The active voice promotes simple, straightforward writing. As such, most scientific journals encourage the use of the active voice over the passive voice [1]. Active voice – the subject acts. Passive voice – the subject is acted upon. You will use a variety of tenses when writing a scientific paper. Please see our “Verb tenses […]
How to write an effective abstract
An abstract is a short but fully-contained summary of a study. Its purpose is to entice readers into wanting to read the full paper. This poses a challenge, given the ever increasing volume of documents and texts. As such, an effective abstract is key for the dissemination of your research. An effective abstract should be […]
How can I create a good impression with my cover letter?
The cover letter seems very impersonal, how can I make it more impressive so that the Editor will treat my submission favorably? The review of your article will be based on your research and how it is presented in the article itself. However, the Editor has to agree to send your article for review. As […]
Your email address, and why it matters
Always use your institutional (academic) email address on your cover letter, and when contacting the Editor. Why does this matter? Editors have become suspicious of authors who use personal email addresses because of recent scandals with bogus submissions; see, for example, this article in the Washington Post on a peer-review ring). If you have to […]
Tips for writing a good cover letter
Editor’s name: First of all, make sure you address the letter to the correct person. If you can find out the name of the Editor, e.g., from the journal website, then use it. Address the Editor by last name, e.g., “Dear Dr. White,” or “Dear Professor Green.” If the journal website does not list the […]
