WRITING CHEMICAL RESEARCH PAPERS TITLE AND AUTHORS 1

WRITING CHEMICAL RESEARCH PAPERS TITLE AND AUTHORS 1

TITLE A good title should • Define contents of paper in a few words. It should “sell” your manuscript • Make retrieval of your article easy (= more impact) • Have more important words first • Show accuracy 2

Desirable Features of a Title • Expresses only one idea • Omits redundant words: verbs and articles (usually) • Omits waste words like “A Study of. . ” • Uses simple word order with correct syntax 3

Things to Avoid • Scientific Abbreviations (e. g. E. coli should be Escherichia coli); IR should be infrared • Acronyms (Ca should be Calcium) • Chemical Formulas – use generic or common names • Roman numerals • Sensational or strong words 4

Title Styles • Descriptive or Label Style - no verbs and (usually) no articles (the, a, etc) This is the more common style • Assertive Sentence Style - contains subject, verb and object This style is used more often in general science and biomedical journals 5

Title Styles (2) • Series titles are used to connect a number of papers published on the same general subject. E. g. Nucleophilic Catalysis, Part IV. Acid-hydrolysis of organic sulfites. Uncommon nowadays. • Hanging titles consist of general statement, then : or. or – followed by a more specific statement. Common nowadays. 6

Examples of Title Styles From azides to nitro compounds in a few seconds using HOF·CH 3 CN S. Rozen and M. Carmeli From J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 8118 -8119. 7

Examples of Hanging Titles 8

Examples of Hanging Titles (2) Suppression of a palladium-mediated homocoupling in a Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. Development of an impurity control strategy supporting synthesis of LY 451395 J. T. Quatroche and C. D. Sturgill From Org. Process Res. Dev. , 2007, 11, 359 -364 9

Example of Series Title Chemistry of the sulfur-nitrogen bond 12. Metal-assisted synthesis of sulfenamide derivatives from aliphatic and aromatic disulfides. M. D. Bentley, J. A. Lacadie, and I. B. Douglass From J. Org. Chem. 1977, 42, 967 -972 10

Examples of Title Improvements 11

Example 1 • “Cycloaddition Reactions of mesoionic oxadiazoles” is too general for the manuscript content • A more accurate title might be “Diels-Alder Reactions of Mesoionic 1, 2, 3 -Oxadiazol-5 ones (Sydnones)” 12

Example 2 • “Preliminary Canine and Clinical Evaluation of a New Antitumor Agent, Streptovitacin” is an example with incorrect syntax • A more correct title might be “Preliminary Evaluation of a New Antitumor Agent, Streptovitacin, using Canine and Clinical Trials” 13

Example 3 • “Determination of Copper in Tequila using Stripping Potentiometry” • If the focus is on the technique rather than the analyte or medium then a better title may be • “Stripping Potentiometric Determination of Copper in Tequila” 14

Example 4 • “Investigation into the Use of Copper and Other Metals as indicators for the Authenticity of Scotch Whiskies” • Removing “waste” words gives • “Copper and Other Metals as Indicators for the Authenticity of Scotch Whiskies” 15

AUTHORS • The list of authors should reflect a system of credit • As far as possible, include only significant contributors • Acknowledgements can be used for people who helped with a specific aspect, but who otherwise made no contribution 16

Authors: Order of Listing • There are no definite rules • Decide early in the program of study on sequence of authors • Main author can be placed first and corresponding author (if different) can be indicated by * 17

Example 1 • Scientist A designs program of work and Technician B (nonstudent) carries out the work successfully • Either Author A (with B acknowledged) Or Author A and B in that order 18

Example 2 • Scientist A and Technician B (nonstudent) jointly design program of work and B carries out the work successfully • Either Author A and B in that order Or Author B and A* in that order 19

Example 3 • Supervisor A and student or post-doc B design progam of work jointly, which B completes • Author B and A* in that order 20

Example 4 • Supervisor A and student or postdoc B design progam of work jointly, which B completes, with small but specific help from scientist C • Author B and A* in that order, with C acknowledged 21

Example 5 • Supervisor A and student or postdoc B design program of work jointly, which B completes, with extended collaboration of scientist C • Author B, A* and C in that order 22

Writer’s Lament Research: I slog away for the benefit of humanity, my sponsors get all the money and my supervisor hogs all the glory. Such is life! 23