How to Create the Best Title for Your Article

The title is the first part of an article to be published in journals of scientific journal publishers; however, it is better to be written at the end when you are done with writing your article. An article may need several months of research and, meanwhile, you may come up with new ideas that may change the direction of your study. Hence, it is suggested to note down all your ideas as a draft and when your article has taken a final shape, think of drafting the title.

The title indicates the main idea of the article. It is the part of the article that is read first; it catches the eye and arouses interest in the article.

Types of titles

You may choose any of the three types of title for your journal article: declarative, descriptive, and interrogative.

1. A declarative title presents a summary of key findings and results. This type of title provides the most insight into the contents of the paper and is commonly used for research articles.
2. A descriptive title is the most common type of title and describes the topic of study but excludes results and conclusion.
3. An interrogative title presents the topic of study as a question. It is generally used in review articles.

Characteristics of an effective title

To create an effective title, you should:

• write the main topic and subtopic separated by a colon (title: subtitle).
• indicate accurately the topic and scope of the study.
• use 10 to 20 words; though the length of the title may depend on your subject of interest (in peer-reviewed and open-access medical journal, article titles are longer than in Mathematics journals).
• use common words and current nomenclature in your field of study.
• Try to add keywords so that your readers may search easily.
• use the colon if you would like to use a subtitle (subtitle provides additional information).
• spell out abbreviations in the title.
• indicate accurately the topic and scope of the study.
• use simple and common words and avoid jargon.
• scientific names of organisms should be italicized.
• spell out numbers.
• use a comma, if required, and parenthesis but avoid semicolon.

Finally, the title and abstract should match the rest of the article. Also, check that you have adhered to the guidelines of the journal to which you are going to submit your article.

Keep it short

Too long a title may create an aversion in the reader and some readers may even avoid opening the article. The title should include as much information about the article as possible in the fewest words.