Peer review, acceptance & rejection guides › Keywords and Running Title
Keywords: what journals usually ask
| Point | Typical requirement |
|---|---|
| Number | 3 to 8 keywords (check the journal’s limit) |
| Form | Short phrases rather than whole sentences; nouns rather than verbs |
| Overlap with the title | Prefer terms not already in the title, so the paper is found by more searches |
| Controlled vocabularies | Medical journals often prefer MeSH terms; IEEE journals use IEEE taxonomy terms |
| Abbreviations | Spell them out unless the abbreviation is far better known (for example, “DNA”) |
Running title: what journals usually ask
- Length: often up to 40, 50 or 70 characters including spaces; the exact limit is in the author guidelines.
- Content: the core topic of the paper, without abbreviations that are not defined.
- Example: a paper titled “Deep learning based intrusion detection for IoT networks using federated training” could have the running title “Federated intrusion detection for IoT”.
Formatting comments researchers received
Formatting and journal guidelines came up in 24 of the 661 reviewer comments and decisions shared anonymously on ScholarsColab (updated 18 October 2026). Real examples:
“Manuscript Requirement: LaTeX files are the only acceptable file format for submissions.”
“The formatting and presentation did not meet IEEE Access requirements.”
“The manuscript significantly exceeds the recommended length and does not conform to the journal’s formatting and submission guidelines.”
“The final camera-ready version should follow the instruction of the MECS paper template.”
For keywords that match what a journal actually publishes, the Journal Finder and each journal’s page show the words most used in its papers.
Received reviewer comments yourself? Share them anonymously to make this data more useful for everyone.
Frequently asked questions
How many keywords should a research paper have?
Most journals ask for 3 to 8 keywords. The exact number is stated in the journal’s author guidelines.
Should keywords repeat words from the title?
It is better to add new terms that are not in the title, because the title is already indexed. Keywords then help the paper appear in more searches.
What is a running title?
A running title is a shortened version of the paper’s title printed at the top of each page. Journals usually limit it to about 40 to 70 characters.
Is a running title the same as a short title?
Yes. Journals use running title, running head and short title for the same thing.