- The biggest problem we have is with figures. Very often, the lettering is too small. Usually, this is because the author uses a graphics program intended for an 8.5×11-inch page in a written report. When a figure goes into one of the journal’s columns, it will be reduced in size until it is only 2.75 inches wide. Lettering appropriate for a full page will be so small that it cannot be read.
Before submitting a figure, take it to a reducing copier or scanner and reduce the width to 2.75 inches. At this size, the lettering on the figure should be about the same size as the text on a journal page. All of the lettering on a figure should be about the same size. Wide variations in lettering size within the same figure do not look good.
- Carefully study the JAAA reference style listed on the Thieme website. The journal is now published by Thieme Medical Publishers and, as a result, uses the AMA/Vancouver numbered superscript style for references, within the text and in the references list that follows each article.
- Spend some time really thinking about the abstract. It should not be a simple condensation of the rest of the paper. Instead, it should emphasize what is new and important about the paper—the reason the reader should want to read further. Punch the message, without bogging down in the details of procedure and findings.
- Avoid the use of the passive voice (e.g., say “We decided” or “I decided,” rather than “It was decided”). Don’t be afraid to use personal pronouns such as “I” and “we.” Those who teach that this is not permissible in scientific writing are errant pedants.
- Carefully read and follow the JAAA Language Guidance.
- Be sure to affirm that the rights and welfare of human subjects have been assured via appropriate institutional guidelines.
- Be sure to clearly acknowledge any financial interest that any of the authors may have in a product or procedure that is evaluated and reported in the paper.
- If you want to report on a test or procedure intended for persons with auditory impairment, you must report how the technique works on persons with auditory impairment, as well as on persons without auditory impairment.
- Do not be put off by anything that any reviewer says. Consider yourself fortunate that someone has taken the trouble to help you. Benefit from it.
- Expect to revise. We all do it. It is par for the course.
- Endear yourself to the editor-in-chief, and the reviewers, by carefully and thoroughly proofreading the paper before you submit it.
