Category: update

Over the past two decades, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has evolved from a lab novelty into a widely used tool in cognitive neuroscience and clinical research. As fNIRS finds uses in everything from methodological advances to clinical diagnosis, from social neuroscience to child development, the number of publications has expanded at an exponential pace.

（Source: https://www.storkapp.me/meta/）

With that vitality comes information overload:

• The literature keeps expanding, but the number of papers one can read thoroughly is limited.

• Updates arrive in fragments, making it hard to see the bigger picture.

• A small oversight can mean missing findings directly relevant to your work.

To help researchers stay ahead with the latest trends in research, Stork offers a free fNIRS Frontiers Weekly Newsletter. Each issue is a concise, structured summarizes of all fNIRS-related papers published in the past week—sent straight to your inbox every Sunday afternoon (US time).

Key benefits:

1. Skip manual searches – Save hours each week; no need to comb through multiple databases.

2. Stay current – Keep up with the latest discoveries, methodological advances, and applications worldwide.

3. Never miss breakthroughs – Catch important results in your subfield or adjacent areas.

4. Thematic integration – Not just a list: studies are grouped by topic (e.g., similar methods or questions) for a clearer overview.

5. One-click details – Authors’ names are hyperlinked; click to jump straight to the paper’s page (abstract/full text) without extra searching.

6. Language flexibility – Receive the newsletter      in English or Chinese—your choice.

This makes it easy to catch up quickly. You can look across themes to get a sense of the whole field. Or, if you only care about one corner of fNIRS, you can just follow that small theme. Either way, it saves you time and helps you spot the updates that matter most, right when you need them.

Subscribe: https://www.storkapp.me/readingguide/

Stork's free feature sends you the latest papers based on your own keywords. To make it easier for you to keep up the latest research, Stork has added:

• Translations of titles and abstracts into your language

• Figures for some open access papers showed in the alert emails

• Reading Guide to help you quickly grasp the content

① More complete introduction
Each summary now mentions the research team and the journal. Example: “A study in Neurophotonics by Li Sheng from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University provided evidence…” You can also click the author's name to go directly to the article page.

②From “abstract summary” to “insightful commentary”
Reading Guide doesn't just restate methods and results—it points out the why it matters and how it was done, highlighting innovation, theoretical value, or practical implications.

③ New subheadings for clarity
Each topic begins with a short headline (e.g., “Brain Function in Motor Control and Learning”, “Social Interaction and Emotional Processing”), so you can quickly scan and focus on what interests you.

With denser information and a friendlier structure, the upgraded Reading Guide helps you cut through the noise and spot the most valuable studies in less time.

【How to use】

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), once issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gather ideas on how to advance research on ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).

They invited researchers, clinicians, patients, and advocates worldwide to share their thoughts. The collected feedback was compiled into a public document full of practical suggestions — from creating national patient registries and improving biobanks, to fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations and developing wearable data collection tools.

You can read the full document here: https://www.ninds.nih.gov/sites/default/files/migrate-documents/mecfs_2019_rfi_q3_resources_tools_to_enable_research_508c_1.pdf

And here's the exciting part: Among the feedback about research resources, tools, and materials, someone specifically recommended:

Yes — Stork was highlighted as a go-to tool for staying on top of the latest academic publications. For researchers in fast-moving fields like ME/CFS, timely access to new findings is critical.

Stork's alerts aren't limited to ME/CFS: once you set your keywords, it delivers matching research paper straight to your inbox—including key figures from papers — so you can quickly decide which ones are worth a closer look.

⭐ Research is moving faster than ever — keeping up with new publications shouldn't feel like a burden. Try Stork and supercharge your research productivity!

Stork's Writing Assistant can help you with text polishing, grammar correction, and paragraph expansion, while also offering a Word Add-in for a smoother writing experience.

 【User Reviews】

 【How to use】

Writing Assistant is an advanced feature offered by Stork (free trial is available). After registering/logging into Stork (https://www.storkapp.me), you can find Writing Assistant under the "Advanced Feature" section. Then you can try it out or subscribe. Alternatively, you can visit Writing Assistant website directly at https://www.storkapp.me/writeassistant/

Every researcher has been faced a blank page at some stage of their career, wondering where to start and what to write first. Describing research work in a format that is comprehensible to others, and acceptable for publication is no easy task.

The good news is that writing a strong scientific paper follows a clear roadmap.  Here, we combine wisdom from Nature and other top publications to  explain the most important parts of a paper and how to write them.

Before you start writing your article, it is important to do some preparatory work. Firstly, when designing your research, you should read and review the literature in that field. A literature review should involve critical analysis to help you accomplish the following tasks:

• Demonstrating knowledge of prior work

• Identifying research gaps

• Forming specific research questions

• Positing the new research

• Contributing to theory development

It is helpful to take notes of important points or phrases that you intend to include in your article, with the relevant references.

Additionally, you should identify the target journal in which you intend to submit your research. This decision will impact the formatting and the direction of your writing style.

