Writing and Publishing Scientific Articles
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article: “We conclude that the side effect profile of this new drug is superior to that of the previous standard drug.”). Neither established facts nor general conclusions should appear in the Results section.
Use of Figures and Tables
In most basic science articles and in many clinical articles, most of the data in the Results section should be presented in figures and tables. The first mention of each table and figure almost always belongs in the Results section. Creating your tables and figures forces you to organize and analyze your data. Once you have decided which data tell the story of your science and have created these visual elements, the Results section should be easier to write. The chapter “Effective Figures and Tables” gives detailed guidelines on creating these important elements of your article.
Text vs. Figure vs. Table
Should you present your data in the text, or in a figure or table? If your data can be presented in 1 or 2 sentences in the text, it is generally best to do that. If presenting the data in the text would require more than 2 sentences, a table or figure may be better. If you decide to include tables in your article, keep in mind that important patterns and trends may not be obvious in tables consisting entirely of raw data. It may be more effective to summarize or concentrate your data, creating fewer and shorter tables that give the reader a better overall picture of your findings. Trends in and relationships between data can also be shown effectively in graphs.
Limiting the Numbers of Figures and Tables
If the journal limits the number of figures or tables, be careful not to exceed those limits. Even if there are no such limits, including too many photographs or other types of figures may reduce the impact of those that are vital to conveying your message. Some journals count a figure with multiple panels as 1 figure, but do not abuse this privilege; all panels of a figure should be closely related to the same set of experiments and data. If you have several tables, it may be possible to combine some of them. Furthermore, if the results for an entire set of experiments are similar, you can show the results for only 1 experiment and note in the text and in
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