Numerals or Not?

Greetings again. I hope you’re doing well.

Recently I received email from AuthorAID participant Dr. Amon Shoko, of Tanzania. He noted that many researchers don’t report numbers properly. He also indicated that guidance should be widely disseminated in this regard.

This blog post therefore discusses a major aspect of using numbers: when to use numerals and when to use words for numbers.

Different journals, and different fields, have different guidelines:

• A common guideline is as follows: Use numerals for numbers 10 or higher. Also use numerals for numbers accompanying units of measure. Otherwise, generally use words. (examples: 45 samples, 3 cm, five groups)
• In many scientific and medical journals, it is standard to use numerals even for numbers less than 10. (example: 7 patients)
• In the humanities, it is common to use words for numbers up through 100. (example: eighty-three essays)

Almost all guidelines say not to begin a sentence with a numeral. One option is to write out the number. (Example: Four hundred thirty-two researchers sent proposals.) Another option is to restructure the sentence or add words before the number. (Example: In total, 432 researchers sent proposals.)

How can you know which guidelines to follow? Commonly, a journal’s instructions to authors or a book publisher’s instructions address using numbers. Style manuals in various disciplines also do so.

Dr. Amon Shoko notes that the book Scientific Writing: Easy When You Know How provides useful guidance on numbers. Some other books on research writing also do so. In addition, it’s helpful to look at papers in one’s target journal to see how numbers are used there.

Until the next post—

Barbara