SPRINGER Author Academy

  

http://academy.springer.com/node/3648

Overview of IMRaD structure

IMRaD refers to the standard structure of the body of scientific manuscripts (after the Title and Abstract:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results
• Discussion and Conclusions

Not all journals use these section titles in this order, but most published articles have a structure similar to IMRaD. This standard structure:

• Gives a logical flow to the content
• Makes journal manuscripts predictable and easy to read
• Provides a “map” so that readers can quickly find content of interest in any manuscript
• Reminds authors what content should be included

BUT… although the sections of the journal manuscript are published in the order: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, this is NOT the best order for writing the sections of a manuscript. One strategy is to write your manuscript in the following order:

1. Materials and Methods
2. Results

These can be written first, as you are doing your experiments and collecting the results.

3. Introduction
4. Discussion
5. Conclusion

Write these sections next, once you have decided on your target journal.

6. Title
7. Abstract

Write your Title and Abstract based on all the other sections.

Following this order will help you write a logical and consistent manuscript.

Use the different sections of a manuscript to ‘tell a story’ about your research and its implications.

 

Title, Abstract and Keywords

The Importance of Titles

The title of your manuscript is usually the first introduction readers have to your published work. Therefore, you must select a title that grabs attention, accurately describes the contents of your manuscript, and makes people want to read further.

An effective title should:

• Convey the main topics of the study
• Highlight the importance of the research
• Be concise
• Attract readers

Writing a good title for your manuscript can be challenging. First, list the topics covered by the manuscript. Try to put all of the topics together in the title using as few words as possible. A title that is too long will seem clumsy, annoy readers, and probably not meet journal requirements.

Example:

Does Vaccinating Children and Adolescents with Inactivated Influenza Virus Inhibit the Spread of Influenza in Unimmunized Residents of Rural Communities?

This title has too many unnecessary words.

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Influenza Vaccination of Children: A Randomized Trial

This title doesn’t give enough information about what makes the manuscript interesting.

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Effect of Child Influenza Vaccination on Infection Rates in Rural Communities: A Randomized Trial

This is an effective title. It is short, easy to understand, and conveys the important aspects of the research.

Think about why your research will be of interest to other scientists. This should be related to the reason you decided to study the topic. If your title makes this clear, it will likely attract more readers to your manuscript.

TIP: Write down a few possible titles, and then select the best to refine further. Ask your colleagues their opinion. Spending the time needed to do this will result in a better title.

Abstract and Keywords

The Abstract is:

• A summary of the content of the journal manuscript
• A time-saving shortcut for busy researchers
• A guide to the most important parts of your manuscript’s written content

Many readers will only read the Abstract of your manuscript. Therefore, it has to be able to stand alone.

Your Abstract should answer these questions about your manuscript:

• What was done?
• Why did you do it?
• What did you find?
• Why are these findings useful and important?

Answering these questions lets readers know the most important points about your study, and helps them decide whether they want to read the rest of the paper. Make sure you follow the proper journal manuscript formatting guidelines when preparing your abstract.

TIP: Journals often set a maximum word count for Abstracts, often 250 words. This is to ensure that the full Abstract and Keywords list appear in indexing services.

Keywords are a tool to help indexers and search engines find relevant papers. If database search engines can find your journal manuscript, readers will be able to find it too. This will increase the number of people reading your manuscript, and likely lead to more citations.

However, to be effective, Keywords must be chosen carefully. They should:

• Represent the content of your manuscript
• Be specific to your field or sub-field

Examples:

Manuscript title: Direct observation of nonlinear optics in an isolated carbon nanotube

Poor keywords: molecule, optics, lasers, energy lifetime

Better keywords: single-molecule interaction, Kerr effect, carbon nanotubes, energy level structure

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Manuscript title: Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration

Poor keywords: neuron, brain, OA (an abbreviation), regional-specific neuronal degeneration, signaling

Better keywords: neurodegenerative diseases; CA1 region, hippocampal; okadaic acid; neurotoxins; MAP kinase signaling system; cell death

---

Manuscript title: Increases in levels of sediment transport at former glacial-interglacial transitions

Poor keywords: climate change, erosion, plant effects

Better keywords: quaternary climate change, soil erosion, bioturbation

 

Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results

Introduction

The Introduction should provide readers with the background information needed to understand your study, and the reasons why you conducted your experiments.

