Tips for an effective journal article title

By Dr. Mary Beth Genter

What do the words “arrests “, “exorbitant”, “extraordinary”, and “destruction” have in common? At first glance, you might say “absolutely nothing”. My response, as Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Toxicology, would be that non-scientific words such as these are not appropriate for use in the titles of journal articles that present the results of biomedical research.

So what makes a good title for a journal article? First, using discipline-relevant words, consider how you might make a title “catchy” and able to get a potential reader’s attention. Often, two phrases, perhaps separated by a colon or semicolon, can make a title grab a reader’s attention. Think about a scenario such as the following: which grabs your attention more effectively?

“Effects of carnosine on mouse brain Parkinson’s disease pathology”

Or

“Carnosine: a promising molecule in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease”

Second, what was the model system investigated? Cultured cells? One or more laboratory animal species? Fish or other animals in their natural environment? Human volunteers or patients? Drosophila? Zebrafish? A recent perspective Mice in the title? examined the use (or not) of the species studied in the title of papers and how the media subsequently reported on published manuscripts. The findings of this analysis were that scientific papers reporting Alzheimer’s disease findings in mouse models often failed to mention that the findings were revealed in mice in the title of the paper, which, in turn, led to the media also omitting the species information from their reporting.

Next, avoid the use of abbreviations in titles. Often it is unavoidable to use abbreviations in scientific writing. However, if you are using complex terms that need to be abbreviated, abbreviations should be assigned upon their first use in the body of the manuscript, not in the title. In addition, some journals require authors to provide a list of abbreviations used in the paper at the time of submission. To make things even more complicated, some abbreviations have multiple meanings in biomedical research. For example, as a toxicologist, I have to look twice at articles discussing “MPTP”, as that abbreviation can refer to the potent neurotic agent “1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine”, or the measure of the “mitochondrial permeability transition pore“, which is a parameter used to describe how well the mitochondria in cells are able to produce energy. So my advice to you is to write out your complex terms in the title, and use the abbreviation, after defining it, in the body of the manuscript.

Although it should go without saying, grammar and spelling are also important throughout a manuscript, including in the title. A small error in grammar or spelling in the title of a manuscript can diminish a reviewer’s enthusiasm for a paper, even if it contains important new information.

So, be avoid abbreviations and grammar errors, use catchy title structure and discipline-relevant terms, and you’ll have a great title!