Writing a scientific paper for publication

Help your readers, referees, editor and yourself by careful attention to detail. The summary should be an informative precis of facts and conclusions, not merely a description of the paper. Make the paper easy to read, don't use jargon and have a colleague check it before you submit it to a journal. Use figures rather than tables, and keep the whole paper, including tables and figures, clear, simple and to the point. Consult the journal's 'Instructions to contributors' before submitting.