Little variation exists in the organization of scientific manuscripts. Every manuscript begins with the abstract, which summarizes the entire manuscript. The introduction provides background information and presents the hypothesis of the study. The materials and methods section details how experiments were performed; the results section presents data; and the discussion section interprets results. The conclusions section summarizes important findings; it is sometimes combined with the discussion section. A list of references ends the manuscript.
Clarity and conciseness improve the chances of manuscript publication, according to the American Journal of Roentgenology. Methodology should be clearly and thoroughly explained so another researcher in the same field could repeat the experiments. The discussion and conclusion should concisely state the findings and explain their importance.
Typos and grammatical errors reflect poorly on the professionalism of a manuscript. To eliminate these errors, the writer should have at least one other person review the manuscript before submission.