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Date:
From 10 Nov 2025 until 14 Nov 2025
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Deadline for Applications:
10 Oct 2025
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Location:
Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande 1749-016 Lisboa
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Duration:
18 hours (Option 1) or 36 hours (Option 2) (contact hours)
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Schedule:
9h-12h30 and 14h-17h30, Monday-Tuesday; 9h-13h and 14h-18h, Wednesday-Friday
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Lecturer or Responsible:
Luís Catarino (CE3C-TPS), Maria Romeiras (LEAF-ISA & CE3C-TPS) & Lillian Barros (CIMO-IPB)
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Department Responsible:
Departamento de Biologia Vegetal, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa
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Nº (min - max) Students:
10-20
Objectives
The objective of this course is to provide initial training to postgraduate students on the process of writing, submitting and publishing scientific works, focusing mainly on the publication of scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals.
It is mainly aimed at first-year doctoral students in natural sciences but can also be taken by other postgraduate students.
The specific objectives are to introduce the students to the process of writing and publishing scientific works, addressing the following topics:
- types of articles and other scientific publications;
- types of journals and modalities of publication;
- how to start writing an article;
- the parts of an article and what they should contain;
- tables and figures in a paper;
- bibliography search and citation;
- the process of submission of a manuscript;
- revision of manuscripts for final acceptance.
At the end of the course, students are expected to have the knowledge and skills to begin developing autonomous work on structuring and beginning to write scientific articles.
This course is available in two versions:
- Option 1 – Short version: first two and a half days, 18 hours total;
- Option 2 – Full version: all five days, 36 hours total.
Participants must be present at 85% of the contact hours and actively participate in all activities.
This course may have a correspondence in terms of credits toward PhD programmes at CIÊNCIAS or programmes jointly offered by CIÊNCIAS and partner institutions, with 6–7 hours of contact time per ECT, depending on specific requirements. For these students, in addition to the exercises completed during the week, submission of a written report after the course is mandatory. The specific exercise and date of final submission of the report for students following Option 1 or Option 2 will be explained during the course. In Option 2, for programmes with fewer contact hours per ECT (6h/ECT), students must complete an additional assignment (a summary report). These reports are also recommended for other PhD students seeking recognition of the course by their institutions.
Minimum requirements: Degree in biology or related fields.
Directed to: PhD students in Doctoral programmes at CIÊNCIAS and others.
Detailed plan
DAY 1
Introduction
- Types of scientific publications: articles, books, book chapters, conference papers
- Types of articles (Scientific article / Review article / Mini review / Short paper / Data paper)
- Presentations at conferences (Oral communication, Poster, Abstract books, Proceedings books)
- Length of articles (number of words or pages, etc.)
- Types of journals (Open Access / Traditional / Mixed)
- Journal ranking (quartiles/impact factor/others)
- Payment of open access fees
- How to choose a journal
Starting to write a scientific work
- Objectives
- Subject and title
- Authors and order of authors
- Data to be used
- Tables
- Figures
- Article skeleton
- Article writing
DAY 2
The parts of an article and what they should contain
- Title / Short title
- Authors and corresponding author
- Affiliations
- Summary
- Keywords
- Graphical abstract
- Bullets
- Introduction
- Material and methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- Bibliography
- Attachments
- Supplementary files
Tables and Figures
- Quantity per paper
- In the body of the article or in an attachment
- In-text citation
- Location and content of subtitles
- What should a figure have?
- What should a table have?
- Examples of Tables and Figures
Bibliography
- Bibliographic search on the internet and in libraries
- Selection of articles to be cited
- In-text citation models
- Bibliography formatting models
- Formatting and standardisation of bibliography
- Citation and reference organisation tools (Mendeley, etc.)
DAY 3
Before submission
- Review by authors
- Correction of structure and inconsistencies
- English correction
- Confirmation Checklist
- Authors' credits
- Authors’ data (emails, ORCID, etc.)
