PREPARING A MANUSCRIPT FORForest Ecology and Management

Elsevier Author WorkshopAugust 2012

Professor Peter M Attiwill

AM, PhD, BSc(For)

Publishers do not want zero-cited articles

Editors now regularly analyze citations per article “The statistic that 27% of our papers were not cited in 5 years was disconcerting. It certainly indicates that it is important to maintain high standards when accepting papers... nothing would have been lost except the CV's of those authors would have been shorter…” – Marv Bauer, Editor, Remote Sensing of Environment

Publishers do want quality

WANTED

• Originality• Significant advances

in field• Appropriate methods

and conclusions• Readability• Studies that meet

ethical standards

NOT WANTED

• Duplications • Reports of no scientific

interest• Work out of date• Inappropriate methods

or conclusions• Studies with

insufficient data

“Just because it has not been done before is no justification for doing it now.”

– Peter Attiwill, Editor-in-Chief, Forest Ecology and Management

Writing a quality manuscript

• Preparations

Which journal?

• Consider:– Aims and scope (check journal websites and

recent articles)– Types of articles– Readership– Current hot topics (go through recent

abstracts)– Asking colleagues for advice

Sometimes it is necessary to lower one’s sights or return to the lab or field to obtain more data

Forest Ecology and Management

Forest Ecology and Management publishes scientific articles that link forest ecology with forest

management, and that apply biological and ecological knowledge to the management and conservation of

man-made and natural forests.

Key features of papers with international interest:

1. Clear connections between the ecology and management of forests;

2. Novel ideas or approaches to important challenges in forest ecology and management;

3. Studies that address a population of interest beyond the scale of single research sites;

4. Review Articles on timely, important topics.

Rejection

1. Primary focus, for example, on entomology or pathology or soil science or remote sensing, but where the links to, and implications for, forest management are not clear and have not been strongly developed;

2. Model-based investigations that do not include a substantial field-based validation component;

3. Local or regional studies of diversity aimed at the development of conservation policies;

4. The effects of forestry practices that do not include a strong ecological component (for example, the effects of weed control or fertilizer application on yield);

5. Social or economic or policy studies.

Before starting to prepare your manuscript, choose very carefully the journal that is appropriate.

Many studies in forest ecology are of a local or regional nature. There is little point in sending such a paper to an international journal such as Forest Ecology and Management

Having chosen a journal, READ THE GUIDE FOR AUTHORS AND FOLLOW THE GUIDE ABSOLUTELY. Get a copy of the journal, and follow the lay-out, including heading structure, format of the tables, and referencing style. It is the author’s responsibility to submit in the required format.

Read the Guide for Authors

Format

• Consult and apply the list of guidelines in the “Guide for Authors”

• Ensure that you use the correct:– Layout– Section lengths (stick to word limits)– Nomenclature, abbreviations and spelling (British vs.

American)– Reference format– Number/type of figures and tables– Statistics

All editors hate wasting time on poorly prepared manuscripts

It is a sign of disrespect

Consulting the Guide for Authors will save your time and the editor’s

DO NOT gamble by scattering your manuscript to many journals

Only submit once!

International ethics standards prohibit multiple simultaneous submissions, and editors DO find out!

Writing a quality manuscript

• Article construction

Article structure

• Title• Authors• Abstract• Keywords

• Main text (IMRaD)– Introduction– Methods– Results– Discussion (Conclusion)

• Acknowledgements• References• Supplementary material

Need to be accurate and informative for effective indexing and searching

Each has a distinct function

Title

A good title should contain the fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents of a paper

DO

Convey main findings of research

Be specific

Be concise

Be complete

Attract readers

DON’T

Use unnecessary jargon

Use uncommon abbreviations

Use ambiguous terms

Use unnecessary detail

Focus on part of the content only

Abstract

The quality of an abstract will strongly influence The quality of an abstract will strongly influence the editor’s decisionthe editor’s decision

A good abstract:•Is precise and honest

•Can stand alone

•Uses no technical jargon

•Is brief and specific

•Cites no references

Use the abstract to “sell” your articleUse the abstract to “sell” your article

Keywords

Keywords are important for indexing: they Keywords are important for indexing: they enable your manuscript to be more easily enable your manuscript to be more easily identified and citedidentified and cited

Check the Guide for Authors for journal Check the Guide for Authors for journal requirementsrequirements

•Keywords should be specificKeywords should be specific•Avoid uncommon abbreviations and general termsAvoid uncommon abbreviations and general terms

Introduction

Provide the necessary background Provide the necessary background information to put your work into information to put your work into contextcontext

It should be clear from the introduction:It should be clear from the introduction:

•Why the current work was performedWhy the current work was performed–aimsaims–significancesignificance

•What has been done beforeWhat has been done before•What was done (in brief terms) What was done (in brief terms) •What was achieved (in brief terms)What was achieved (in brief terms)

Introduction

DODO

•Consult the Guide for Authors for word limitConsult the Guide for Authors for word limit

•““Set the scene”Set the scene”

•Outline “the problem” and Outline “the problem” and hypotheseshypotheses•Ensure that the literature cited is balanced, up Ensure that the literature cited is balanced, up to date and relevantto date and relevant

•Define any non-standard abbreviations and Define any non-standard abbreviations and jargonjargon

Introduction – state clearly why the study was done. Conclude the Introduction with a clear and simple hypothesis to be tested.

