Jianguo Wu

School of Life Sciences and Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA

 

Abstract: Publishing in peer-reviewed journals is essential to scientific research. ‘‘A scientific experiment, no matter how spectacular the results, is not completed until the results are published’’ (Day and Gastel 2006). Advances in science depend on the rigorous process of scientific publishing. Justified or not, journal impact factors and article citations have become the buzzwords in today’s academic world, and have been used increasingly as metrics to evaluate the performance of research projects, journals, scientists, and institutions. As scientific journals and published articles continue to proliferate, we as editors, reviewers, and scientists all are faced with increasing challenges to communicate science more effectively and efficiently. In this series of editorials, we focus on the question: How can we improve our writing of research papers for Landscape Ecology and other professional journals to increase their readability and facilitate the process of their evaluation? Obviously, this is not a new question; nor do we promise to have revolutionary answers. Experts have written numerous books and journal articles addressing this very topic. The main goal here is to discuss several key issues on the organization of research papers—particularly on the structure of IMRAD (introduction-methods-results-and- discussion)—the predominant format of scientific writing. I hope that our editors, reviewers, and authors will benefit from this discussion.