The vast majority of scientific journals follow the so-called 'IMRAD' format, i.e. introduction, methods, results and discussion.  Added to this will be the abstract and the title. At the end, there must be a list of bibliographic references, the tables, and the legends to any figures. Finally, there may also be some other optional sections, such as acknowledgements, conflicts of interest or authors' contributions.

(1)  Introduction

In the absence of any explicit recommendations, it is considered that the introduction should be around one to one and a half pages. Pointers for the tense to use in the introduction are given below:

(2)  Methods

The objective of the methods section is to describe exactly what you did, and how, in sufficient detail such that any average reader with the same resources at their disposal would be able to reproduce your study.

Concretely, you must specify the study design, subjects, and the methods for data collection and analysis. A statement regarding ethical approval and informed consent is mandatory. The statistical analysis must be described in detail, including the software used, the level of significance, and the specific analytical methods employed.

(3)  Results

The aim of the results section is to describe what you observed, without commentary or discussion. It is best practice to present the results in the same order as the analyses were introduced in the Methods section. For each analysis, report the corresponding test statistic (e.g., t, F, χ²), degrees of freedom (if applicable), p-value, and effect size (e.g., Cohen's d, η², Cramér's V).

If certain results are already clearly presented in a table or figure, they should not be redundantly described in the text.

(4)  Discussion

The discussion should start with a brief recap of the main findings of your study, preferably using the same formulation as that used for the primary objective. Building upon this, the results must be interpreted within the context of existing literature, proposing plausible mechanisms or theoretical explanations for the observations.

Simultaneously, the discussion should frankly acknowledge the study's limitations and use them as a basis to suggest promising avenues for future research.

Finally, it is crucial to emphasize the novel contributions of the present findings, underscoring their significance for theoretical development.

The title and abstract are placed first but should be written last. They must precisely encapsulate the essence of the complete paper.

Articles with clear, succinct, declarative titles are more likely to get picked up by social media or the popular press.

Here is a basic guidelines of the article structure:

Scientific writing requires both clear structure and a compelling narrative. Even the best discovery may be overlooked if reviewers and readers cannot engage with the story.

(1)  State your case with confidence

Clarity is the sole obligation of the science writer. There is a German concept known as the 'red thread', which is the straight line that the audience follows from the introduction to the conclusion. Writing that sounds defensive, with too many caveats and long lists will obscure your 'red thread'.

A clear message in scientific writing is essential to avoid misinterpretations; this becomes even more important when the work comes from a multidisciplinary group of authors.

Key information belongs in the main text, while supplementary data should be separated to avoid distraction. 

(3) Beware the curse of  'zombie nouns'

We should engage readers' emotions and avoid formal, impersonal 'zombie nouns' like 'implementation' and 'application'.

'Zombie nouns': The implementation of the method was carried out in our lab.

Vivid language: We implemented the method in our lab.

Scientific writing should be factual, concise and evidence-based, but that doesn't mean it can't also be creative. The next time you're faced with a blank page, take a moment to ask yourself: What is the central question I want to answer? What are my key findings? And am I ready to tell a clear, coherent, and compelling story?

If you've thought through these points, then even if your first paragraph feels clumsy, you've already taken the most important step toward writing a strong scientific paper.

If you've been with Stork for a while, you probably know our tradition:

To make things easier, we built a public page showcasing papers that have cited Stork (https://www.storkapp.me/citations.php). It’s a handy place to:

• Check how others format their citations

• See which studies and topics Stork has been      used in

Now we’ve made it even better. The page includes a Q&A box where you can:

• Ask for a summary of Stork’s citation info

• Get the exact citation format for your paper

• Search for specific cases (e.g., “Which review      articles have cited Stork?”)

No more scrolling through lists to find the answer—you ask, it answers. If an article is mentioned, you can click the author/year to see full details.

If you're currently unaffiliated with any institution and you may ask these common questions:

• I'm on a gap year / freelancing / between jobs — can I still submit a paper?

• What should I fill in the "Affiliation" field if I'm not employed by a university?

• Will reviewers or editors reject my paper because I have "no institution"?

Don’t worry. The answer is — Yes, you absolutely can publish. And in fact, many journals explicitly welcome independent contributors.

Yes.

Major publishers like Elsevier, Springer, IEEE, and Wiley do not require authors to be institutionally affiliated. As long as your work meets academic standards and peer review expectations, it will be evaluated on its merit — not on your title or affiliation.

Many publishers include disclaimers like:

"Remaining neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. "

Here are four accepted ways to identify yourself in journal submission systems:

This is the most common and widely accepted format.

For example, IOP Publishing and Cambridge University Press both explicitly accept "Independent Researcher" or "Independent Scholar" as valid affiliations.

Example

You can find real examples of published papers using this affiliation by searching "Independent Researcher[Affiliation]" in Stork's PubMed Multi-language Search, Translate & Alert. Set your native language, and the results will appear in both English and your chosen language side by side.

While not officially listed in many author guidelines, terms like "Freelance Researcher," "Independent Consultant," or "Freelance Scientist" are used successfully by many independent academics.

A bibliometric analysis has shown these labels are among the top alternative affiliations found in published articles.

