How to write a great research paper and get published
Valerie Teng-Broug - Sr. Publisher Biochemistry
[email protected] Malaysia, February 2017
Overview • •
Publishing Country, Institute
How to get published •
• • •
Before you begin Bibliometrics Writing your paper The review process
Responsibilities of the author (and what not to do)
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Origins of Scholarly Publishing 1439
1580
Gutenberg and Founding moveable type of the House of Elzevir
Henry Oldenburg (1618- 1677) Founding Editor and Commercial Publisher of the first scientific journal
March 6,1665 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society First true scholarly journal
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Scholarly Publishing Today Scientific,Technical and Medical communities around the world are united through STM Publishing
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Role of scientific publications Registration
The timestamp to officially note who submitted scientific results first
Certification
Perform peer-review to ensure the validity and integrity of submissions
Dissemination
Provide a medium for discoveries and findings to be shared
Preservation
Preserving the minutes and record of science for posterity
Use
Promoting and facilitating the use of scholarly information
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Who we serve Publishers support the greater scientific and health communities Researchers
Health Practitioners Faculty & Students
Pharma Companies
Elsevier’s Global Publishing Network 7,000 Editors
Librarians
70,000 Editorial Board Members
Societies
570,000+ Referees
Engineers
650,000+ Authors
Professionals General Public
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Journal publishing models Traditional publishing Authors publish free of charge Institutions or individuals subscribe to journals
Open access publishing Article is made freely available to all online Some journals publish exclusively open
access Other subscription journals offer open access options
Open access
Free and permanent access to scholarly research combined with clear guidelines (user licenses) for users to reuse the content.
Gold open access After submission and peer
Green open access After submission and peer review
review, an article publishing charge (APC) is payable
Upon publication everyone can immediately and permanently access the article online
in a subscription journal, the article is published online
Subscribers have immediate access and the article is made open access either through author self-archiving, publisher deposit or linking.
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Funding Body Agreements
Green agreements Facilitates sustainable green open access Immediate internal posting on repositories Public access to the author accepted manuscript after embargo
Mixed agreement combination of both green and gold
Gold agreements Help establish automation of workflows to streamline author experience Can include reporting to funding organisation on uptake Compliance is higher when combined with clear funding for APCs.
Articles published in Malaysia
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Research performance Malaysia
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Research performance UPM
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Collaboration – UPM
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Overview • •
Publishing Country, Institute
How to get published •
• • •
Before you begin Bibliometrics Writing your paper The review process
Responsibilities of the author (and what not to do)
You want to make sure your article gets the attention it deserves
The volume of research articles is growing at an accelerated pace 40M
For most researchers, it is a real challenge to keep up with the literature
Your job: make sure your article does not fall through the cracks!
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1970
2013
7 hrs/week – average time spend on literature
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Choose the right journal
Aim to reach the intended audience for your work Choose only one journal, as simultaneous submissions are prohibited Supervisor and colleagues can provide good suggestions Shortlist a handful of candidate journals, and investigate them
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Aims Scope Accepted types of articles Readership Current hot topics Articles in your reference list will usually lead you directly to the right journals
Journal Finder
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Verify Authenticity of Journals
http://thinkchecksubmit.org/ 25
Share your knowledge Make your paper stand out from the crowd…
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How do your peers find you online?
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Bibliometric indicators Impact Factor
CiteScore
Eigenfactor
SJR
SNIP
H-Index
Types of Indicators
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Impact Factor Ratio between citations and citable items published in a journal Year 2
Year 1
Citing Year
To all items (regardless of type)
Citations to nonsource items (editorials, letters, news items, book reviews, abstracts) may inflate the Impact Factor
Only source items (‘articles’ and ‘reviews’)
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Impact Factor Citation rates to total journal impact 0 1 Multidisciplinary Biochemistry, Genetics & Molecular Biology Neuroscience Immunology & Microbiology Chemistry Pharmacology, Toxicology & Pharmaceutics Medicine Chemical Engineering Environmental Science Agricultural & Biological Sciences Psychology Earth & Planetary Science Materials Science Physics & Astronomy Nursing Health Professions Energy Computer Science Veterinary Engineering Mathematics Economics, Econometrics & Finance Social Sciences Business, Management & Accounting Arts & Humanities
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3
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5
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Aggregate journal impact factors across 25 fields of research
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CiteScore A
A
A CiteScore 2015 value = B B
Freely available at Journalmetrics.scopus.com Similar to Impact Factor, but considers 3 years All serial types are considered: journals, book series, conference proceedings (over 22,000 titles) CiteScore Tracker is updated monthly
Note: at launch, all titles in the May 2016 title list, and with some documents indexed in 2016, will have CiteScore metrics
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The Eigenfactor Year 5
Year 4
Year 3
Year 2
Year 1
Citing Year
Freely available at eigenfactor.org; on the JCR Similar to Impact Factor, but considers 5 years Self-citations excluded Citations weighted by the EF of the citing journal
Similar calculating process to Google PageRank
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The SCimago Journal Rank Year 3
Year 2
Year 1
Citing Year
Freely available at scimagojr.com; on Scopus Similar to Impact Factor, but considers 3 years Self-citations limited Citations weighted by the SJR of the citing journal
It is based on Scopus data
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Source Normalized Impact per Paper Year 3
Year 2
Year 1
Citing Year
Freely available online via Scopus Similar to Impact Factor, but considers 3 years Measures contextual citation impact Citations weighted by the likelihood of citation in the subject field of source
Devised at the University of Leiden, currently the most sophisticated journal performance indicator
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The H-Index Citations
Hirsch, J. (August 2005) An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output h
h
Paper no.
