What is a scientific article

Why write a Scientific Article ?

"The beauty of style, harmony, elegance and good rhythm depends on its simplicity. "
Plato

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CLARITY REQUIREMENT

What is scientific writing? I believe the key to scientific writing is clarity.
A successful scientific experiment is the result of an open mind addressing a clearly stated problem and producing clearly stated results. Ideally, openness should be a characteristic of all types of communication. But when anything is said for the first time, clarity is essential. Most scientific articles, that is, those published in mainstream research journals, are accepted for publication because they contribute new knowledge. Therefore, we must demand absolute clarity in scientific writing.

GETTING THE MESSAGE

Undoubtedly, many people have heard this question. If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? The correct answer is no. To understand this, we need to look up a dictionary. Websters Ninth Collegiate Dictionary gives the first two definitions of sound as follows: a: the perceived sensation of hearing b: a special kind of listening impression.
Thus, sound is more than pressure waves, and in fact there can be no sound without a hearer.

Similarly, scientific communication is a two-way process. Just like any signal that is useless unless it is perceived, a published scientific paper (signal) is useless unless it is both read and understood by its intended audience. If we accept the analogy of sound as sound, we can put the axiom of science again as follows: A scientific experiment is not complete until the results are published and understood. The published article
is nothing but pressure waves unless understood. Unfortunately, many scientific papers fall silently in the woods.



UNDERSTANDING THE MESSAGE

Scientific writing is the transmission of a clear signal to the receiver. The words of the signal should be as clear, simple and well-ordered as possible. There is no need for embellishment in scientific writing.

Science, in its simplest form, is too important to be communicated with anything other than words with certain meanings. And clear meanings should appeal not only to the author's colleagues, but also to entering students, to scholars studying outside their narrow subject, and especially to readers whose native language is other than English (the majority of today's readers).

Many types of writing are structured for fun. Scientific writing has a different purpose: to communicate new scientific discoveries. Scientific writing should be as clear and simple as possible.

WRITING THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE

In addition to editing, the second essential element of the scientific article must be appropriate language. In this book, I repeatedly emphasize the appropriate use of English, as many scientists have difficulty in this area. We must all admit that English has become almost the universal language of science (E. Garfield, The Scientist, 7 September 1987, p.9). All scientists must learn to use English with sensitivity.

If scientific knowledge is at least as important as any other knowledge; It should be expressed in words that are effective, clear and have a certain meaning. Therefore the scientist must be cultured to succeed in this endeavor. David B. Truman, when he was dean of Columbia College, put it well: "In the complexity of contemporary existence, the educated but untrained man, the specialized man with technical skills but inadequate culture, is the danger himself."

Although the ultimate goal of scientific research is publication, it always surprises me that many scientists neglect their responsibility in this regard. A scientist will spend months or years working very hard to obtain data, and because he is uninterested in communication, he will leave these values ​​​​obtained to disappear! The same scientist who overcame incredible obstacles to get a measurement to the fourth digit; secretary incidentally, micrograms per millilitre; While
converting to milligrams per millilitre, or transferring a random few "pounds" per "barrel", the compositor will be in a deep sleep.

English doesn't have to be difficult. In scientific writing it is said: "The best English is that which conveys meaning in the fewest number of short words" (an authoritative statement that has been printed for years in the Directions to Authors section of the Journal of Bacteriology). Literary games and metaphors divert attention from substance to style. Even if these are used in scientific writing, they should be used very rarely.

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