As the former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Aquaculture, I have experienced firsthand how difficult it is for many students and inexperience aquaculture scientists to write aquaculture manuscripts. While I am of the opinion that there is no acceptable justification for poor writing skills, I have come to realize that not every aspiring aquaculture scientists (writer) have access to the training and exposure that are required to gain and strengthen scientific writing skills. Relating to my own academic path, which involved studying in Cameroon, Belgium, The Netherlands, Vietnam, Canada and the USA, I can say that being taught by Professors who actively publish scientific articles and studying at Universities where the library (physical and online) puts at the disposal of students and researchers tones of literature can substantially contribute to inspiring and motivating aspiring scientific writers and allow them to quickly acquire writing skills and tools. Given that not everyone would have the chance to follow the same path as me and learn how to write scientific manuscripts through international studies, editorial work and professional experiences across the world, I thought I would disseminate my insights with anyone who is wondering how to write good aquaculture publications.
My journey on the sharing of scientific writing skills started in 2014, when I published the paper titled “Writing a scientific manuscript from original aquaculture research ” that was published in 2014 in the Journal of Applied Aquaculture. I then followed up in 2015 with other papers titled “ Toward the Professionalization of Aquaculture: Serving as Peer Reviewer for an Academic Aquaculture Journal” that was published in World Aquaculture magazine, and “Misuse of multiple comparison tests and underuse of contrast procedures in aquaculture publications ” that was also published in Aquaculture. Furthermore, I was invited to deliver a training workshop on “Improving scientific Writing and tools for research organization” at the World Aquaculture Society annual meeting and conference in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2017. All the experience gained through these science communication activities are collated in this book, in order to better equip the readers with the tools and methods required to write quality aquaculture manuscripts, and increase their chances of getting their aquaculture findings into print.