Author Resource Centre

The Principles of Biomedical ScientificWriting: Title

International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The title of a paper is “like a hat on a head or the front door to a house” and its initial impression. Writing a good and effective title makes the paper more retrievable by search engines and maximizes its impact in the scientific community. The paper’s title presents what has been studied, how it has been done, and what are the major results. A well-written title is balanced for being informative and concise, as well as attractively conveying the main topic, highlighting the importance of the study. For writing a good title, it should be drafted correctly, accurately, carefully, and meticulously by the main study keywords. By removing extra and unspecific words, the final title should be unambiguous, memorable, captivating, and informative. Here, we provided an overview of the importance and function of the title as well as different types of titles in scientific medical writing. We also focused on the content and organization of the title of a hypothesis-testing paper. In addition, the features of a good title were discussed.

Bahadoran, Z., Mirmiran, P., Kashfi, K., & Ghasemi, A. (2019). The principles of biomedical scientific writing: Title. International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 17(4), e98326. https://doi.org/10.5812/ijem.98326

The Principles of Biomedical ScientificWriting: Abstract and Keywords

International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

An abstract is a self-contained, short, powerful statement that describes a larger body of work. It may be incorporated as part of a published paper, book, grant proposal, thesis, research report, or a conference paper. An abstract of a scientific paper will be published online independently, so it should make sense when it is read alone. An abstract of a hypothesis-testing paper consists of at least four key elements, as follows: (1) study question/hypothesis/aim, (2) experiments/material and methods, (3) results, and (4) response to the question/conclusion(s). The abstract usually begins with a background and may end in applications, recommendations, implications, or speculations. The abstract is one of the many features of a manuscript that competes for the readers’ attention; therefore, it should be informative, accurate, attractive, and concise. Since a huge amount of work must be compressed into a few sentences, writing an abstract may be a difficult task that needs professional skills. Here, we provide a practical guide to writing an abstract and selecting keywords for a hypothesis-testing medical paper.

Bahadoran, Z., Mirmiran, P., Kashfi, K., & Ghasemi, A. (2020). The principles of biomedical scientific writing: Abstract and keywords. International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 18(1), e100159. https://doi.org/10.5812/ijem.100159

The Principles of Biomedical ScientificWriting: Introduction

International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

A well-written introduction of a scientific paper provides relevant background knowledge to convince the readers about the rationale, importance, andnovelty of the research. The introduction should inform the readers about the “problem”, “existing solutions”, and “main limitations or gaps of knowledge”. The authors’ hypothesis and methodological approach used to examine the research hypothesis should also be stated. After reading a good introduction, readers should be guided through “a general context” to “a specific area” and “a research question”. Incomplete, inaccurate, or outdated reviews of the literature are the more common pitfalls of an introduction that may lead to rejection. This review focuses on the principles of writing the introduction of an article and provides a quick look at the essential points that should be considered for writing an optimal introduction.

Bahadoran, Z., Jeddi, S., Mirmiran, P., & Ghasemi, A. (2018). The principles of biomedical scientific writing: Introduction. International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 16(4), e84795. https://doi.org/10.5812/ijem.84795

The Principles of Biomedical ScientificWriting: Materials and Methods

International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The materials and methods (M&M) section is the heart of a scientific paper and is subject to initial screening of the editor to decide whether the manuscript should be sent for external review. If the M&M section of a scientific paper be considered as a recipe, its ingredients would be who, what, when, where, how, and why. M&M should effectively respond to the study question/hypothesis using the following basic elements including materials, study design, study population/subjects or animals, methods of measurements/assessments, and statistical analysis. Awell-organized M&M permits other scientists to evaluate the study findings and repeat the experiments. Although there are several disciplinary differences in the M&M, similar dos and don’ts may be considered to organize a well-written M&M. Briefly, authors need to provide clear-cut, adequate, and detailed information in the M&M section. In this review, the structure, the principles, and the most common recommendations for writing the M&M section are provided, both in general and study-specific; these could help authors effectively prepare the M&M section of a scientific biomedical manuscript.

The Principles of Biomedical ScientificWriting: Discussion

International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The discussion section of a scientific paper is supposed to interpret and elucidate the significance of the study findings, highlight current knowledge available on the research problem being investigated, and explain the novel aspects emerging from the findings of the study in moving the field forward. A well-written discussion should provide clear “statements of the main findings”, “possible explanations and implications”, “strengths and weaknesses of the study and other studies”, “unanswered questions”, and “suggestions for future research”. The authors also need to clarify the external validity of the findings and show how the findings
can be generalized. In this review, we focus on the function, content, and organization of the “discussion section” of a hypothesistesting paper. Beyond providing the most important principles and common strategies for organizing the discussion section, we also discuss metadiscourse, scientific explanation (reasoning and contextualization), and models of scientific explanation.

Ghasemi, A., Bahadoran, Z., Mirmiran, P., Hosseinpanah, F., Shiva, N., & Zadeh-Vakili, A. (2019). The principles of biomedical scientific writing: Discussion. International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 17(3), e95415. https://doi.org/10.5812/ijem.95415

Publishing in premier journals with high impact factor and Q1 journals: Dos and Don'ts

Justin Paul — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The evolving landscape of the academic world has ushered in a plethora of challenges and opportunities for researchers. While there are undoubtedly monetary incentives and fringe benefits for those who actively engage in publishing, the journey toward acceptance by a premier journal is often arduous and time-consuming. Considering this context, this paper endeavors to dissect prevailing trends, elucidate the reasons behind manuscript rejections, and furnish a compendium of strategies and insights aimed at augmenting the likelihood of acceptance while mitigating the probability of rejection.

Paul, J. (2024). Publishing in premier journals with high impact factor and Q1 journals: Dos and Don'ts. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 48(3), e13049. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijcs.13049