Common Mistakes in Manuscript Writing

@ 9:30 PM
Agenda

• Why ‘Mistakes’?
• General mistakes
• Mistakes related to specific parts of the manuscript
• Introducing IET research tools
• IET Inspec Analytics
• IET Inspec Direct Database
• IET digital library
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Next webinars
1. How to avoid your manuscript rejection
Date:22/06/2022
Time: 09:00 PM
Link: https://www.ekb.eg/events?event=173803097showd&month=6&year=2022

2. Tips for a successful research career

Date:29/06/2022
Time: 09:00 PM
Link: https://www.ekb.eg/events?event=173803215showd&month=6&year=2022
Common Mistakes in Manuscript Writing
Why ‘Mistakes’?

1- Scholars, as a community, learn from each other. That’s why

sharing the results of publishing trials will help new scholars publish
with fewer errors.

2- Journals generally display only the final good version of a

manuscript, hiding insights into mistakes, problems, and revisions.

3- The details of a peer review process are essential to each

researcher’s growth and development.

4- Most of the comments on a manuscript are intangible, so, it should

be shared as experiences to help colleagues.
1. Journal selection / relevance

❑ Not Relevant to the Field

❑ Journal scope does not include the concerned work

2. General mistakes

❑ Overengineering

❑ Incomplete work
3. Background / Theory

❑ Insufficient definitions

❑ No theory

❑ Literature review
4. Research design / Rationale

❑ Insufficient rationale

❑ Insufficient design
5. Problem statement

❑ Insufficient problem statement

❑ Research claim is incomplete

❑ Question (purpose) of the study is unclear or faulty

❑ Repeated or Not an original study

❑ Manuscript will have limited interest to international audience

6. Data

❑ Copied data

❑ Data insufficiency

❑ Data is biased

❑ Data mismatch or defective tabulation

7. Writing & Displaying
❑ Macrostructure-Organization and Flow.

❑ Amateur Style and Tone

❑ Boring Context

❑ Organization/clarity problem

❑ Major problems with grammar/fluency

❑ Complex presentation of the work

❑ Clarity of images and optimized techniques

8. Ethical Concerns

❑ Overlaps with previous publications

❑ Research is unethical or dangerous to society

❑ Improper Citations

❑ Improper Citation of reference

❑ Plagiarism or Self-plagiarism

❑ Conflict of Interest

❑ Authorship Disputes
9. Mistakes related to specific parts – Title & Abstract

❑ Misleading titles

❑ Inaccurate abstract
11. Mistakes related to specific parts - Introduction

❑ Too long introduction → 10%

❑ Lack of coherence

❑ Too many references

❑ Incomplete
12. Mistakes related to specific parts - Methodology

❑ Concepts and methodology Not in Alignment.

▪ Level of analysis
▪ Using wrong measuring metrics

❑ Incomplete descriptions of the method (Reproducibility!)

❑ Not Including a detailed description of statistical methods

❑ Use of obsolete methods

13. Mistakes related to specific parts - Results
❑ Poor usage of tables and figures

❑ Excessive use of bar and line graphs

❑ Poor approach or analysis

❑ Data collection problems

❑ Results illogical/questionable

❑ Omitted Results
14. Mistakes related to specific parts - Discussion
❑ Writing the discussion as a literature review

❑ Failing to include a presentation of the study limitations

❑ Not discussing all presented results

❑ Insufficient discussion

❑ Illogical Discussion
▪ The flow of ideas is disconnected and not well supported
▪ The content is too expansive and wanders from the results
▪ The presentation is biased and omits key findings from other investigators
▪ Key results are poorly explained
▪ Possible implications/the study’s importance are overstated
15. Mistakes related to specific parts - Conclusion
❑ Not interpreting the findings

❑ Not addressing all the objectives listed at the beginning of the study

❑ Not showing how the research can add to the knowledge in the field

❑ Generalized far beyond the data

❑ Conclusions not supported

❑ Reporting trivial conclusion

❑ Weak addition to the field

Finally

❑ Following the suggestions described will increase the chances of

acceptance for publication.

❑ However, authors should be aware that writing a scientific

manuscript demands careful attention and many hours of work.

❑ Even experienced authors write and review their manuscripts

several times before submitting them to a journal.

❑ In science, as in literature, an author’s reputation is not shaped by

the number of publications, but by the quality of what is produced.
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