Example 1

‘An understanding of soil nutrients such as soil organic matter, total available nitrogen and the C: N ratio is very important for proper management of a wetland dominated system.’

Odd idea about nutrients!

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY – why is this understanding ‘very important’?

Example 2

Even though some work has been done in the L. chinensis reserve, to our knowledge no studies investigated the age size structure of L. chinensis forest along an altitudinal gradient in this zone.

Just because it has not been done before is no justification for doing it now. There are thousands of forests on which few measurements have been made. Why is this study important? What is the hypothesis, and what do you hope to get from it?

Introduction

DON’TDON’T

•Write an extensive review of the fieldWrite an extensive review of the field

•Cite disproportionately your own work, work of Cite disproportionately your own work, work of colleagues or work that supports your findings while colleagues or work that supports your findings while ignoring contradictory studies or work by competitorsignoring contradictory studies or work by competitors

•Describe methods, results or conclusions other than Describe methods, results or conclusions other than to outline what was done and achieved in the final to outline what was done and achieved in the final paragraphparagraph

•Overuse terms like “novel” and “for the first time”Overuse terms like “novel” and “for the first time”

Methods

The Methods section must provide sufficient information so that a knowledgeable reader can reproduce the experiment

Unless the Guide for Authors states otherwise, use the past tense; the present tense is usually only used in methodology-type papers

Methods & Experimental Design

Unfortunately, the editors of Forest Ecology and

Management reject dozens of manuscripts each year

because of fundamental design flaws that undermine

the value these projects might hold for readers.

1. Clearly state the population of interest, and how the

experimental findings will be extrapolated to the

population;

2. Based on the population of interest, be clear on

what is a true replicate, and what is a subsample.

Methods & Experimental DesignA typical fertilizer experiment:

4 replicated blocks within a single stand of blue gum on sandy soil

near Longford

4 levels of nitrogen fertilizer added to randomly assigned plots in

each block.

Even if the researchers were interested only in the fertilizer

response of all blue gum stands on sandy soils near Longford, this

design would provide 0 degrees of f reedom for understanding the

variability among sites within this narrowly defined population (with

1 site, n-1 = 0).

Methods & Experimental Design

If the population for this experiment were defined as ‘this blue gum stand’, then the block design would indeed have 4 true replicates. If the population of interest is ‘blue gum stands on sandy soils near Longford’, a much better design would omit replication of treatments within a single stand, and apportion the experimental work across 4 independent stands within the population of interest. The dispersed approach would have 3 degrees of freedom for interpreting the likely responsiveness of the whole population, despite having 0 degrees of freedom for interpreting the response within any single stand.

Consulting with a statistician during the design (and analysis) of experiments is always a productive idea.

Results

The main findings of the research

DO

•Use figures and tables to summarize data

•Show the results of statistical analysis

•Compare “like with like”

DON’T

•Duplicate data among tables, figures and text

•Use graphics to illustrate data that can easily be summarized with text

Graphics

“Readers… often look at the graphics first and many times go no further. Therefore, the reviewer should be particularly sensitive to inclusion of clear and informative graphics.”

– Henry Rapoport, Associate Editor, Journal of Organic Chemistry

Figures and Tables

Figures and tables are the most effective way to present results. Prepare figures and tables

carefully, to tell the story.

BUT:

•Captions should be able to stand alone, such that the figures and tables are understandable without the need to read the entire manuscript

•The data represented should be easy to interpret

•Colour should only be used when necessary

Impossible table No. 1

The information in the table can be presented in one sentence:

‘The surface soils were dark grayish brown, grading to light olive brown (woodland), light olive brown (wetland), and pale olive (grassland) at 100 cm.’

Summarize results in the text where possible

Impossible table No. 2

Significant figures!! Statistical significance??

Graphics

Station I II III IV V

75U 91.3 5.3 3.2 0.2 0.075R 89.8 6.1 3.6 0.5 0.0200R 69.3 14.2 8.6 6.8 1.1500R 63.0 29.5 3.4 4.2 0.0

1000R 86.7 8.5 4.5 0.2 0.0

ECOLOGICAL GROUP

The figure and table show the same information, but the table is more direct and clear

Graphics

•Legend is poorly defined

•Graph contains too much data

•No trend lines

Graphics

•Legend is well defined but there is still too much data and no trendlines

Graphics

•Legend is clear•Data is better organized•Trend lines are present

Impossible Figure 1

Impossible Figure 2

Figure 7 Natural regeneration in Mongolian pine plantations stands (No seedlings were more than one year old. The roots were less than 5 cm)

Statistics

•Indicate the statistical tests used with all relevant parameters

mean ± SD

•Give numerator and denominators with percentages

40% (100/250)

•Use means and standard deviations to report normally distributed data

Statistics

Third, species that use grassy open areas appear to be more abundant in the mastication treatments. In the current study, there was a statistically suggestive (P < 0.15) trend for the darkeyed junco to be more abundant at treated stands, and chipping sparrow was only detected in treated stands. In contrast, neither of these species showed a consistent pattern in our study of smaller-scale hand-pile treatments (Alexander et al., 2007).

