTIFIC BOOKS
oIn many cases of publications with a scientific editor, consisting of several parts of
different authors.
oMay be the published contents of academic and scientific conferences
FORMAT OVERVIEW
COVER PAGE
On the first page of the paper, you must present the title of the paper along with the
authors' names, institutional affiliations, and contact information. The corresponding
author(s) (i.e., the one[s] who will be in contact with the reviewers) must be specified,
usually with a footnote or an asterisk (*), and their full contact details (e.g., email
address and phone number) must be provided. For example:
Dr. Clara A. Bell1,* and Dr. Scott C. Smith2
1
University of Areopagitica, Department of Biology, Sometown, Somecountry
Leviathan University, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences,
2

Sometown, Somecountry
*clara.bell@emailaddress.com
ABSTRACT
In this summary of your research, you must state your subject (i.e., what you did)
and encapsulate the main findings and conclusions of your paper.

FORMATTING TIPS:
Do not add citations in an abstract (the reader might not be able to access your
reference list).
Avoid using acronyms and abbreviations in the abstract, as the reader may not be
familiar with them. Use full terms instead.
KEYWORDS
Below the abstract, include a list of key terms to help other researchers locate your
study. Note that "keywords" is one word (with no space) and is followed by a colon:
Keywords: paper format, scientific writing.

FORMATTING TIPS:
Check whether "Keywords" should be italicized and whether each term should be
capitalized.
Check the use of punctuation (e.g., commas versus semicolons, the use of the period
at the end).
Some journals (e.g., IEEE) provide a taxonomy of keywords. This aids in the
classification of your research.
 INTRODUCTION
This is the reader's first impression of your paper, so it should be clear and concise.
Include relevant background information on your topic, using in-text citations as
necessary. Report new developments in the field, and state how your research fills
gaps in the existing research. Focus on the specific problem you are addressing, along
with its possible solutions, and outline the limitations of your study. You can also
include a research question, hypothesis, and/or objectives at the end of this section.
FORMATTING TIPS:
Organize your information from broad to narrow (general to particular). However,
don't start too broad; keep the information relevant.
You can use in-text citations in this section to situate your research within the body of
literature.

https://www.elsevier.com/connect/11-steps-to-structuring-a-science-paper-editors-will-take-seriously#step6
METHODS
This is the part of your paper that explains how the research was done. You should
relate your research procedures in a clear, logical order (i.e., the order in which you
conducted the research) so that other researchers can reproduce your results. Simply
refer to the established methods you used, but describe any procedures that are
original to your study in more detail.
FORMATTING TIPS:
Identify the specific instruments you used in your research by including the
manufacturer’s name and location in parentheses.
Stay consistent with the order in which information is presented (e.g., quantity,
temperature, stirring speed, refrigeration period).
RESULTS
Now that you've explained how you gathered your research, you've got to
report what you actually found. In this section, outline the main findings of your
research. You need not include too many details, particularly if you are using tables
and figures.
FORMATTING TIPS:
Use appendices or supplementary materials if you have too much data.
Use headings to help the reader follow along, particularly if your data are repetitive
(but check whether your style guide allows you to use them).
DISCUSSION
In this section, you interpret your findings for the reader in relation to previous
research and the literature as a whole. Present your general conclusions,
including an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the research and the
implications of your findings. Resolve the hypothesis and/or research question
you identified in the introduction.

FORMATTING TIPS:
Use in-text citations to support your discussion.
Do not repeat the information you presented in the results or the introduction
unless it is necessary for a discussion of the overall implications of the
research.
CONCLUSION
This section is sometimes included in the last paragraph of the discussion. Explain
how your research fits within your field of study, and identify areas for future
research.

FORMATTING TIPS:
Keep this section short.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Write a brief paragraph giving credit to any institution responsible for
funding the study (e.g., through a fellowship or grant) and any individual(s)
who contributed to the manuscript (e.g., technical advisors or editors).

