Since this blog claims to touch upon ‘not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew’, I must bring to the attention of the readers of this blog a list of top 10 editorial problems editors at the American Medical Association see in the manuscripts submitted to or accepted for publication by the AMA [1]. The committee of editors who compiled the list of top ten problems hopes that it will help authors avoid the most common errors. I particularly noticed that the problem that topped the list was ‘not reading a journal’s instructions for authors’—a problem that also featured in a recent post in this series [2].

Here is the list, in reverse order. Please read the original post [1], which expands on each of these ten problems.

10 Missing or incomplete author forms

9 Not explaining “behind the scenes” stuff

8 Making life difficult for the copy editor

7 Common punctuation and style mistakes

6 Errors of grandiosity

5 Wacky references

4 Duplicate submission

3 Failing to protect patient identity

2 Not matching up all the data “bits”

1 Not reading a journal’s instructions for authors

[1] http://blog.amamanualofstyle.com/2012/10/19/top-10-mistakes-authors-make/

[2] http://blog.editage.com/what-do-journal-editors-want-from-authors#.UIo1V2FqOiw

["Publish and prosper" is a series of posts about tips for researchers whose first language is not English but who submit papers to journals published in English. The series touches upon not only writing (spelling, grammar, punctuation, usage, and style) but everything else relevant to publishing research papers that journal editors wish their authors knew.]