SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION

Type: written
Subtypes: dissertations/theses, scientific papers, posters, books (treatises, monographs, lecture
notes, collections of works, such as the proceedings of a congress, translations), medical
documents (lab reports, discharge summaries, progress charts) aids to improve
communication between patients and health-care professionals (leaflets, brochures), e-mails,
letters, CVs, recommendations, research projects, progress reports, English tests (PLAB,
GRE).
Scientific papers: classification: editorials, short reports, clinical cases, commentaries dealing
with reports of scientific meetings, letters to the editors, original papers, methods papers,
reviews summarizing state-of-the art of a particular field, book reviews and news.
Writing a scientific paper: Stages
1. Choose a subject;
2. Find background information;
3. Read and take notes; use the same system in all your notes; make an index of the ideas
identified in each source;
4. Devise a plan of the paper then write the first draft; after a few days, read it and rewrite it;
show it to other people and use their comments to improve the text; make sure you
observe the requests included in the instructions for authors from the periodical of your
choice.
The original article: structure:
1. Title; if possible, it should begin with a keyword, not with a or the;
2. Authors names;
3. Name of institutions in which the work was done;
4. Name, address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address of the author to whom
communications regarding the manuscript should be directed (at the bottom of the first
page);
5. Summary/abstract of no more than 250 words; it should be organized according to the
following headings or sections: Background information (optional), Purpose,
Patients/Materials and Methods, Results, Conclusion;
6. Key words: 7 words in alphabetical order, suitable for indexing;
7. Text no longer than 2000 words, organized according to the following headings:
Introduction, Patients/Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion and Conclusions;
8. Acknowledgments for research support;
9. Tables and figures; graphs; photomicrographs; color photographs;
10. References.
The review: structure: components 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,10 are preserved; in 5 (abstract):the sections
Background information, Patients/Materials and Methods, and Results are replaced with a
middle section mentioning the issues to be developed in the paper; in 7 (text): the sections
Patients/Materials and Methods, and Results are replaced with a middle section in which the
issues announced in the summary are developed; the subheadings of this section are not
predetermined; Discussion and Conclusions is replaced with Conclusions.
Contents of the original paper: Introduction = explain the purpose of the investigation, note
relevant published research, describe the objectives of your work and present your
conclusions; Patients/Materials and Methods = describe the patients, state the source of all
materials used, give the exact strain of the animals employed, describe and reference the
methods used; new procedures should be delineated in full, as should changes to previously
used methods; standard methods need not be described, but appropriate references must be
cited; Results = describe what was done, how it was done, and how the data were obtained
and analyzed; Discussion and Conclusions = explain the significance of the results; relate the
important aspects of the work to existing knowledge, show the importance of the submitted
contributions, and relate conclusions to the experimental data submitted; do not repeat data
about findings you already mentioned in the Introduction; simply mention their existence in
the first section of the text; References = number references consecutively in the order in

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which they are first mentioned in the text, using superscript Arabic numerals; type references
double-spaced as a separate section in numerical order; do not use et al.; journal
abbreviations should be consistent with INDEX MEDICUS.
Contents of the review: Introduction = purpose, relevant published research, objectives and
conclusions; the middle section: synthesize the extant literature; Conclusions = explain the
significance of your achievement; References = see Contents of the original paper.
Manuscript form: manuscripts should be typewritten, in English, double-spaced, on one side
only of A4 paper, with margins of 1 cm on top and bottom and 2 cm on right and left.
Pages are to be numbered consecutively; page numbers should appear centered or to the right
in the top margin; the first page is either not numbered or, if numbered, the number should
appear centered in the bottom margin. Paginate the works cited section as a continuation of
your text.
Style for citations: use italics or underline titles of books, magazines, newspapers, and shorter
works published independently; use quotation marks ( " " ) for titles of magazine and
newspaper articles; forms for works cited entries (see the Appendix). The preferred medium
of submission is on CD/DVD with accompanying manuscript. Electronic manuscript:
Windows format, Word 2010.
Style: accuracy, brevity, and clarity;
vocabulary: use words and expressions which can be understood by the potential readers;
the professional jargon must be shared with the targeted public; avoid clichs and slang;
avoid unnecessary words; be concise;
sentences: a sentence should not contain more than 3 related ideas and it should not
exceed 40 words; the variety in sentence length helps the reader; the main unit (clause) of
a sentence should convey the main idea, and must be readily identified by the reader;
paragraphs: choose between the block style and the indented alternative; the text should
be characterized by unity of theme;
quotations: for quotations longer than three lines, use block quotes; to create block
quotations, use twice the number of spaces you use to indent paragraphs; indent from
both left and right margins; do not use quotation marks to begin or end a block quote.
Check list:
the built-in spellcheckers show nonsense words only so pay attention to misplaced or
omitted letters; use the same spelling throughout the paper (e.g.: s/z);
avoid right-hand justification because it is harder to read and to check;
the number of key strokes to a line of print should be between 60 and 80; if it is longer,
the text is perceived as heavy to read;
leave space on the page to allow the text to stand out clearly: use subheadings;
do not paginate before you reach a final form.
avoid plagiarism: using someone else's words or ideas without giving proper credit - or
without giving any credit at all - to the writer of the original is a serious offence that you
can avoid by documenting your sources.

GLOSSARY
Dissertation: a lengthy, formal treatise, especially one written by a candidate for the doctoral
degree at a university; a thesis.
Treatise: a systematic, usually extensive written discourse on a subject.
Monograph: a scholarly piece of writing of essay or book length on a specific, often limited
subject.
Photomicrography: magnification of a subject to greater than its actual size performed by
means of specialized equipment, such as a microscope.
Index Medicus: a listing of articles from more than 3,000 medical journals around the world
published by The National Library of Medicine (US).