3.5 Research Journal Article: Title

The title can be thought of as a summary of your paper. It is very important because many people will read only the title to decide whether or not to read your paper.

6.1 PAIL for the title of your research journal article

P	Attracts a colleague to your work
A	Is for anyone who looks through the journal table of contents or searches a database of publications
I	Is a summary of your work
L	*Includes key words *Does not include abbreviations (except those widely accepted) or jargon *Is as short as possible *Uses appropriate punctuation

Here are some examples of titles which have been edited to improve them.

6.2 Influence of vibration of dissolution equipment on dissolution rates in dissolution tests

Revised version: Influence of equipment vibration on rates in dissolution tests

6.3 Cell model systems in studying plant cytoskeletons

Revised version: Cell model systems for studying plant cytoskeletons

or Cell model systems in the study of plant cytoskeletons

6.4 Estimation of Absorption Amounts of Environmental Contaminants in the Low-Level Exposures by Pharmacokinetic Analysis

Revised version: Estimation of Absorption of Environmental Contaminants in Low-Level Exposure by Pharmacokinetic Analysis

1.     Sialyl Lewis X-polysaccharide conjugates:Targeting to inflammatory

lesion

Revised version: Sialyl Lewis X-polysaccharide conjugates: Targeting

inflammatory lesions

Recently, there is a tendency to accept complete sentence titles, a practice which used to be frowned upon because using a sentence meant that grammatical correctness was required and omission would not be possible of determiners (a, an, the) and relative pronouns (which, that) and other words. However, because of the importance of the title in indexing and searches, using a complete sentence is sometimes clearer, e.g., rather than the “Effect of X on Y,” it would be clearer to say “X causes Y to decrease.” Here are some examples of sentence titles:

6.6 X Promotes Cholesterol Efflux from Mouse Macrophage Foam Cells

6.7 The third member of the hemA gene family encoding glutamyl-tRNA reductase is primarily expressed in root in Hordeum vulgare

6.8 X, a multifunction regulator in the root system of Y, encodes a protein with a bZIP motif

Note that although the title is a complete sentence, there is no period at the end. Here is an example of an editing suggestion for a sentence title:

6.9 X can provide thermostability and thermoactivity to thermolabile enzymes 

Revised version: X can make thermolabile enzymes thermostable and thermoactive

Before using a sentence as a title, check the policy of your journal or examine the article titles in recent issues.

Can you try editing the following titles?

6.10 The Study of Modelling of Taylor Vortex Flow and Mixing

______________________________________________________________________ __

6.11 Effect of molecular weight on the preparation of nanoparticles by the particle dissolution method dissolution of submicron-sized styrene-methacrylic acid copolymer particles in noninonic emulsifier solution

______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 

6.12 Factors Aggravating Bronchial Asthma in Urban

Child-Population.--The Involvement of Air Pollution, Living Style, and Food Habit--

______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 

6.13 The Suppressive Effect of the Extract of Yucca schidigera on the SOS-Induction of Chemical Mutagens

______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 

6.14 Effects of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) Exposure on Animal

Behavior--Effects on Non-Conditioned Behavioral Activities--

______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 

　

Now can you write a good title for a paper that you planning to write or might want to write. Here is a “rule of thumb”: Imagine that you are looking through a reference list for papers of interest for the study you are doing. Before beginning writing, think of a temporary title. To help you do this, here are some hints and suggestions..

1. After someone reads your paper, what do you want the reader to remember about your work (your main message)? Answer is Japanese or English. 

　

2. What are the key words for your work? 

　

3. Use the key words and express your main message as a statement. 

　

4. Transform the statement into a title. 

Now look again at your title. If you saw it in a list of titles related to your research, would you decide to select it for further reading?