a) Title: The title page will contain the full title of the article. Publishers may put some limit on the length of the title (for example 40 letters and spaces) but within those limits your title should give potential readers a good idea of what your article is about. Remember that these days most people will find your article by searching on the internet. Most often, they will decide, just by looking at the title, whether or not they want to access the full article. A title which is vague or non-specific will not attract their attention.

b) Running header: Many journals also ask you to provide a short version of the title, perhaps three or four words, called the running header. This will go at the top of each page of your article. The running header does not need to be particularly specific; it is just used to orient readers as they browse the journal.

c) Authors: List the names of all authors of the paper. For a case study, you would not expect to have more than one or two authors, and many journals put a limit on the number of authors who can be listed. In order to be listed as an author, a person must have an intellectual stake in the writing – at the very least they must be able to explain and even defend the article. Someone who has only provided technical assistance, as valuable as that may be, may be acknowledged at the end of the article, but would not be listed as an author. Contact information – either home or institutional – should be provided for each author. Some journals also ask for the authors’ academic qualifications. If there is more than one author, one must be identified as the corresponding author – the person whom people should contact if they have questions or comments about the study.

d) Key words: Most journals will also ask for key words under which the article will be listed. These are the words which would be used when searching for the article using a search engine such as Medline. When practical, you should choose key words from a standard list of keywords, such as MeSH (Medical subject headings). A copy of MeSH is available in most libraries. If you can’t access a copy and you want to make sure that your keywords are included in the MeSH library, visit this address:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/meshbrowser.cgi