Most of the writings published on Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering are sci-tech papers which have their own specific writing mechanics. Next, a brief introduction to the writing mechanics of sci-tech papers will be given in the light of common writing mechanics of sci-tech papers as well as Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering’s basic requirements for academic writings, so as to reference contributors.

Generally speaking, the basic steps to write sci-tech papers include:

(1) Through a series of theoretical and experimental research, get innovative research findings or conclusions.

(2) Consult the journal’s specific requirements for format and content, so as to hit the target right.

(3) Look over large amounts of relevant literature to make good preparation before writing.

(4) Write with language that is easy to understand.

(5) When done, read the writing carefully for several times to ensure that the sentences are smooth, and none of the formulae, figures or tables are missed and they are in correct order. In case it is written in English, better find a professional English teacher or foreign teacher for proofreading to correct any grammatical mistakes and make it more idiomatic. Check up before submission.

Next, brief introductions will be given to the specific writing mechanics of each integral part of an paper.

1. Paper title (name)

　　Title is an indispensable part of an paper. It should reflect the paper's specific content with the most concise and proper expressions, clearly tell readers what the subject matter is, and should have the function of bringing the idea home and stimulating readers’ interest for further reading. Generally, major keywords should be included in a title. Since a title resembles a label, complete sentences describing the paper’s content with lengthy subject, object and predicate structure should be avoided by all means, so as to ensure its “concision"; and whether It is “proper” or not is shown by whether it is to-the-point, eye-catching, good to read and easily memorized. As a matter of course, concision that is too general or shocking should also be avoided for it will make the title difficult to be retrieved, inconsistent with the content, or fail to feature the subject matter.

　　 A title should be concise and short. When a short title fails to express all the meaning, or the paper is formed by parted reports on a series of works, subtitles can be used to address sub-layers of contents.

　　Chemical structural formulae, mathematical formulae, or symbols, abbreviations, acronyms and commodity names etc. that peers are not familiar with should be avoided by all means. 

2. Contributor name

　　Contributor name is an indispensable part of an paper. Contributor is the person who has made contributions to all or some of the aspects as conceiving of the subject matter, implementation of the practical research and writing of the paper etc., as well as the person who can orally defend the paper. He owns the legitimate rights of the paper and is responsible for it. Multiple users who have all contributed to the making of an paper should be listed in the sequence of how much they contribute.

　　Contributors should sign their full names, and normally their real names instead of changeable pennames. Name of the organization where the contributor completed his research or his present work place and mail address etc. should also be listed in the mean time, so that readers can contact the contributor when needed.

3. Abstract

　　 Abstract is an indispensable additive part of modern sci-tech papers, which can only be omitted when the paper is very short. It is an effective tool for readers to tackle the conflict between an ocean of information and their very limited energy. Abstract in Chinese and English is the major content that will be collected by databases at home and abroad, as a result, it exerts a direct influence on whether the paper will be collected and how it will be referenced. Contributors should pay close attention to it.

There are three basic abstracting methods: ① informative abstract. It is a condensed version of the writing, which highlights the major points covered and concisely describes the content and scope (also called introduction). ② indicative abstract. It indicates the subject matter discussed in the paper and concisely describes the nature and quality of the research findings. ③ informative/indicative abstract. A comprehensive abstract that shares characteristics of both informative abstract and indicative abstract——it describes parts containing more valuable information in form of an informative abstract, while describing the rest in form of an indicative abstract. Informative abstracts should be used in general sci-tech papers, while indicative or informative/indicative abstract can be used in review, informative or critical writings.

　　Abstract should be concise, and how concise it is is determined by the content. Generally, abstract in Chinese is better no more than 500 characters. Following elements should be explored in an abstract: research purpose; approaches; experiment results; conclusion.

　　Besides requirements said above, aspects as follows also need attention:

　　(1) Remove content that has already become common knowledge in the subject field.

　    (2) Information that has been described in paper title should not be simply repeated.

　　(3) Abstract should be succinct description that is well-organized, clearly-defined, finished at one go, and is normally in one paragraph or the least paragraphs possible; empty comment and ambiguous conclusion should be avoided by all means. Papers without a conclusion can be discussed briefly in the abstract. 

　　(4) Third person style should be used, and “author”, “we” etc. should not be the narrating subject in the abstract; passive voice should be taken for abstract in English, and general present tense or past tense is used.

　　(5) Do not use figures, tables or chemical structural formulae as well as abbreviations, acronyms and codes that are difficult to understand for readers of related majors. If it is necessary, they should be noted the first time they appear in the abstract.

　　(6) Do not cite any references.

　　(7) Use legal metrological units and write standard characters and punctuations correctly.

4. Keywords

　　To convenience readers in retrieving papers from an ocean of journals, especially for the needs of automatic retrieving by computer, 3~7 keywords should be given below abstracts of papers on modern sci-tech journals. Commonly used words that can reflect the feature content of the paper should be chosen as keywords. Standard words (called descriptor or keyword) listed in thesauri as Chinese Thesaurus, MeSH etc. are first choice. For new terms denoting new technologies and subjects that have not been collected in any thesauri, non-standard free-words can be used that can provide selection references for thesaurus compiling organization when they revise thesauri. What needs to be emphasized is: never turn keywords into full expressions with “full” meanings so as to highlight the subject matter of the paper. 

