Writing Introduction for Scientific Journals

Researchers and academics have a requirement to publish scientific papers every year. In a similar vein, graduate students are also required to publish journal articles as part of their graduation criteria. However, publishing a scientific journal is not a simple project. As a writer, it is challenging to write scientific papers. This is because the writer must prove to others that the paper is worthy of being read and used as a reference.

Writing an introduction for a scientific journal is the most fundamental part of writing a scientific paper. The introduction can be described as the starting gate of a scientific paper. It is important to focus on the essentials of writing an introduction to a scientific paper.

The introduction serves as the starting point, offering background information to the reader to facilitate their understanding of the research topic, objectives, and relevance within the scientific field. A well-crafted introduction can expand the readership, making the findings accessible to a broader audience. (Wordvice HJ, 2016).

The introduction contains four main components to establish the context of the research:

Formula Introduction (Viridi and Mahyuddin, 2022)

General Background: The first point of the introduction provides an overview of the research area. How extensive this section is depends on your target journal and readership. In a general journal with a broad readership, it is better to provide general information to accommodate a diversity of readers. However, in specialized journals, the background should be more specific as readers are already familiar with the research field. In this section, presents an illustration of the research topic to be discussed, usually in the form of an explanation of the importance of the research topic in the sector or the problem to be solved.

Specific Background: The second step is to provide more specific information about the research topic, which includes an understanding of the subject or problem to be researched. Expands the readers’ understanding of the research topic by providing an overview of previous research, relevant theories, key concepts, or results of previous research relevant to the research being done.

Knowledge Gap: This section explains what is unknown from previous research or if there is a lack of knowledge or understanding that requires further research. this is the main motivation for conducting this research. The two previous components should be the preparation for this section. The knowledge gaps in the introduction of a scientific article will help to clarify the rationale for the research and show the importance of the research.

Here we show: The last part of the introduction is a clear statement of the main objectives of the research and the methods used. as well as containing the broad novelty of the research results.

The information should ideally be presented in a ‘funnel’ format, flowing from the most general information at the beginning of the section to more specific information.

Funnel structure

Steps guide for writing an introduction (Caulfield, 2023)

1. Step 1: Introduce your topic
2. Step 2: Describe the background
3. Step 3: Establish your research problem
4. Step 4: Specify your objective(s)
5. Step 5: Map out your paper