- Cover letter
Submission of a manuscript
- Files for submission
- Authors' details
- Declaration of conflicts of interest
- Ethics Statements
- Reviewer suggestions
- Submission platforms
After submission
- Confirmation of authorship
- Appreciation by the editor and the peer review phase
- Peer review results
- Minor revision, Major revision, Rejection/Transfer to
- Review: response to reviewers and editors
- MS reviewed and response file to reviewers and editor
- Deadlines for review
- Resubmission to the same journal or submission to another
DAY 4
Conferences and Congresses
- Registration and submission of communications
- Oral communications
- Poster presentations
- Books of Abstracts
- Books of Proceedings
- Special issues of journals
Proofreading, formatting and online resources
Proofreading and proofreading services
- Online tools (e.g., Swan - Scientific Writing Assistant http://cs.joensuu.fi/swan/)
- Online translators
- Online charting tools
- Spell checkers
- Bibliography tools
- Artificial Intelligence Tools
DAY 5
From the Lab or the Field to the published paper - Case studies of publication processes
Examples of scientific article publishing processes from data collection and bibliographic research to writing, submission, review and final publication.
Fees
Free for 1st year PhD students in Doctoral programmes at CIÊNCIAS (e.g. Biology), Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV ULisboa; UPorto), Biology and Ecology of Global Changes (BEAG ULisboa, UAveiro) or Sustainability Science (ULisboa, several institutions), when the course counts credits for their formation, in which case the delivery of a final report done after the course is mandatory; the course is also free for more advanced PhD students of the BIODIV programme (ULisboa or UPorto).
For other students, fees vary depending on whether Option 1 or Option 2 is chosen:
FEE (option 1): 25 € for other PhD students of CE3C enrolled in doctoral programmes other than those previously listed; 40 € for PhD students of the PEERS network (CFE); 65 € for CIÊNCIAS Master students, more advanced CIÊNCIAS PhD students and unemployed; 90 € for BTI, BI and other PhD students; 125 € for professionals and postdocs.
FEE (option 2): 50 € for other PhD students of CE3C enrolled in doctoral programmes other than those previously listed; 80 € for PhD students of the PEERS network (CFE); 125 € for CIÊNCIAS Master students, more advanced CIÊNCIAS PhD students and unemployed; 180 € for BTI, BI and other PhD students; 250 € for professionals and postdocs.
When the maximum number of students is reached, 10 vacancies will be available for non-paying 1st year PhD students mentioned above, being, by order of preference, students from: 1) CE3C; 2) BIODIV (not from CE3C); 3) CIÊNCIAS (not from CE3C); 4) Sustainability Science (not from CE3C or CIÊNCIAS); 5) BEAG (not from CE3C or CIÊNCIAS).
How to Apply
Candidates should send an email to Dr. Luís Catarino (lmcatarino@fc.ul.pt) with Prof. Margarida Matos in cc (mmmatos@fc.ul.pt) with a short CV and motivation letter. The CV and letter should be named 1st-lastNAME-CV.pdf and 1st-lastNAME-ML.pdf (that is, personalise the name of each file with your first and last name).
In the email, please add the following information:
- OPTION CHOSEN (1 or 2):
- Full Name:
- Email:
- Phone:
- Professional activity: Professional/Postdoc, BTI, BI (or other non-post-doc research grant), PhD student (with/without scholarship), Lic. (Bachelor)/Master student
- PhD student in the 1st year of a Doctoral programme at CIÊNCIAS, BIODIV (CIÊNCIAS/FCUP), or BEAG (CIÊNCIAS or UAveiro)?
- If yes to the above question, PhD student doing the Course to count credits for 1st year?
- PhD student of CE3C or CEF (Centro de Ecologia Funcional)?
- Name of the PhD programme:
If you have any questions, please contact the coordinator of the CE3C Advanced Courses, Margarida Matos (mmmatos@fc.ul.pt), and the teacher, Dr. Luís Catarino (lmcatarino@fc.ul.pt).
