Quality of scientific articles

Revista de Saúde Pública

Moyses Szklo¹ 

[1] ,The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of EpidemiologyBaltimore MD ,USA

关键词: Editorial policies;    Peer review;    research;    Evaluation;    Publications;    Scientific publications;    Políticas editoriais;    Pesquisa avaliada pelos pares;    Avaliação;    Publicações;    Publicações científicas;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S0034-89102006000400005

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

The paper discusses the difficulties in judging the quality of scientific manuscripts and describes some common pitfalls that should be avoided when preparing a paper for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. Peer review is an imperfect system, with less than optimal reliability and uncertain validity. However, as it is likely that it will remain as the principal process of screening papers for publication, authors should avoid some common mistakes when preparing a report based on empirical findings of human research. Among these are: excessively long abstracts, extensive use of abbreviations, failure to report results of parsimonious data analyses, and misinterpretation of statistical associations identified in observational studies as causal. Another common problem in many manuscripts is their excessive length, which makes them more difficult to be evaluated or read by the intended readers, if published. The evaluation of papers after their publication with a view towards their inclusion in a systematic review is also discussed. The limitations of the impact factor as a criterion to judge the quality of a paper are reviewed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
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