General Information for Editorial, Insights, Contexts, and Commentary Articles

The Editorial, Insights, Context, and Commentary sections of RWR News feature short, lively articles that present the author’s opinion and insights regarding current research or other topics of interest to Real-World Research (RWR) scientists. The Editors invite most Insights, Context, and Commentary content, but we welcome unsolicited articles as well as suggestions for topics and authors.

Communication and Interpretation

The key purpose of RWR News is to enable better communication, and interpretation, of the information that is constantly being produced in and about RWR. At present, much of the knowledge produced within RWR remains within individual experts or specialist organisations, or is produced within regulatory and scientific language that make it inaccessible to people engaged in other areas of research, or coming from more traditional pre-approval research. 

Similarly, much academic writing on RWR is never intended to be communicated to people working in different disciplines within the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, let alone to stakeholders outside the industry such as physicians, ethics committee members, payers and regulatory professionals or to people who use a different native language.

When writing for RWR News, please try to be conscious of your own language (whether political, academic or both): everyone has one, and we are not asking writers to speak in someone else’s language or to “dumb down”. What we hope you will do is to try to speak from your own work, in your own language, but in ways that will be clear and comprehensible to people whose practical experiences are different (e.g. different country or continent, different experience, different problems) and whose theoretical, political or disciplinary background is different. The editor working with you will do their best to bring this out in your writing.

Finally, the actual languages we speak are often (of course) barriers to communication. For this reason, RWR News publishes in English, but with an online translation facility to enable greater access to non-native English speakers. Please consider language and culture when writing your piece and avoid cultural specific metaphors and references – so we are all in the same ballpark (see what we mean? It’s so easy to do)

Types of Content

Editorials should be short, invited opinion pieces that discuss an issue of immediate importance to the research community. Editorials should have fewer than 500 words total, no abstract, a minimal number of references (definitely no more than 5), and no figures or tables (although they may have a photograph of the author as an illustration).

Insights articles are short, timely pieces that spotlight either recent research findings or policy issues related to research (for example, regulatory, therapeutic, technology, or legislative discussions). Insights articles should not exceed 1000 words total (including abstract, main text, references and figure legend). They should have a short pithy title, a one-sentence abstract, no more than 5 references, and one figure (with figure legend) or table.

Context articles discuss one or a cluster of recently published papers or a current research topic of high interest in which an author’s Context sheds an incisive light on key findings in research. These articles typically have one or two authors whose task is to inform our interdisciplinary readership about exciting scientific developments in the author’s area of expertise. Other appropriate topics include discussions of methods, books, or meeting highlights. Contexts are usually between 1000 and 2000 words total (including abstract, main text, references and figure legends). They should have a short pithy title, an abstract of 50 words or less, no more than 10 references, and 1 or 2 figures (with figure legends) or tables.

Commentaries present in-depth analysis of current issues such as policy, regulatory, therapeutic, technology and legislative issues, etc. Commentaries should not exceed 3000 words total (including abstract, main text, references and figure legends). They should have a short pithy title, an abstract of 50 words or less, no more than 15 references, and one or two figures (with figure legends) or tables.

Writing your Editorial, Insights, Context or Commentary Article

Format Editorial, Insights, Context, and Commentary articles should be concise. Editorial, Insights, Context, and Commentary have an upper limit of 500, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 words, respectively, and we recommend citing no more than 5 (Editorial and Insights), 10 (Context), or 15 (Commentary) references. Because we want to make these articles visually engaging as well as informative, we include one figure or image in Insights, Commentary, and Context articles. Our illustrator can assist with figures and images, so it does not have to be professionally processed.

Title Titles should be informative, thought-provoking, and inviting and should be no more than 100 characters in length (including spaces).

Abstract Editorials do not have an Abstract. Insight articles have a one-sentence Abstract. Context and Commentaries have a 2- to 4-sentence Abstract. Abstracts are important because they will be visible in online searches and thus will lead readers to your articles.

Body of text The ideal Editorial, Insights, Context, or Commentary begins with an introductory paragraph that immediately presents the issues under discussion in a way that captures the reader’s interest. If the Insights or Context discusses a particular research paper, that paper should be mentioned in this first paragraph. The introduction should be general enough to orient the reader not familiar with the specifics of the field being discussed. Here, and throughout the article, the author should avoid the jargon and special terms of his or her field or system. If the language of specialists is necessary, define terms for the general reader.The body of the text should, in the limited space available, develop the discussion in a lively manner. And by “lively” we don’t mean hype and oversimplification. Rather, the editors seek clear, declarative writing that avoids the passive tense, tangled constructions, and needless detail. Avoid asides that interrupt the flow of the text. Section headings can be used when necessary and should be short and snappy (no more than 30 characters). The final paragraph should draw the piece to a concise conclusion, without simply restating the text. It should be a conclusion and not a summary. Tell the reader about future prospects and implications. What are the unanswered questions? Where is the field going? 