5. Introduction

　　As the beginning of an paper, introduction mainly answers the question “why research”. It briefly introduces the research background of an paper, but relatively exhaustively introduces previous research history and present situation of related fields (this part is called paper review sometimes), so as to draw out the author’s research intention and analysis basis, including research purpose, research scope and theory, selection of technical plan etc. Introduction should not be the same as abstract, or become notes for it.        Basic theories, experimental methods and deduction of fundamental equations in general textbooks that peers know very well should be mentioned no more in introduction In case professional terminologies or abbreviations are used in main text, they can be defined in introduction. 

6. Main text

　　As the core of an paper, main text mainly answers the question “how to research”. It should exhaust the point, principle and method of the paper as well as the whole process of realizing the intended goal. Besides, it should give prominence to a word “new”, so as to show that the paper is trail-blazing. With reference to the needs, an paper can be explored and analyzed step by step, and subtitle can be given to each part in each step. 

　　Main text normally takes up the lion’s share of an paper. There are big differences in the specific describing methods of main texts that are caused by the differences in subject and paper type, and far-fetched uniform regulation should not be laid down. Generally, it should include parts as materials, methods, results, discussion and conclusion etc. 

　　The most important elements of main text are experiment & observation, data handling & analyzing as well as experimental research findings, which need the most attention. Describe facts, not be arbitrary when deciding which materials to choose, or make wild guesses, and do not overlook adventitious phenomena and data. 

　　Flowery words are not needed for sci-tech papers, but clear clarification, good logic, and language that is concise, precise & fluid; the content must be objective, scientific and complete, wherein one should let facts and data speak loud; whenever contents can be explained in simple languages, use languages to describe. When it is wordy or not easy to explain in language, tables or figures should be employed. Tables or figures should be self-evident, i.e. the information provided by it is already enough to explain the question. Data cited should be precise, wrong or repeated citation should be prevented, and repeated description of the same set of data with figures and tables should be avoided. Source of materials cited should be indicated. 

　　Physical quantities and unit symbols provided by the Legal Metrological Units of the People’s Republic of China should be employed, choose standard units and symbols; the custom of the industry should be taken into account, when there is no choice but to use non-standard units or symbols that should be noted with and converted into legal metrological units and symbols as best as it can be. 

　　Write sci-tech papers in the way one writes a textbook is the first thing to be avoided. Avoid repeated description and reasoning of past knowledge, but reference them in bibliography; for some mathematical supplementary means used, too much attention should not be focused on details of mathematical deduction that can be provided as suggested reading in form of appendix when necessary. 

7. Conclusion

　　Conclusion is the final sum-up of the whole paper that should not simply repeat summaries of each paragraph in the main text, and mainly answers the question “what are the results". It should be based on experiments mentioned in main text or phenomena, data and analysis obtained through observation, so as to completely, accurately and concisely indicate: 

(1) Principles revealed by results obtained through observations or experiments on research subject, and their universality; 

(2) Whether there are any exceptions or problems that are unable to be explained and solved by the paper during research. 

(3) Similarities and differences as compared to previous publications (including papers by others or by the author); 

(4) Theoretical and practical importance and values of the paper; 

(5) Suggestions for further research on this topic. 

8. Acknowledgement

　　Acknowledgement is usually in one independent paragraph that is placed at the end of an paper. However, it is not an indispensable part. It expresses acknowledgements to people who have given instructions or suggestions for topic selection, conceiving or writing of the paper; who have made contributions in the process of observation or experiment; or organizations, groups or individuals that have helped with technology, information, material or spending.

9. References

　　References at the end of an paper is an important part of modern sci-tech writings that reflect the scientific basis of the paper and give sources of relevant materials cited in the text to readers whereby the author shows respect for others’ research findings, or offer detailed version of relevant contents mentioned without further development in the paper in order to cut it short and convenience description. It is wrong to edit or handle references without much regard, let alone “references omitted”. 

　　Only references that are cited in the paper and that are publications formally published or any relevant archives and files which include literature as patent etc. should be listed. Personal correspondence, in-house teaching materials, product specifications and unpublished literature had better not be listed. There are always plenty of describing methods for references at home and abroad, whereas ever since the ISO has worked out the international standard, those methods gradually agree with each other. Now, the China National Technical Committee of Standardization for Documentation has already formulated China’s own national standard—GB7714-2005 Descriptive Rules for Bibliographic References in accordance with international development trend of standardization, wherein it clearly provides that China’s sci-tech journals adopt the internationally recognized “number system” and “Harvard system”. The former system describes the author, title and publisher’s imprint of references in the sequence of their appearance in the main text; and the latter groups references according to their source languages first (in the order of Chinese, Japanese, English, Russian and other languages), then lists references in the order of the number of strokes of the authors’ surnames or in the alphabetical order of their surnames’ initials, in case multiple documentations of the same author are referenced, they will be further arranged in the sequence of the year the documentation was published. Presently, the descriptive rule that is more commonly used is the “number system”. 

The descriptive rules for bibliographic references are relatively complex, please consult GB7714-2005 Descriptive Rules for Bibliographic References at all times in writing. Bibliographic entries are typed at the end of the paper with word size smaller than that for the main text.

10. Appendix 

　　Appendix is an attachment of an paper, not the necessary part. On the precondition that it does not increase the length of the main text and does not affect its coherence, it provides readers with detailed deduction, calculation, testification, instrument, equipment or explanation & description of some parts in the main text, as well as relevant data, curves, photos or other auxiliary information as computer-based block diagram and program etc. Same as main text, pages in appendix are numbered consecutively.