Generally speaking, we recommend short titles. Our recommendation is primarily based on The Advantage of Short Paper Titles, a study with a sample size of 140,000 papers across a range of disciplines. Further, studies of titles in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) field have shown that shorter titles tend to perform better, although this may be related to Google's character limit. This may relate to the Google's character limit, discussed below, but, more likely, Google selected the character limit because they found titles of that length perform better. Short titles also appear to get more shares on social media.
However, the benefit of short titles does not hold in every discipline. Studies have shown that longer titles get more citations in certain disciplines. For example, articles in Medicine tend to do better with longer titles. Ultimately, when it comes to title length, the best practice will depend on the discipline. And, what constitutes a "long" title will depend on the discipline.
We have a few theories on why title length impacts citations. First, a long, difficult to understand title may signal to would-be readers that the article itself will be similarly wordy and challenging to grasp. Google’s search results may also play a role. Google usually cuts off titles at around 50-60 characters. Because the full title will not display, titles over 50-60 characters may be difficult to understand in Google search results. It’s possible that other databases may similarly truncate titles, which could also hurt longer titles.
For areas where shorter titles perform better, we recommend focusing on getting the main goal of your paper across as clearly and succinctly as possible in the title. That usually means avoiding colons: if you need to explain your title with something after a colon, it will likely be too long. It will also mean limiting yourself to one key aspect of your paper instead of trying to explain every single finding in the title. Still, because title length preference varies across subjects, you should check for studies in your field before acting on this suggestion. Below, we list several studies in a range of disciplines, with the disciplines listed underneath the year.
We’d like to hear your ideas and techniques as well. Please EMAIL US if you have other suggestions or techniques - bonus points if you include a citation to a supporting resource.
Ian Ayres, Fredrick E. Vars
440
2000
Law
Adrian Letchford, Helen Susannah Moat, and Tobias Preis
Entire Article
2015
20,000 most cited papers in Scopus database each year between 2007 and 2013
Large sample size of 140,000 total papers across a range of disciplines.
“Our analysis provides evidence that journals which publish papers with shorter titles receive more citations per paper. These results are consistent with the intriguing hypothesis that papers with shorter titles may be easier to understand, and hence attract more citations.”
Maarten van Wesel, Sally Wyatt, Jeroen ten Haaf
1606
2013
sociology, general & internal medicine, applied physics
Sociology & Applied Physics, shorter title = more citations; General & Internal Medicine, longer title = more citations
Sinisa Subotic & Bhaskar Mukherjee
abstract
2013
Psychology
“The partial least squares model revealed that shorter titles were associated with more citations, but the effect was fully mediated by the journal impact, suggesting that the observed citational benefits of the shorter titles might be an artefact of some higher journal impact related attribute (perhaps editorial or peer review process).”
All the articles we found supported this tip.
Thomas S. Jacques & Neil J. Sebire
2
2010
Generalist & Specialist Medicine
Small sample size: Looked at 25 most cited and 25 least cited articles in Lancet, BMJ and Journal of Clinical Pathology.
Maarten van Wesel, Sally Wyatt, Jeroen ten Haaf
1606
2013
sociology, general & internal medicine, applied physics
Sociology & Applied Physics, shorter title = more citations; General & Internal Medicine, longer title = more citations
Staša Milojević
9
2017
Astronomy, Mathematics, Robotics, Ecology, and Economics
More cited articles tend to have longer titles and more often contain subtitles in Astronomy and Ecology. No impact from aggressive / assertive titles vs ones that just state conclusion or ask question.
Anupama Annalingam, Hasitha Damayanthi, Ranil Jayawardena, and Priyanga Ranasinghe
5-6
2014
Sri Lankan medical research
Hamid R. Jamali & Mahsa Nikzad
657-658
2011
Life and Medical Sciences
2172 articles included in the study. Found that articles with longer titles tend to get fewer downloads but did not find a significant correlation between title length and number of citations. Using a question (interrogative) for the title received more downloads, but fewer citations. A declarative title (describes the conclusion) received fewer downloads and citations than a descriptive title (describe content but don't include conclusion).
Fatemeh Rostami, Asghar Mohammadpoorasl, and Mohammad Hajizadeh
2010
2013
Addictive Behavior
Small sample size: only looks at a single volume of 1 journal. Colon or hyphen in title received more citations. Title length had no impact. Using different keywords in the title and body led to more citations.
Fereshteh Didegah & Mike Thelwall
Abstract
2013
Biology and Biochemistry, Chemistry & Social Sciences
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