References and notes References should be cited by consecutive numbers in the text and given in a full format (see Citation format, below). Avoid lengthy notes and details. 

Files for submission Please submit a text-only file in .docx, .doc, .pages or .rtf format and a single file in PDF format that contains the text, figure captions, references, and all tables.

The figure The figure should illustrate the essential message of the article. It can be a drawing, graph, chart, table, or photograph. The point is to catch the eye while informing the reader. You can submit finished artwork, a sketch, or even a rough written idea for the figure. With the help of our art department, we will refine, redraw, and modify the figure as needed. Figure legends should begin with a short, snappy title (no more than 30 characters), include a brief description of the figure, and define all abbreviations (unless they are already defined in the text).

The editor’s role 

We expect that authors will do their best to meet our criteria for Editorial, Insights, Context, and Commentary articles, but authors should be prepared for extensive editing, perhaps even rewriting, if the editors find it necessary. The editors will show authors the editorial changes, and authors will be asked to check the edited manuscripts and galleys before publication of the article.

Author Checklist

  • Have you included an Abstract?
  • Are all authors and their affiliations listed in the correct format and the corresponding author indicated?
  • Have you included at least one figure or table or a figure sketch, idea, or concept?
  • Have any of the figures been previously published?
  • Have you included legends for all figures and tables?
  • Does your article cite 5 (Editorials and Insights), 10 (Context), 15 (Commentaries) or fewer references?
  • Are the references complete? Each citation should include the full article title, journal title, journal volume, year of publication, and first and last pages. Please include all authors (no et al.).

Citation Style

References and Notes are numbered in the order in which they are cited, first through the text, then through the table and figure legends. List a reference only one time. Any references to in-press manuscripts or personal communications should be given a number in the text and placed, in correct sequence, in the references and notes. We do not allow references to unpublished data in support of claims or conclusions; necessary data should be included in the manuscript, its Supplementary Materials, or an approved archival database.

The abbreviations for journal names are taken from the Bibliographic Guide for Editors and Authors (BGEA) or Serial Sources for the BIOSIS Data Base (BIOSIS), a more recent publication. 

When in doubt, provide the journal’s complete name. Spell out cities that are listed after a journal name: Acta Zool. (Stockholm). Do not use op. cit., ibid., 3-m dashes, en dashes, or et al. (in place of the complete list of authors’ names). For author names with Jr. or 2nd, etc. see example number 4 in the Journals section. Publisher’s names are given in shortened form. “Press” and the like are usually dropped, except Academic Press (“Academic” is an adjective), University Park Press, CRC Press, MIT Press, and Cambridge Univ. Press (for university presses, to distinguish them from the university itself). Inclusive pages numbers or chapter number must be given when specific articles are referred to within an edited volume.

Citations

Please use full citations in the following format:

Journals

  1. E. J. Neer, T. Kozasa, Sites for Gα binding on the G protein β subunit overlap with sites for regulation of phospholipase Cb and adenylyl cyclase. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 16265-16272 (1998).

Technical reports

  1. D. E. Shaw, Technical Report CUCS-29-82 (Columbia University, New York, 1982).

Proceedings

  1. C. S. Hinrichs, S. Stevanovic, L. Draper, R. Somerville, J. Wunderlich, N. P. Restifo, R. Sherry, P. Q. Giao, U. S. Kammula, J. C. Yang, S. A. Rosenberg, “HPV-targeted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes for cervical cancer,” 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 30 May to 3 June 1014 (ASCO, Alexandria, VA, 2014), abstract LBA3008; http://meetinglibrary.asco.org/content/129263-144

Paper presented at a meeting (not published)

  1. M. Konishi, paper presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Anaheim, CA, 10 to 14 October 1984. [sponsoring organization should be mentioned if it is not part of the meeting name]

Theses

  1. B. Smith, thesis, Georgetown University, Washington, DC (1973).

Books

  1. J. B. Carroll, Ed., Language, Thought and Reality, Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf (MIT Press, 1956).