Q: What should I do if the journal editor wants me to change the title suggested by an editing company?

Detailed Question -

My paper’s original title was ‘Investigation on residents’ awareness of stroke and improvement after strengthening health education.’ After a suggestion by an editing company, the title was changed to ‘Recognition of stroke among community residents and improvement after intensive health education: a cross-sectional study.’ However, the journal editor requested me to change the title because ‘cross-sectional study’ is not the proper term here. The article investigates people's awareness of stroke in a community and how awareness was raised after some measures were taken. What should I do?

1 Answer to this question
Answer:

A cross-sectional study involves analyzing data from a cross-section of the target population at a particular point in time (or at the most, a relatively short interval of time). It is mostly observational, but can at times be experimental. Based on this understanding, from what you have described, and without knowing the details of the design, the study would appear to be cross-sectional. However, the editor may have asked you to reconsider the title for the following reasons:

  • It may not be entirely cross-sectional. The study may have looked at only a limited segment(s) of the population. This may have been a limitation of the design or a delimitation established by the scope. If so, to make it truly cross-sectional, you may need to obtain data from more segments of the population. If however you are not able to do this (for a variety of reasons or constraints), you may need to include this in the scope of the study (in the Methods section) or discuss this as a limitation (in the Discussion section). It follows therefore that you may need to omit ‘cross-sectional study’ from the title.
  • It may be a longitudinal study rather than a cross-sectional study. If the study was done over a period of time, first assessing residents’ awareness of stroke, then introducing various health education measures or materials, and then again assessing their improved awareness, it is probably a longitudinal study, specifically, a prospective longitudinal study. If in contrast the study looked at past data, then it is a retrospective longitudinal study. (Find out more about prospective and retrospective studies here.) For special consideration would be the distinction between the words ‘investigation’ (used by you) and ‘recognition’ (used by the editing company). If the study is investigative or experimental, it would be longitudinal. If the study is observational (as indicated by the word ‘recognition’), it would be cross-sectional.
  • It may not be in accordance with the journal’s guidelines. The journal may have specific guidelines for how to title the paper. You may need to go through them again for what they say about the type of study.

Once you have worked through the above points, you may, if needed, also consult with the journal editor. Here's to the hopeful resolution of a small but important part of the research paper!

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