With the right academic writing, it is possible to publish in high-impact journals. In this article, I will share my experience of publishing in 11 Impact Factor (IF) journals and provide tips on how to make your writing stand out

Academic writing is essential for students to succeed in their studies. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of academic writing, from the basics to more advanced topics. After reading this, it would be possible to publish in high-impact journals.

In this tutorial, we will cover.

• Philosophy of Graphics in scientific writing
• Use of figures in scientific writing
• Use of tables in scientific presentation
• Use of colours in scientific illustration
• Writing numbers in scientific writing

Philosophy of Graphics in Scientific Writing

Graphics are worth of thousand words. It helps the reader to understand the article and reduces the word count. Readers usually start by reading figures and tables before reading the text. Therefore, figures and tables should be easy to follow and attract attention. Despite its importance, it generally falls short of the journal’s standards. This tutorial is developed to help the authors to design good-quality graphics for scientific publications.

Graphics should be autonomous, which means they should be fully understandable even outside of the context of the article or abstract. A good way to test if an illustration can really stand on its own is to ask someone new to the domain to interpret it without reading the text of the article. Good graphics are easy to interpret, shorten the reading time, reduce the number of words in the main text and save space. However, there is a limit on how many should be included. Graphics should not account for more than one-third of the manuscript. Likewise, reds and greens should not be paired, to accommodate colour-blind readers.

Why do we need graphics in a research article?

1. Represent complex data and relationships in a way that is easier to interpret and understand
2. Reduce reading time by summarizing and highlighting key findings or trends so they are easily visible
3. Reduce the total number of words count and save the publication space

Types of graphics used in scientific publications

Many types of graphics are used, however, the ultimate goal is reader understanding. After selecting the parameters, the graphics format should be carefully selected. With the wrong choice, the graphics will not be understood by the readers. The most commonly used graphic formats are;

1. Tables
2. Figures
3. Flowcharts
4. Summary
5. Flowline
6. Tree

Copyright of figures in scientific publications

Figures are used in three ways in scientific publications;

1. Original graphics: Graphics designed and developed by authors for their current article.
2. Reproduce graphics: Graphics copied from other studies or the internet.
3. Adopted graphics: Graphics copied and changed to be adjusted in the new study.

Always use your original miniatures. The other two categories lie in plagiarism. Therefore, always avoid them. In case you need to use them in your study, take the appropriate copyright from the publishers.

What not to do with graphics in scientific publications

• Selecting the wrong format for data presentation
• Too large to follow or too simple to be adjusted in a few sentences
• Wrong shading and borders
• Not self-explanatory without text
• Parameters and their units are not clearly explained
• Inclusion of non-important parameters
• Unconventional fonts and colours
• Lower quality figures
• Non-explanatory captions
• Use of abbreviations

What to do with graphics in scientific publications

• Is it really needed to be presented in the graphics format?
• Every graphic should provide the necessary information
• First, select the necessary information then select the best graphics method
• Understandable without text
• Should not include long sentences
• Graphics should not account for more than one-third of the manuscript
• Must have accuracy and clarity
• Parameters are supported by units
• Graphics must be referred to in the text (sequentially)
• Check if the graphics used are effective or not.
• Is everything readable?
• Proofread the work for typos

Captions

• A clear and concise caption
• Avoid using the abbreviation in the caption
• If parameters units are not explained in the columns and there is a space, explain them in the caption
• Include experimental detail

The above discussion shows that readers first read the article figures, before starting the rest of the article. Therefore, it is extremely necessary that you must follow to above-listed pieces of advice to attract and hook the readers.

Use of Figures in Scientific Writing

It is a well-known saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. It presents a very large amount of data in an organized way for easy understanding. Figures are powerful tools for a well-written manuscript. Therefore, it should present something unique, interesting, and identifiable.

General Instructions for Figures

• The figure depicts vast volumes of data that are difficult to convey using text.
• The figure conveys meaning without context

Asking someone unfamiliar with the data to understand it without reading the article’s text is an excellent approach to see if an illustration can actually stand on its own.

• The title is understandable and solely explains the figure. Apply the above rule to check your understanding.
• Values (parameters used in the figure) are clearly defined
• Number the figures as they appear in the text
• In a flow chart give a clear-cut axis description
• Avoid using figures for which you do not have a copyright.

