校閲者・コーディネーターの月替わりのコラム(2019)

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年末新年のご挨拶（2019.12）

コーディネーター目線からのISO17100取得：社内での変わったこと、変わらなかったこと（2019.11）

タイトルを書くときの一般的な原則（2019.10）

2019.10.1 NAI 翻訳者

General principles for writing titles

In English writing, titles are written following the capitalization rules “Title Case” or “Sentence Case”.
Title Case (AKA, headline style)

• 1. Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading;
• 2. Capitalize all “major” words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns) in the title/heading, including the second part of hyphenated major words (e.g., Self-Report not Self-report); and
• 3. Capitalize all words of four letters or more.
• *Use lowercase only for “minor” words of three letters or fewer, namely, for conjunctions (words like and, or, nor, and but), articles (the words a, an, and the), and prepositions (words like as, at, by, for, in, of, on, per, and to), as long as they aren’t the first word in a title or subtitle.

Sentence Case

• 1. Capitalize the first word of the title/heading and of any subtitle/subheading
• 2. Capitalize any proper nouns and certain other types of words
• *Use lowercase for everything else.

In scientific journal articles, excessive use and misuse of upper case have often been criticized. Many style-guides have detailed explanation of capitalization rules. There is no certain rule that meet the requirements of all of these styles. For example, some styles do not have a specific capitalization rule, indicating that the capitalization should depend on personal preference based on its meaning, emphasis, structure, length, etc. In addition, a different rule applies when the title is shown in the text or in the reference. In general, as for reference, you may unify the style following the rule used in the journal you are submitting; otherwise, respect the capitalization rule used in the referenced article.

Reference
Publication Manual of the APA 6_th ed.
New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford Style Guide 2_nd Ed.
The Chicago Manual of Style 17_th Ed.

句読点の正しい用法：規則とガイドライン-パート2（2019.9）

2019.9.2 Editor: M.R.

Correct usage of punctuation: Conventions and guidelines-Part 2.

2) Introductory comma: A comma should preferably be inserted after introductory words and phrases.
Explanation: Introductory words or phrases introduce or set context for the sentence that it precedes. For example, in the sentence “However, the boy did not cry,” “however” is an introductory word. In academic writing, it is preferable to use a comma after such words and phrases to separate them from the rest of the sentence.

3) Series comma: Insert a comma before the conjunction that precedes the last element of a series (e.g., bread, eggs, and milk).
Explanation: In American English, a comma is inserted before the conjunction that precedes the last element of a series (e.g., bread, eggs, and milk). This comma is called the series comma and is inserted for clarity.
Although this comma is not commonly used in British English, its usage is gaining acceptance. In British English, it is called the Oxford comma. As this comma aids clarity, its use is encouraged in academic writing in both American and British English.

4) Colon and semi-colon: A colon and semicolon serve different purposes and cannot be used interchangeably.
Explanation: One of the purposes of a semicolon (;) is to indicate that two independent clauses (clauses that can function as complete sentences) are related (e.g., The children played in the rain; hence, they caught a cold). A colon, on the other hand, is used to draw attention to the text that follows (e.g., The course includes the following subjects: Art, History, and Music). Since they serve different purposes, one cannot be used in place of the other.

句読点の正しい用法：規則とガイドライン-パート1（2019.8）

2019.8.5 Editor: M.R.

Correct usage of punctuation: Conventions and guidelines-Part 1.

Japan is a global leader in cutting-edge research. From my nine years of experience as a scientific editor, I have concluded that the following are the primary focus areas for Japanese authors in terms of improving their punctuation usage in written English.

1) Hyphens, En Dashes, and Em Dashes

The hyphen, the en dash, and the em dash are all horizontal marks of varying lengths. Each has a different function from the other. The definitions of each and explanations for when to use them are provided below.

