If I wasn’t about to dash off and give my group talk, I’d have time to do this properly. So I’m going to solicit m’learned colleagues’ opinion.<\/p>\n
\nI was reading a Table of Contents from a particular journal this morning and murmured to myself “A snappy little title” at<\/p>\n
\nPhosphorylated Ssk1 Prevents Unphosphorylated Ssk1 from Activating the Ssk2 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase Kinase in the Yeast High-Osmolarity Glycerol Osmoregulatory Pathway<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u2014 and then I noticed something very odd, that actually always gives me pause when I’m thinking about titles for articles and posters. Just what is it with the random capitalization? Why, for example, in <\/p>\n
\nPolyubiquitination of Prolactin Receptor Stimulates Its Internalization, Postinternalization Sorting, and Degradation via the Lysosomal Pathway<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nis ‘Its’ capitalized, but ‘via’ not? <\/p>\n
\nHere’s another odd one:<\/p>\n
\nhnRNP H and hnRNP F Complex with Fox2 To Silence Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 2 Exon IIIc<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n‘To’ but not ‘With’?<\/p>\n
\nNow, my first thought would be to blame the authors, but I think it’s more a matter of house style. Nature<\/em> seems to do things sensibly (randomly chosen):<\/p>\n
\nOn the spontaneous emergence of cell polarity<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nas does Journal of Cell Science<\/em>:<\/p>\n
\nCaspase-dependent and -independent lipotoxic cell-death pathways in fission yeast<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nOther journals screw up:<\/p>\n
\nSolution Structure of the cGMP Binding GAF Domain from Phosphodiesterase 5: INSIGHTS INTO NUCLEOTIDE SPECIFICITY, DIMERIZATION, AND cGMP-DEPENDENT CONFORMATIONAL CHANGE<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n(_JBC_)<\/p>\n
\nReservations About Dam Findings<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n(_Science_)<\/p>\n
\nyet PNAS<\/em> and JCB<\/em> are be sensible.<\/p>\n
\nAfter thinking a little bit about this, I think the first word of the title and proper nouns should be capitalized, and the rest in lower case. It makes more sense and is less confusing (exceptions might be made for German language journals, I guess). What do all y’all think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If I wasn’t about to dash off and give my group talk, I’d have time to do this properly. So I’m going to solicit m’learned colleagues’ opinion. I was reading a Table of Contents from a particular journal this morning … Continue reading