Author-designed and created figures are referred to as original figures. Figures that have been copied from other research or the internet are referred to as reproduced figures. Similarly, figures from other research, which have been changed in order to be adjusted in the current study is referred to as adopted figures.

Always use your original figures. The other two categories lie in plagiarism. Therefore, always avoid them. In case, you have to use them in your study, take the proper copyright from the publishers.

• High-resolution JPEG, PDF, EPS, or TIF (TIFF) files are the preferred file types
• The figures’ resolution depends on the application you are using for development. Therefore, use a perfect match.
• High resolution

• For journals, a single column is approximately 8.5 cm (3.5 inches, or 20 picas) wide, and the full-page width is approximately 17.8 cm (7 inches, or 42 picas)
• Avoid creating figures that have unnecessary white spaces. This not only looks bad, the editors usually reject such papers.
• Use journal-recommended fonts
• Fonts style and size must match the text

• Define all abbreviations in the label of the figure
• Write the units of the parameters (i.e., for length use cm and time use second etc)
• Select the colour combination carefully
• Simply present the figures not decorate them with different colour

Use the colour scheme according to the colour blinds vision. They can not differentiate in red and green colours, therefore, instead of using red and green, it is better to use purple and green.

Captions

• A clear and concise caption
• Avoid using the abbreviation
• If parameters units are not explained in the columns and there is a space, explain them in the caption
• Include experimental detail

The preceding discussion demonstrates that readers read the article figures first before moving on to the body of the article. As a result, it is critical that you follow the above-mentioned tips in order to entice and hook your readers.

Use of Tables in Scientific Writing

When the paper is rich in text, especially overcrowded by quantitative values, this is the indication to convert this text into a table. Massive quantitative values are hard to read and understand in text, therefore, it is the better way to convert them to the table. Do not forget to refer to the tables in the text at the proper location.

Instructions for using tables in scientific writing

Tables are used to summarise the quantitative parameters. Despite the quantitative values, it is also used to define the terminologies, concepts and other details of the documents.

• Ensure that the text need table
• Tables and figures are usually read first, before reading the text. Therefore, they must be clear and able to solely convey the information
• Similar data and parameters are represented in the table. The inclusion of unrelated data will make your table crowded and readers will not get the point.

• Parameters units must be represented (i.g., the time must be represented with a second, minute or hour etc), aligned with the user in the text.
• The table’s labels should be clearly explained so that the reader, not related to the domain, may easily understand it.

A good way to test whether an illustration can truly stand on its own is to ask someone unfamiliar with the data to interpret it without reading the text of the article.

• If the data can be explained in a few sentences, then explain them instead of drawing the table. Information in small tables may be represented better in text

• Information is presented from top to bottom and left to right in order
• The data presented in a table, should not be replicated in figures etc
• Represent extensive numerical data in an organised way
• Abbreviations should be clearly explained

Figures designed and developed by authors, are called original figures. Figures copied from other studies or internet, are called reproduce figures. Other studies figures are changed to be adjusted in the new study, are called adopted figures.

• Number the figure as they appear in the text
• Clearly defined categories divided into rows and columns
• Clearly defined the variables’ units

Captions

• A clear and concise caption
• Avoid using the abbreviation
• If parameters units are not explained in the columns and there is a space, explain them in the caption
• Include experimental detail

Science is already complex, don’t make it more complicated in writing and illustration. Follow the above simple steps to illustrate your complex data in tables. Furthermore, go through the below article to get ready for graphics used in scientific publications.

Use of Colours in Scientific Writing — Ultimate Guide

Colours speak louder than words. It compels readers to read. In the case of scientific publications, journals usually publish online, therefore understanding the use of colour in graphics is worth learning. Using professional colours, change the manuscript to professional and hook the readers nevertheless, if the wrong colours are used, reader retention will suffer. This tutorial will hopefully help to create professional-looking graphics for scientific writing.

Colours are divided into four different plates

Complementary colours (opposite from each other in the colour wheel). Complementary colours, as shown in the diagrams, are two colours that are oppositely positioned on the colour wheel. If just two colours are required for data representation, complimentary colours will be used.