The Introduction should answer the question:

What question/problem was studied?

While writing the background, make sure your citations are:

• Well balanced: If experiments have found conflicting results on a question, have you cited studies with both kinds of results?
• Current: Every field is different, but you should aim to cite references that are not more than 10 years old if possible.
• Relevant: This is the most important requirement. The studies you cite should be strongly related to your research question.

TIP: DO NOT write a literature review in your Introduction, but DO cite reviews where readers can find more information if they want it.

Once you have provided background material and stated the problem or question for your study, tell the reader the purpose of your study. Usually the reason is to fill a gap in the knowledge or to answer a previously unanswered question. For example, if a drug is known to work well in one population, but has never been tested in a different population, the purpose of a study could be to test the efficacy and safety of the drug in the second population.

The final thing to include at the end of your Introduction is a clear and exact statement of your study aims. You might also explain (very briefly!) how you conducted the study.

Materials and Methods

This section provides the reader with all the details of how you conducted your study. You should:

• Use subheadings to separate different methodologies
• Describe what you did in the past tense
• Describe new methods in enough detail that another researcher can reproduce your experiment
• Describe established methods briefly, and simply cite a reference where readers can find more detail
• State all statistical tests and parameters

TIP: Check the ‘Instructions for Authors’ for your target journal to see how manuscripts should present the Materials and Methods. Also, as another guide, look at sample reports published online by the journal.

Results

In the Results section, state what you found, but do notinterpret the results or discuss their implications. Just state the results.

• As in the Materials and Methods section, usesubheadings to separate the results of different experiments.
• Results should be presented in a logical order. In general this will be in order of importance, NOT necessarily the order in which the experiments were performed. Use the past tense to describe your results; however, refer to figures and tables in the present tense.
• Do not duplicate data among figures, tables, and text. A common mistake is to re-state much of the data from a table in the text of the manuscript. Instead, use the text to summarize what the reader will find in the table, or mention one or two of the most important data points. It is usually much easier to read data in a table than in the text.
• Include the results of statistical analyses in the text, usually by providing p values wherever statistically significant differences are described.

TIP: There is a famous saying in English: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” This means that, sometimes, an image can explain your findings far better than text could. So make good use of figures and tables in your manuscript! However, avoid including redundant figures and tables (e.g., two showing the same thing in a different format), or using figures and tables where it would be better to just include the information in the text (e.g., where there is not enough data for a table or figure).

 

Discussion and Conclusions

Your Discussion and Conclusions sections should answer the question: What do your results mean?

In other words, the majority of the Discussion and Conclusions sections should be an interpretation of your results. You should:

• Discuss your conclusions in order of most to least important.
• Compare your results with those from other studies: Are they consistent? If not, discuss possible reasons for the difference.
• Mention any inconclusive results and explain them as best you can. You may suggest additional experiments needed to clarify your results.
• Briefly describe the limitations of your study to show reviewers and readers that you have considered your experiment’s weaknesses.
• Discuss what your results may mean for researchers in the same field as you, researchers in other fields, and the general public. How could your findings be applied?
• State how your results extend the findings of previous studies.
• If your findings are preliminary, suggest future studies that need to be carried out.
• At the end of your Discussion and Conclusions sections, state your main conclusions once again.
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Tables

Tables are a concise and effective way to present large amounts of data. You should design them carefully so that you clearly communicate your results to busy researchers.

The following is an example of a well-designed table:

• Clear and concise heading
• Data divided into categories for clarity
• Sufficient spacing between columns and rows
• Units are provided
• Font type and size are legible
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