Conflicts of Interest/Originality Statement

Some journals require a statement attesting that your research is original and that you have no
conflicts of interest (i.e., ulterior motives or ways in which you could benefit from the
publication of your research). This section only needs to be a sentence or two long.
REFERENCES
Here you list citation information for each source you used (i.e., author names, date of
publication, title of paper/chapter, title of journal/book, and publisher name and location).
The list of references can be in alphabetical order (author–date style of citation) or in the
order in which the sources are presented in the paper (numbered citations). Follow your
style guide; if no guidelines are provided, choose a citation format and be consistent.

FORMATTING TIPS:
While doing your final proofread, ensure that the reference list entries are consistent with
the in-text citations (i.e., no missing or conflicting information).
Many citation styles use a hanging indent and may be alphabetized. Use the styles in
Microsoft Word to aid you in citation format.
 Terminology
Stay consistent with the terms you use. Generally, short forms can be
used once the full term has been introduced:
full terms versus acronyms (e.g., deoxyribonucleic acid versus
DNA);
English names versus Greek letters (e.g., alpha versus α); and
species names versus short forms (e.g., Staphylococcus
aureus versus S. aureus).
Italics must be used correctly for scientific terminology. Here are a
couple of formatting tips:
Species names, which are usually in Greek or Latin, are italicized
(e.g., Staphylococcus aureus).
Genes are italicized, but proteins aren't.
Measurement
Although every journal has slightly different
formatting guidelines, most agree that the gold
standard for units of measurement is the 
International System of Units (SI). Wherever
possible, use the SI. Here are some other tips for
formatting units of measurement:
Add spaces before units of measurement. For
example, 2.5 mL not 2.5mL.
Be consistent with your units of measure (especially
date and time). For example, 3 hours or 3 h.
 EQUATIONS
Whether in mathematical, scientific, or technical papers, equations
follow a conventional format. Here are some tips for formatting your
calculations: •Try using MathType or Equation Editor in
Number each equation you present in the text, inserting the number Microsoft Word to type your equations, but 
use Unicode characters when typing single
in parentheses. X + Y =1                                                                  (1)
variables or mathematical operators (e.g., x, ≥, or
Check whether your target journal requires you to capitalize the ±) in running text. This makes it easier to edit
word "Equation" or use parentheses for the equation number when your text and format your equations before
you refer to equations within the text. publication.
In Equation 1, X represents . . . •In line with the above tip, remember to save your
math equations as editable text and not as images
OR
in case changes need to be made before
In equation (1), X represents . . . publication.
(Note also that you should use italics for variables.)
 TABLES & FIGURES
Do you have any tables, graphs, or images in your research? If so, you should become familiar with
the rules for referring to tables and figures in your scientific paper. Some examples are presented
below.
Capitalize the titles of specific tables and figures when you refer to them in the text (e.g., "see
Table 3"; "in Figure 4").
In tables, stay consistent with the use of title case (i.e., Capitalizing Each Word) and sentence case
(i.e., Capitalizing the first word).
In figure captions, stay consistent with the use of punctuation, italics, and capitalization. For
example:

Figure 1. Classification of author roles.

versus
 STATISTICS
When presenting statistical information, you must provide enough specific information to accurately
describe the relationships among your data. Nothing is more frustrating to a reviewer than vague
sentences about a variable being significant without any supporting details. The author guidelines for
the journal Nature recommend that the following be included for statistical testing: the name of each
statistical analysis, along with its n value; an explanation of why the test was used and what is being
compared; and the specific alpha levels and P values for each test.
Angel Borja, writing for Elsevier publications, described the statistical rules for article formatting as
follows:
Indicate the statistical tests used with all relevant parameters.
Use mean and standard deviation to report normally distributed data.
Use median and interpercentile range to report skewed data.
For numbers, use two significant digits unless more precision is necessary.
Never use percentages for very small samples.
Remember, you must be prepared to justify your findings and conclusions, and one of the best ways
to do this is through factual accuracy and the acknowledgment of opposing interpretations, data,
and/or points of view.
https://www.nature.com/srep/author-instructions/submission-guidelines#statistical-guidelines