Abstract

This article discusses the typical form and content of forty theoretical scientific papers. These papers were chosen from the 400 most-cited papers in the Science Citation Index for the period 1945–1988 (reported by Eugene Garfield in a series of recent essays appearing in Current Contents). It was found that the typical form for these papers is similar to that for experimental and methods papers, but the content differs substantially. In brief, the content follows the logical sequence: problem or need, assumptions made in attempting to solve problem or meet need, theorem derived from those assumptions and additional considerations, proof of theorem by logical reasoning or validation by comparison with what is established or establishable, conclusions from previous discussion, and recommendations on future experimental or theoretical work. Also, compared with experimental and methods papers, these theoretical papers have somewhat fewer figures and tables, but many more references and equations.