Title and keywords

More people read your title than any other part of your work. The programme, the book of abstracts, search results and citations all show it by itself.

A good title

A good title says what was studied and, where it fits, what was found or how.

Weak	Why	Better
A study of solar drying	Says nothing a reader can use.	Low-cost solar drying of mango slices
Novel innovative approach to improving post-harvest outcomes	Empty words; no subject.	A solar dryer from local materials halves the drying time of mango
Investigation into the effect of temperature on the drying kinetics of Mangifera indica L. slices in a mixed-mode solar dryer under tropical highland conditions in the long rains season	Too long; the point is lost.	Drying kinetics of mango slices in a mixed-mode solar dryer

Rules that work

• Keep it short. Ten to fifteen words is enough for most work. The editor shows the limit and counts as you type.
• Put the important words first. Search results and phone screens cut a title off.
• Name the subject, the method or the place only if it matters to who will read it.
• No abbreviations unless everybody in the field knows them, such as DNA.
• No full stop at the end. No “A study of”, “An investigation into”, “Novel”, “New”.
• Use sentence case: a capital for the first word and for names only. It is easier to read and is what most journals print.

Three shapes a title can take

Shape	Example	Use when
Descriptive	Solar drying of mango slices in a mixed-mode dryer	You describe what was done. The safe choice.
Declarative	A mixed-mode solar dryer halves the drying time of mango	The result is clear and firm.
Question	Can a dryer built from local materials replace open sun drying?	An opinion or review piece. Use rarely.

Keywords

Keywords are how search finds your work, and how editors match it to reviewers.

• Give four to six.
• Add what the title does not say. Repeating title words wastes them.
• Use the terms your readers search for. Prefer the standard term of your field over your own name for something.
• One idea each: “solar drying”, not “solar drying of fruits and vegetables in the tropics”.
• Lower case, except for names.
• Go from broad to exact: the field, the topic, the method, the material.

For the mango example: post-harvest loss, food preservation, drying kinetics, vitamin C retention, smallholder farming.

The editor gives advice on keywords while you type.

Your name

Write your name the same way on every piece of work, so that your papers are found together. An ORCID iD does this for you even if your name or institution changes.

Leave titles such as Dr or Prof out of the author list. They go on your badge and certificate, which you confirm after acceptance.