Analogous colours (adjacent to each other in the colour wheel). Analogous colours, as you can see in the below colour plate, are adjacent to each other. Because these colours are difficult to distinguish, they are typically avoided in scientific depiction.

Triad colours (three colours with equidistance in the colour plate). Triad colours are made up of three colours that are evenly spaced on the colour wheel. As a result, if your data requires three colours, triad colours will provide a clear depiction.

Square colours (Four evenly spaced colours). Similarly, square colour offers a choice of four colours on the colour wheel, having equal space. Therefore, in case you needed four colours to represent your data, you will use the square colour wheel.

Instructions

• Colours truly depend on where they are used, however, too many colours will distract the readers
• Always use your original figures. The other two categories lie in plagiarism. Therefore, always avoid them. In case, you have to use them in your study, take the proper copyright from the publishers.
• Yellow colours are difficult to read, so avoid them.

• Use a colour scheme that corresponds to the eyesight of a colourblind person. Because they are unable to distinguish between red and green colours, it is preferable to utilise purple and green instead.

• Two types of colours are accepted by journals, RGB (Red, Green, Blue) are used for online printing and CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) are used for hard printing. Therefore, decide on the colour scheme as the journal publishes your article.
• Take care of the background colour of the figures
• Avoid colours that are difficult to differentiate

Science is already complex, don’t make it even more complicated in writing and illustration. Follow the above simple steps to illustrate your complex data in tables. Furthermore, go through the below article to get ready for graphics used in scientific publications.

Tips for Writing Statistics (Numbers) in Scientific Writing

Numbers in the text are confusing to writers and readers. Specifically, massive statistics in the text make it difficult to read and understand. Even, readers generally ignore these sections of the documents. Fortunately, there are a few rules and tricks, which can be followed to make the numbers fit perfectly into the text. These bits of advice and rules facilitate the work of the writer and the reader.

This problem can be divided into two types. The first deals with people and things and the second deals with the measurement and result in the text.

Discussing Numbers and Things in the Text

The first thing we need to focus on is that can we write the statistics (numbers) in one or two words. For example, two (one word), twenty-five (two words) and sixty-three (two words). So, in such cases, we will write it in words instead of writing it in numbers. However, if the numbers cannot be covered in two words and take three or more words, in such a situation we will use numbers instead of words. For example, one hundred and twenty-five requires more than two words therefore, we will simply write 125 in numbers. Here are examples for both of the categories

There are 125 laptops in the shop.

About 1300 people participated in this study.

I have two cars.

There are twenty five cars at workshop

If there are massive statistics in the text then the above rule will be ignored and all of the statistics will be written in numbers. Here is an example

The average attendance of learners whose parents attended the meeting increased as 48, 58, 49, 57, 59, 64, 65, 65 and 65 respectively while the learners whose parents did not attend the meeting run as 22, 27, 16, 31, 29, 26, 27, 28 and 28 respectively.

In the example above, most statistics can be written in one or two words. However, all this is written in numbers. Think for a second, if all these numbers were written in words, no one would understand the message.

Discussing Measurements and Results in Text

When we discuss measurement or results in the text, this will need a particular unit for definition. Using units with words will confuse the readers. Therefore, in such a situation, we will use only numbers along with the unit.

By changing workload from 100 to 800 cloudlets, simulation shows that the system earned $ 70, $ 139, $ 208, $ 278, $ 347, $ 417, $ 486 and $ 550 respectively.

In the example above, a cloudlet is a unit used in a cloud simulator, so 100 to 800 cloudlets convey a meaning. Similarly, the unit of earning is a dollar. The remaining part clearly showed the dollar sign with the statistics to avoid the reader getting confused.

In case we need two units in statistics then we will use the combination of numbers and words to convey a clear message. For example,

Please, send 3 meters three pipes.

Or

Please, send three-meter 3 pipes.

You can see that using the combination of numbers and words clears the message. Specifically, the second sentence is clearer than the previous one.

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In conclusion, this tutorial has provided a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of scientific writing, including the philosophy of graphics, and the use of tables, figures, colours, and numbers. By understanding these elements, scientists can create effective and visually appealing scientific documents.

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