The Scientific Paper’s Title

Function

• The title is used to convey the main idea of your paper
• It should provide information about the problem the paper presents a solution for or state the main contribution of the proposed solution or highlight the works aim

Style

• Simple and straight
• Avoid overly complex and bulky words
• Use active voice rather than passive
• No complex sentence-like style
• Use terms that are common in a domain; don’t invent new terms
• Use a first-letter upper case notation (only stopwords are written in lower case)
• If appropriate: Use a descriptive main title and complement it with a detailed subtitle
• Use a neutral language; avoid sensational words; a science paper’s title is the opposite of an advertisment headline
• Avoid abbreviations; use them only if they are really very well known

Structure

• usually you have one single title
• if appropriate: complement a short main title with a subtitle, separated by ‘:’ or ‘–’