Natural Product Reports

Guidelines on writing titles, abstracts & table of contents entry

The title, abstract and table of contents entry (graphical abstract) are the first parts of your manuscript that editors, referees and potential readers will see, and once published they play a major part in a researcher’s decision to read your article. Therefore it’s important that these clearly and concisely summarise the topic of your review and its significance.

Title

The title should be short and straightforward to appeal to a general reader, but detailed enough to properly reflect the contents of your review article.

• Keep it relatively short – between 8 and 15 words is ideal.
• Use easily recognisable words and phrases that can be read quickly.
• Use general or well-known terms for compounds and procedures rather than very specialised terms or nomenclature.
• Avoid using non-standard abbreviations and symbols.
• Use keywords and familiar, searchable terms – these can increase the chances of your article appearing in search results. Around 70% of our readers come directly via search engines.

Abstract

The abstract is a single paragraph which summarises the contents of your article. It will help readers to decide whether your article is of interest to them.

• The length can vary from 50 to 250 words (or up to 100 words for Highlight articles), but it should always be concise and easy to read with recognisable words and phrases.
• It should summarise the research area that your review covers, including why it is important.
• Like your title, make sure you use familiar, searchable terms and keywords.

Table of contents entry

A table of contents entry (graphical abstract) is required, which should be submitted at the revision stage. This should include an eye-catching graphic and 1-2 sentence(s) of text to summarise the key findings of the article to the reader. It will appear in the table of contents and feeds – for example, RSS feeds.

The graphic should:

• Be simple, but informative.
• Capture the reader’s attention (the use of colour is encouraged).
• Include a structure, scheme, graph, drawing, photograph or combination that conveys the message of the article. Please note, complex schematics or spectra should be avoided.
• Be original, unpublished artwork created by one of the co-authors. Preferably, the graphic should not be reused and appear again within the article.
• Be suitable for, and uphold the standards of, a scholarly publication that has a global reach.
• Not contain any elements that are offensive or inappropriate, in particular words or images that are discriminatory.
• Not contain large amounts of text. Text should be limited to the labelling of compounds, reaction arrows and diagrams, with long phrases or sentences being avoided. Any text should be clearly legible to a reader.
• Not contain logos, trademarks or brands names.

The text should:

• Be concise and focus only on the key findings of the manuscript and their importance, not the processes used; think about what would grab the attention of the potential reader and would encourage them to read the full article.
• Avoid repeating or paraphrasing the title or abstract.
• Use easily recognisable words and phrases that can be read quickly.

Table of contents specifications:

• The figure should be a maximum size of 8 cm wide x 4 cm high.
• Figures should be supplied as TIFF files, with a resolution of 600 dpi or greater.
• The text supplied should be 1-2 sentences long, using a maximum of 250 characters.