How to write a contemporary scientific article

TL;DR

This paper provides practical guidelines for writing effective contemporary scientific articles that tell a story and clearly answer why, what, and so what, to improve readability and impact.

Contribution

It introduces a set of instructions and advice for authors to craft scientific articles that are more engaging and easier to sift through in the modern information overload.

Findings

Articles should tell a story and answer key questions.

Guidelines help authors improve article clarity and impact.

Practical advice for scientific writing.

Abstract

Today scientists are drowned in information and have no time for reading all publications even in a specific area. The information is sifted and only a small fraction of articles is being read. Under circumstances, scientific articles have to be properly adjusted to pass through the superficial sifting. Here I present written down instructions that I used to give to my students with almost serious advises on how to write (and how not to write) a contemporary scientific article. I argue that it should tell a story and should answer on the three main questions: Why, What and So what?