• a. The HyphenThe hyphen is the shortest of the three and is used most commonly to create compound words and hyphenated adjectives (making compounds such as “well-being” and “advanced-level,” for example).b. The En dashThe en dash is slightly longer than the hyphen but not as long as the em dash. (It is, in fact, the width of a typesetter’s letter “N,” whereas the em dash is the width of the letter “M”—thus their names.) The en dash means, quite simply, “through.” We use it most commonly to indicate inclusive dates and numbers: July 9–August 17; pp. 37–59.Example:
  (i) A range of values is denoted by an en dash (–) and not by a hyphen (-).
  "The participants were 20–50 years old."(ii) Terms created by joining the names of two persons are separated by an en dash (not a hyphen).
  "Kullback–Leibler divergence is the expected log-likelihood ratio." c. The Em DashThe em dash is significantly longer than the hyphen.We use the em dash to create a strong break in the structure of a sentence. Dashes can be used in pairs like parentheses—that is, to enclose a word, or a phrase, or a clause (as we’ve done here)—or they can be used alone to detach one end of a sentence from the main body. Dashes are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex or in one that contains a number of commas, as in this example:•We bought pencils, rulers, notebook paper, pens, and folders—all of which were on sale, of course—for our clients to use in the courtroom.

When we confuse the em dash with the hyphen, we make a sentence virtually impossible to read. If we had used a hyphen in place of each dash in the sentence above (highlighted in yellow), it would seem as though we had hyphenated two pairs of words in the sentence: “parentheses-that” and “clause-or,” neither of which makes any sense.

Note: For a hyphen, one simply types the "minus" key. In MS Word, an en dash can be obtained from theSymbol list under the Insert menu. In LaTeX code, an en dash is rendered by two successive hyphens. The shortcut for an em

コーディネーターA.N の独り言（2019.7）

オーストラリアでのエディター集会（2019.6）

2019.6.3 Editor: G.M.

Australian editors conference-2

I was on the organizing committee for the recent 9th IPEd national editors conference in Melbourne, Australia. Topics of interest to scientific editors and academic authors: A billion-dollar academic publishing industry where many publishers charge researchers to publish in their journals has led to so-called “predatory publishers”. Such publishers are unethical, and offer low-quality journals with reduced editorial services and academic scrutiny in an effort to elicit money from researchers. Another area of concern is plagiarism in response to the pressure to publish as well as a lack of fluency in the target language. In my experience, many authors do not realize that self-plagiarism, whereby content (typically from the Methods section) is re-used for multiple journal submissions, is discouraged by journals. Other topics included grant editing and the science behind why we make typographical errors. All in all, the conference was a great success.

コーディネーターA.N の独り言（2019.5）

Australian editors conference（2019.4）

Similarities and differences between scientific abstracts for journals and conferences: An example（2019.3）

科学に関する学術誌と学会発表のアブストラクトの作成：類似と相違（2019.2）

2019.2.1 Editor: G.S.

Production of scientific abstracts for journals and conferences: Similarities and differences

The use of scientific abstracts is an effective tool for the communication of the latest developments in research. However, producing an attractive summary of our investigations can be a challenging task and influences the way our discoveries are received by the scientific community. The length, style, and format of abstracts varies depending on their purpose, i.e., accompanying the submission of articles to journals, introducing speeches at upcoming conferences, or supporting poster presentations. However, the common goal is to engage the attention of experts by conveying research findings in a clear and concise manner.

In general, abstracts of journal publications tend to be more detailed, mirroring the content included in the article. In contrast, abstracts intended for meetings contain simpler language, aiming to capture the interest of conference delegates who are able to attend only a limited number of sessions.

Basic guidelines for the production of abstracts:

・Introduction: State the objective of your study. If possible, include a background sentence to assist the reader in understanding the hypothesis.

・Methodology: Provide the study design and experimental approach. Avoid excessive detail (e.g., reagents, equipment, etc.).

・Results: Describe the most important findings. Be factual and provide precise data of measurements. If applicable, support these data with evidence of statistical analyses. However, avoid excessive detail ? especially in abstracts for meetings ? as this may dilute the focus of the abstract.

・Conclusions: Avoid repetition from previous sections. What should the reader remember after reading your abstract?

チーフエディターからの新年の挨拶（2019.1）