Dr. Daniel McGowan 论文写作系列第一讲:Making a good first impression: the importance of writing a good title
在本帖中,理文编辑 学术总监Dr. Daniel McGowan 将向大家展示如何写出吸引读者的文章标题。
Making a good first impression: the importance of writing a good title
The title of your paper is a “hook” that should be used to attract readers—it is your opportunity to “sell” your paper to readers browsing a table of contents or search results. A poor title will cause potentially interested researchers to overlook your work and may attract the wrong audience. By contrast, a good title will attract the relevant researchers and increase the number of citations you receive. Therefore, it is important to get it right.
A good title should be as brief as possible while still communicating the main finding(s) of the paper. Avoid excessive detail and unnecessary use of field-specific jargon and abbreviations. Your title must be understandable by a broad scientific audience, some of whom may not have a detailed knowledge of your particular field. How broad depends on the particular target journal—consider the readership of your target journal and write a title that can be easily understood by all, not only those in your immediate field. The target journal’s instructions for authors should also be consulted to ensure that character limits are complied with and to identify whether a running (short) title is also required.
Good title checklist
- Specific - Concise - Communicates the main findings - Will attract readers - Does not begin with the, a, or an - Avoids use of non-standard abbreviations
Example of a poor title:
"The degeneration of neurons in the CA3 and DG following OA administration: involvement of a MAPK-dependent pathway in regional-specific neuronal degeneration"
This title is too long, contains non-standard abbreviations and a redundancy, and is too specific in parts. Further, many journals do not want titles that begin with the, a, or an. A better alternative would be: "Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration".
"MAP kinase-dependent neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration" would probably also be acceptable, depending on the target journal, because the abbreviation MAP is widely used and understood.
欢迎各位访友踊跃参与下面的“标题练习”:
Suggest a good alternative title for the following using what you’ve learned about writing good titles.
"Carvedilol produces dose-related improvements in LV function and dose-related reductions in mortality and hospitalization rate in subjects with chronic heart failure from systolic dysfunction"
Dr. Daniel McGowan 曾任 Nature Reviews Neuroscience 副编辑,负责约稿,管理和撰写期刊内容。于2006年加入理文编辑(Edanz Group) 并从2008年起担任学术总监。Dr. Daniel McGowan 有超过十年的博士后和研究生阶段实验室研究经验,主要致力于神经退化疾病、分子及细胞生物学、蛋白质生物化学、蛋白质组学和基因组学。