 

Statistics

•The word “significant” should only be used to describe “statistically significant differences”

•When tests indicate no significant difference the authors continue their presentation as if there actually is a significant difference while couching the discussion with terms like 'trend'.  When a statistical test indicates no significant difference then the means reported are not different, 'trends' one way or another are meaningless.  

Discussion

Describe

•How the results relate to the study’s aims and hypotheses

•How the findings relate to those of other studies

•All possible interpretations of your findings

•Limitations of the study

Avoid

•Making “grand statements” that are not supported by the data

Example: “These results show a massive increase in soil carbon”

•Introducing new results or terms

Discussion – the Discussion is a discussion of your results in the context of the world literature. Do not have a Discussion that is largely a repetition of the Results.

Write positively – too often, we come across statements such as ‘These results suggest that the trees might be under water stress to the extent that mortality might be possible’. That statement is vague enough to mean nothing!

Write positively

Avoid acronyms – for example, you might have set up an experiment with a eucalypt forest (EF) and a pine forest (PF), on two aspects North (N) and south (S), in two localities, say Victoria (V) and Tasmani a (T). You then have the following: VEFS, VEFN, TEFS, TEFN, VPFS, VPFN, TPFS and TPFN. This leads to sentences like: ‘The concentration of phosphorus in top-soil was greatest in VEFS, intermediate in VEFN, VPFN and TPFS, and least in the other forests’. This might make sense to the author, but it is a nightmare for reviewers and readers. You should not expect your readers to remember acronyms.

Avoid acronyms

Conclusion

Put your study into CONTEXT

Describe how it represents an advance in the field

Suggest future experiments

BUT

Avoid repetition with other sections

Avoid being overly speculative

Don’t over-emphasize the impact of your study

Conclusion

‘The limited distribution of this L. chinensis forest, and the ‘rare’ status of the species make these kinds of studies very important to the successful management and preservation of this endemic species of the Taibai Natural Reserve.’

• Why is it very important? Just because you have done the study does not mean that it is very important. Again, how are these types of studies going to be used in land management and preservation? How are they going to be applied, and what will be the outcomes?

Conclusion‘There was a tendency for the soil seed bank to decrease in density with increasing elevation in both shady and sunny slope, although this pattern is complicated by the occurrence of different plant communities and species at different altitudes. Sorensen similarty index between soil seed bank and vegetation of the seven habitats was very low, and Pinus crassifolia was absent in the soil seed bank despite being prominent component of the surface vegetation at woodlands, thus Picea crassifolia has no persistent seed bank, It will be important to maintain the existing vegetation in the future management,

• This study of soil seed banks in forests is of very local or regional interest. It has little interest for an international audience.

• Avoid gratuitous statements such as the last sentence: ‘It will be important to maintain the existing vegetation in the future management’. Why is it important to maintain the existing vegetation, and how are we going to apply the results of this study of seed banks to maintain it?

Acknowledgements

Acknowledge anyone who has helped you with the study, including:

•Researchers who supplied materials or reagents,

•Anyone who helped with the writing or English, or offered critical comments about the content

•Anyone who provided technical help

State why people have been acknowledged and ask their permission

Acknowledge sources of funding, including any grant or reference numbers

References

Check the Guide for Authors for the correct format

Check

•Spelling of author names

•Punctuation

•Number of authors to include before using “et al.”

•Reference style

Avoid

•Personal communications, unpublished observations and submitted manuscripts not yet accepted

•Citing articles published only in the local language

•Excessive self-citation and journal self-citation

Take great care with referencing. It is particularly irritating for reviewers to find mistakes, particularly in one of their own

references.

References

References

Check the style and format as required – it is not the editor’s job to do so for you

Harvard System (alphabetical by author/date):

Berridge, MJ 1998, Neuronal calcium signaling, Neuron vol. 21: pp. 13-26

APA (American Psychological Association) System (alphabetical)

Berridge, M.J. (1998). Neuronal calcium signaling. Neuron 21, 13-26

Vancouver System (numbered in order or citation)

1. Berridge MJ. Neuronal calcium signaling. Neuron. 1998;21:13-26

There are a number of other systems in use and variations for all systems

Writing is not meant to be easy!

Easy reading’s cursed hard writing;Easy writing’s cursed hard reading.