Making a good first impression: the importance of writing a good title
The title of your paper is a “hook” that should be used to attract readers—it is your opportunity to “sell” your paper to readers browsing a table of contents or search results. A poor title will cause potentially interested researchers to overlook your work and may attract the wrong audience. By contrast, a good title will attract the relevant researchers and increase the number of citations you receive. Therefore, it is important to get it right.
A good title should be as brief as possible while still communicating the main finding(s) of the paper. Avoid excessive detail and unnecessary use of field-specific jargon and abbreviations. Your title must be understandable by a broad scientific audience, some of whom may not have a detailed knowledge of your particular field. How broad depends on the particular target journal—consider the readership of your target journal and write a title that can be easily understood by all, not only those in your immediate field. The target journal’s instructions for authors should also be consulted to ensure that character limits are complied with and to identify whether a running (short) title is also required.
Good title checklist
- Specific - Concise - Communicates the main findings - Will attract readers - Does not begin with the, a, or an - Avoids use of non-standard abbreviations
下面来举个例子进行说明
例句：“The degeneration of neurons in the CA3 and DG following OA administration: involvement of a MAPK-dependent pathway in regional-specific neuronal degeneration”
分析1：This title is too long, contains non-standard abbreviations and a redundancy, and is too specific in parts.
分析2；Further, many journals do not want titles that begin with the, a, or an. A better alternative would be: “Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration”.
分析3：“MAP kinase-dependent neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration” would probably also be acceptable, depending on the target journal, because the abbreviation MAP is widely used and understood.