Example

If you've registered your own research business (LLC, consultancy, or nonprofit), you can list it as your affiliation. This is especially helpful when collaborating with clients, offering research services, or applying for grants.

Example

Example

However, most journal editors advise not leaving the field blank. It's important to remain identifiable and contactable.

No, not officially.

Most journals use double-blind peer review, meaning reviewers don't see author names or affiliations at all.

Even in single-blind systems (where reviewers see your identity), editors are bound by ethical guidelines that prohibit discrimination based on race, nationality, gender, or institutional affiliation.

In short, your paper will be judged by its quality — not your badge.

⭐  Paper Quality Matters More Than Ever

Without institutional prestige, your work needs to speak for itself. Be rigorous in methodology, clarity, and originality.

⭐  Provide a Professional Email

A working email is essential for correspondence. Some journals may ask for a mailing address too.

⭐  Be Prepared for Publication Fees

If you submit to open access journals, article processing charges (APCs) may apply — and you’ll likely need to cover them yourself unless you have external funding.

Having no formal affiliation ≠ no right to publish
Being an independent researcher ≠ being less valuable

All you need is:
✔ A well-written, meaningful manuscript
✔ Clear, honest author information
✔ Good communication with the journal

And you can make your mark in the academic world.

If you're an "atypical scholar" walking an unconventional path — know that you're not alone.

Share your story below, or tag a friend who might find this helpful.

Stork's Writing Assistant can help you with text polishing, grammar correction, and paragraph expansion, while also offering a Word Add-in for a smoother writing experience.

Big Analysis and Citation Network can support literature analysis:

• Big Analysis allows a researcher to quickly understand all aspects of a field's progress in a matter of minutes, including growth trends, geographic distribution, experts (and their contact information), genes, diseases, brain regions, etc.

• Citation Network allows researchers to quickly identify the classic/important papers in a field within a few minutes and do more research with less effort.

 【User Reviews】

 【How to use】

Writing Assistant, Big Analysis, and Citation Network are advanced features offered by Stork (free trial is available). After registering/logging into Stork (https://www.storkapp.me), you can find them under the "Advanced Feature" section. Then you can try it out or subscribe. Alternatively, you can visit Writing Assistant website directly at https://www.storkapp.me/writeassistant/, Big Analysis at  https://www.storkapp.me/meta/, and Citation Network at https://www.storkapp.me/citenet/.

The struggle is real:

"I finished my paper—now where should I submit it? "
"Got rejected again… what other journals might work?"

Turns out, finishing the paper is only half the battle. Finding the right journal is always a challenge.

To save you from endless second-guessing, we created Journal Finder—a tool that helps you quickly identify journals that fit your work.

Our tool has two modes:

1. Journal Recommendation

Enter your title, abstract, and keywords, and the Journal Finder will recommend a ranked list of relevant journals. You'll see Relevance score, JCR zone, OA status, Average publications per year and Average days to accept. Click on journal names to visit their official sites directly!

The recommended journals are initially ranked by how closely your abstract aligns with each journal's aims and scope. You can also re-sort the list by JCR Zone or other metrics if needed.

Click "Related Reference" to see papers similar to yours.

2. Journal Search

Even if you're not submitting right now, you can search for any journal by name to view its key metrics.

This feature is especially helpful for:

• PhD students & early-career researchers who are new to the journal landscape

• Cross-disciplinary author who aren't sure which journal fits best

• Clinician-researchers with limited time for journal scouting

• Anyone with specific ranking requirements      (e.g., for funding or promotion)

• Those in a hurry to publish, who want to check average turnaround time

Let Journal Finder take care of the journal hunt—so you can focus on writing great paper.

Journal Finder is an advanced feature offered by Stork (free trial is available). After registering/logging into Stork (https://www.storkapp.me), you can find Journal Finder under the "Advanced Feature" section. Then you can try it out or subscribe. Alternatively, you can visit Journal Finder website directly at https://www.storkapp.me/aijournal/.

We're still in beta and free to try, a we'd love your feedback!

Title: A Nanoplatform Targeting Cascade Pathways for Enhanced Triptolide Delivery in Acute Kidney Injury Therapy

Journal: Advanced Healthcare Materials (IF = 9.6)

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/adhm.202500595

Title: Enhanced Renal Protection in Acute Kidney Injury with ROS-Activated Nanoparticles Targeting Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

Journal: ACS Applied Nano Materials (IF =5.5)

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.4c01917

Title: Geniposide-Loaded Mitochondria-Targeted Liposomes for Treatment of Myocardial Ischemia

Journal: ACS Applied Nano Materials (IF = 5.5)

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.5c01093

Stork's Writing Assistant can help you with text polishing, grammar correction, and paragraph expansion, while also offering a Word Add-in for a smoother writing experience.

 【User Reviews】

 【How to use】

Writing Assistant is an advanced feature offered by Stork (free trial is available). After registering/logging into Stork (https://www.storkapp.me), you can find Writing Assistant under the "Advanced Feature" section. Then you can try it out or subscribe. Alternatively, you can visit Writing Assistant website directly at https://www.storkapp.me/writeassistant/