A corpus-based move analysis of highly-cited biochemistry research articles in high-impact Scopus journals

Abstract

Rhetorically well-structured manuscripts are crucial for achieving successful publication in high-impact international journals. While a plethora of studies have explored the rhetorical structures of research articles across disciplines, scant attention has been given to the move-step patterns in highly cited biochemistry articles. Addressing this gap, the present study examines the rhetorical organization of 30 biochemistry research articles indexed in Scopus to identify structural conventions that characterize impactful scientific writing. Drawing on a qualitative, corpus-based approach, the analysis applied established models to investigate the rhetorical moves in four key sections: Abstracts, Introductions, Methods, and Results and Discussions. The conventionality of moves and sub-steps was assessed using Kanoksilapatham’s criteria. Findings reveal that all four sections exhibit conventional rhetorical structures: the abstracts contain four moves (introduction, purpose, product, conclusion), the introductions three (establishing a territory, a niche, the present work), the methods one (describing the study), and the results and discussions two (presenting key results, explaining/discussing effects). However, only a subset of the associated sub-steps met the threshold for conventionality. These findings offer a new rhetorical organization of high-impact research articles in biochemistry and practical implications for biochemistry researchers aiming to enhance the rhetorical quality of their manuscripts and increase their chances of successful publication in international journals.