A recent study spreading through the academic community like wildfire suggests that papers published with shorter titles get cited at a higher rate.

Why this might be, we can only guess, but the authors suggest a few theories.

1) Shorter titles are easier to read and understand.

2) Higher impact journals are more restrictive of title lengths, so short titles correlate with high-quality papers.

3) Studies highlighting incremental advances may use longer and more descriptive titles, which draw attention to fewer readers.

Whatever the cause, it’s definitely got me thinking about what to title my upcoming manuscript…perhaps I’ll keep it short this time.