2 Manuscript Preparation

Preparation of a scholarly manuscript requires thoughtful consideration of the topic and anticipation of the reader’s needs and questions. Certain elements either are standard parts of all manuscripts or are used so often as to merit special instruction. These elements are discussed in this section in the order in which they appear in the manuscript. References are discussed separately in chapter 3 and tables and figures in chapter 4. The preparation of any manuscript for publication should take the requirements of the intended journal into account; this may enhance the chances of acceptance and expedite publication. For the author, manuscript preparation requires familiarity with the journal to which the article is submitted. Most journals publish instructions for authors, which serve as useful guides; some journals' instructions for authors contain a manuscript checklist (see that from JAMA ¹ [reproduced in this chapter as the Table] as an example)...Less