Many editors see themselves as gifted sculptors, attempting to turn a block of marble into a lovely statue, and writers as crude chisels. In actual fact, the writers are the statues, and the editors are pigeons. Doug Robarcheck. >> Before submitting your manuscript to the journal of your choice, self-edit your paper. To be sure that your paper is ready for the submission, go through the checklist. First, check the figures and the tables. Remember, that a figure is worth a thousand words. Hence, illustrations, including tables and figures, are the most efficient way to present your results. Your data are the driving force of the paper so the illustrations are crucial. When you compile the table, remember that the contextual material appears on the left in the pattern that produces an expectation regularity. The interesting results appear on the right, in the less obvious pattern, the discovery overage is the brunt of the table. So compare these two tables. If the two sides of this simple table are reversed, it becomes much harder to read. Since in European languages, we read from left to right, we prefer the context on the left, where it can more familiarize the reader. We prefer the new important information on the right since it's job is to intrigue the reader. How do we decide between presenting your data as tables or figures? Generally, tables give the actual experimental results while figures are often used for comparisons of experimental results with those of the previous works, or with calculated or theoretical values. The way you present your data is your choice. But remember, that whatever your choice is no illustrations should repeat the information described elsewhere in the paper. Another important factor, figure and table legends must be self explanatory and clear. Avoid crowded plots using only three or four data sets per figure as well as selected scales. Think about appropriate axis label size. Include clear symbols and data sets that are easy to distinguish. Never include long boring tables. You can include them as supplementary material. Sometimes, fonts are too small for the journal, so you must take into account or they will be illegible to readers. Then the next thing that you have to check is the methods section. This section responds to the question of how the problem was studied. If your paper is proposing a new method, you need to include detailed information so a competent reader or a competent researcher can reproduce the experiment. However, do not repeat the details of established methods. Use references and supporting material to indicate the previously published procedures. Broad summaries or key references are sufficient. Use standard symbols for numbers. List the methods in the same order that will appear in the results section, in the logical order in which you did your research. Include the descriptions of the surveys or experiments done, the laboratory methods, some including separation or treatment of samples, analytical and statistical methods. In this section, avoid additional comments, results and discussions which is a common error. Next thing you have to check is the result section. The result section responds to the question, what have you found? Hence, any representative result from your research should be presented in this section. The results should be essential for discussion. Remember, that most journals offer the possibility of adding supplementary materials, supporting materials, so use them freely for data and secondary importance. An important issue is that you must not include references in this section. You're presenting your results so you cannot refer to others. You can't refer to the results of other researchers in this section. The next thing you need to check is the discussion section. You need to make the discussion corresponding to the results but do not reiterate the results. Here, you need to compare the published results by your colleagues with yours using some of the references included in the introduction. Never ignore work in disagreement with yours. You must confront it. You must convince the reader that you are correct, that your results, or your findings, or your observations, your interpretations are correct or better than theirs. The next thing you have to check is the conclusion section. But be sure that the journal of your choice requires to have this section, conclusions as a separate section. This section shows how the work advances the field from the present state of knowledge. In some journals, it is a separate section. In others, it is a paragraph of the discussion section. A common error in this section is repeating the abstract or just listing experimental result. Never do this. Check the introduction section. Never use more words than necessary, be clear, concise, and direct. The introduction must be organized from general background to specific, related to your specific research. State the purpose of your paper and research strategy adopted to answer the questions, but do not mix introduction with results, discussion, or conclusion. Hypothesis and objectives must be clearly stated at the end of the introduction. Expressions, such as novel, first time, first ever, or paradigm changing, they are not preferred. Then you go through to the abstract. Check the abstract. You must be accurate using the words that convey the precise meaning of your research. The abstract provides a short description of the perspective and the purpose of your paper. It gives key results, but minimizes experimental details. It is very important to remind that the abstract offers a short description of the interpretation or conclusion in the last sentence of your abstract. Now the title. You need to check the title because the title will be read by thousands of other researchers. The title must explain what the paper is broadly about. It is your first, and probably only opportunity to attract the readers attention. Now, you come to the keywords section. Keywords are used for indexing your paper. When looking for keywords, avoid words with a broad meaning, words that already included in the title of your paper. Then check the acknowledgements, thank people who have contributed to the manuscript. Then check the references in the text, you must cite all the scientific publications on which your work is based. Avoid excessive self-citations and excessive citations of publications from the same region. Finally, check the following. Spelling of author's names, year of publication, uses of et al, punctuation, and whether all the references are included. Now your manuscript is ready for submission
