'How to Write and Publish . . .': Some Updates from a New Edition

Greetings! Recently a member of the AuthorAID community saw a LinkedIn post where I mentioned a new edition of the book How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. The person then asked me to write an AuthorAID post featuring new tips from this edition. Here are some of the tips. They regard four topics: preprints, visual abstracts, accessible use of color, and online presentations.

Preprints

For many years, researchers in physics have posted preprints (manuscripts not yet submitted to journals). Now many researchers in biological science also are posting work on preprint servers.

Some tips relating to preprints:

• When reading preprints, remember that they might not have been peer reviewed. (Whether they tend to be peer reviewed differs among fields.)
• If you might want to post a paper on a preprint server and then submit it to a journal, check the journal’s policies. Many journals are glad to receive papers that were posted as preprints, but some do not want such papers or have restrictions regarding them.
• Increasingly, journals have been letting authors cite preprints as references. If, however, a published version of the paper exists, generally cite it in instead.

Visual Abstracts

More and more journals are including visual summaries of articles. These summaries are commonly called visual abstracts or graphical abstracts. They often have a one-panel format or three-panel format.

Tips regarding visual abstracts include the following:

• Obtain (and follow) the journal’s instructions regarding dimensions, typeface, image resolution, file type, and so forth. Look at examples in the journal. See whether the journal has a template to use.
• Think about your audience. Define, and focus on, your main message to it.
• Plan before you draft. Try to tell a story.
• Consider getting help from a scientific illustrator or other visual-communication expert.
• Structure the visual abstract in an easy-to-follow way—for example, from left to right (if your audience reads in that direction) or from top to bottom. Maybe break the abstract into sections or use arrows to guide readers.
• Be concise, with uncluttered images and relatively few words. Perhaps use icons. Include enough white space.
• Use color effectively. For example, show related items in the same color, or use color to emphasize key items.
• Revise, revise, revise. Get feedback, and revise more.

Accessible Use of Color

The previous section above mentioned using color. However, many people have trouble distinguishing some colors and so are said to be “color-blind.”

Recently, more attention has been paid to designing visuals that include color but are easy for people who are color-blind to follow. Some tips:

• In addition to colors, use symbols to distinguish items. For example, if different lines in a graph are different colors, also make the data points different shapes. Or to distinguish bars in a bar graph, use patterns in addition to colors.
• Avoid color combinations (such as red and green) that are hard for many color-blind people to distinguish. (Web searching using “color-blind friendly palette” can help in finding suitable color combinations.)
• To minimize confusion, use only a few colors.
• For more advice, look in style manuals and their associated websites; some have advice on this topic. For example, see https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/tables-figures/colors.

Online Presentations

Online presentations (for example, on Zoom) recently became common. Thus, the book now presents advice on this topic. Some main tips:

• Acquaint yourself with the platform being used. For example, know how to share your screen on it.
• Have a light source in front of you, so your face will be lit. Otherwise, viewers might not see you well.
• Position the camera at a suitable level, so audience members won't be looking down on the top of your head or peering up your nose.
• If you will use a virtual background, choose one that is simple and professional. If your actual surroundings will be shown, avoid distracting or embarrassing clutter.
• Dress appropriately (in general, much as you would for a presentation in person). Avoid wearing patterns such as stripes and checks; in videos, they can seem to vibrate.
• Minimize intrusions. If you will speak from home and you have pets or small children, make arrangements so they won’t interrupt you.
• Rehearse and refine your presentation. Take advantage of the software’s ability to video your presentation.
• Have backup plans. For example, maybe send the moderator a copy of your slides in case you cannot show them yourself. Perhaps be ready to connect by phone if the internet fails.

In Closing

I hope these updates have been helpful. If you have questions, please feel free to ask.

Barbara Gastel is professor of integrative biosciences, medical humanities, and biotechnology at Texas A&M University, where she coordinates the graduate program in communicating science. She also served on the AuthorAID leadership team in its early years. Her recent publications include How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 9th edition (2022), by Barbara Gastel and Robert A. Day.