Structure of a scientific paper: basic rules and tips

Most international journals recommend using the IMRAD format for scientific papers. This term consists of the first letters of the English words: Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. This is the most common style of structuring scientific papers, including those accepted in journals of the international scientific metrics databases Scopus and Web of Science.

IMRAD is a recommended structure that may be varied. Next we will consider what other sections exist and what should be presented in them.

The classical structure of IMRAD is as follows: Introduction - Materials and Methods - Results - Discussion. This is a common format, it does not define a complete list of titles or components of scientific papers, as other required elements of an article are: Title, Authors, Keywords, Abstract, Conclusions and References. In addition, some papers include Acknowledgements and Appendices.

The Introduction usually outlines the scope and purpose of the study in the light of current knowledge on the subject; the Materials and Methods section describes how the study was conducted; the Results section describes the results obtained; the Discussion section explains the significance and relevance of the results obtained and provides necessary recommendations for further study of the topic. In all cases, the manuscript should be prepared in accordance with the recommendations for authors of a particular journal to which the author is going to send the finished article.

It is important to remember that there is no standard or uniform style that absolutely all journals must adhere to. Each journal has its own style, but all of them necessarily develop Instructions for Authors with a clear indication of the paper structure and its design, they can be found on the website. Therefore, having chosen the journal to which you are going to send your manuscript, follow these instructions immediately when preparing the manuscript.

You can read more about each section of a high standard research paper and writing guidelines in the articles Title and Authors, Abstract and Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions, References, Acknowledgements, and Appendices.