Freely available online via Scimagojr.com Rates individuals based on career publications Incorporates both quantity and quality Productivity and age constraints 36
Metrics comparison H-Index
CiteScore
EigenFactor SJR
SNIP
H-Index
Started publication in:
Science 34.661
13.12
1.15367
1.127
7.478
915
1880
Nature
38.138
14.38
1.44256
21.936
8.377
948
1869
Cell
28.71
23.62
0.55509
28.188
5.062
616
1974
PLOS One
3.057
3.32
1.81369
1.395
1.044
181
2006
IF
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Your personal reason for publishing Get funding?
PhD degree?
Get promoted?
....?????
However, editors, reviewers, and the research community do not consider these reasons when assessing your work. 38
Determine if you are ready to publish You should consider publishing if you have information that advances understanding in a certain scientific field This could be in the form of: Presenting new, original results or methods Rationalizing, refining, or reinterpreting published results Reviewing or summarizing a particular subject or field If you are ready to publish, a strong manuscript is what is needed next
What is a strong manuscript?
Has a novel, clear, useful, and exciting message
Presented and constructed in a logical manner
Reviewers and editors can grasp the scientific significance easily Editors and reviewers are all busy researchers – make things easy to save everyone’s time
Types of manuscripts Research Element
Letter or short communication
Full Article
Review 41
The importance of language
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Why is language important? Save your editor and reviewers the trouble of guessing what you mean
Complaint from an editor: “[This] paper fell well below my threshold. I refuse to spend time trying to understand what the author is trying to say. Besides, I really want to send a message that they can't submit garbage to us and expect us to fix it. My rule of thumb is that if there are more than 6 grammatical errors in the abstract, then I don't waste my time carefully reading the rest.”
Do publishers correct language?
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Manuscript language: Overview
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Manuscript language: sentences
The average sentence in scientific writing is 14 words. 46
Use: “…we found that…” instead of “…it has been found that there had been…”
Manuscript language: grammar
Please also avoid using: “it’s”, “weren’t” and use “it is” and “were not” instead.
Examples: slowly, carefully, softly. “…due to the fact that…” – “…because…” “…in the case that…” – “…in case…:
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Manuscript language - Tenses
Present: The average life of a honey bee is 6 weeks. Past: The average life span of bees in our contained environment was 8 weeks. 48
General structure of a research article
Title Abstract Keywords Main text (IMRAD) Introduction Methods Results And Discussions Conclusion Acknowledgment References Supplementary Data
Make them easy for indexing and searching! (informative, attractive, effective)
Make your article as concise as possible.
The Process of Writing – Building the Article
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Title
Fewest possible words
Adequately describes content
Identifies main issue
Does not use rarely-used abbreviations
Effective manuscript titles
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Abstract This is the advertisement of your article Make it interesting and understandable
Make it accurate and specific
A clear abstract will strongly influence whether or not your work is considered
Keep it as brief as possible
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Example
Graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) of composition CxN(SO2CF3)2 · δF are prepared under ambient conditions in 48% hydrofluoric acid, using K2MnF6 as an oxidizing reagent. The stage 2 GIC product structures are determined using powder XRD and modeled by fitting one dimensional electron density profiles. A new digestion method followed by selective fluoride electrode elemental analyses allows the determination of free fluoride within products, and the compositional x and δ parameters are determined for reaction times from 0.25 to 500 h.
What has been done
What are the main findings
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Keywords Are used by indexing and abstracting services Are the labels of the manuscript Use only established abbreviations (e.g. DNA) Article Title
Keywords
“An experimental study on evacuated tube solar collector using supercritical CO2”
Solar collector; supercritical CO2; solar energy; solar thermal utilization 55
Introduction Provide a brief context to the readers
Address the problem
Identify the solutions and limitations
What is hoped to be achieved
Consistent with the nature of the journal 56
Methods Describe how the problem was studied Include detailed information Do not describe previously published procedures Identify the equipment and describe materials used
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Ethics committee approval Experiments on humans or animals must follow applicable ethics standards
Approval of the local ethics committee is required and should be specified in the manuscript, covering letter or the online submission system
Editors can make their own decisions on ethics
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Results Be clear and easy to understand
Highlight the main findings Feature unexpected findings Provide statistical analysis
Include illustrations and figures
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Results – illustrations and figures Uncrowded plots
Use color only when necessary
Avoid long tables
Text in photos and figures in English
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Discussion What do the results mean?
Most important section
Make the discussion correspond to the results
You need to compare published results with your own
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Conclusion Should be clear
Provide justification for the work
Advance the present state of knowledge
Provide suggested future experiments
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Acknowledgements
Advisors
Financial Supporters & Funders
Proofreaders & Typists
Suppliers who may have donated materials
Acknowledgements
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References Do not use too many references Always ensure you have fully absorbed material you are referencing Avoid excessive self-citations Avoid excessive citations of publications from the same region or institute Conform strictly to the style given in the guide for authors
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Cover Letter
Submitted along with your manuscript
Your chance to speak to the editor directly
Mention what makes your manuscript special to the journal
Note special requirements (suggest reviewers, conflicts of interest)
Final approval from all authors
Explanation of importance of research
Suggested reviewers 66
Finally submitted….
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The peer review process: an overview Author
Editor
Reviewer
START
Submit a paper
Basic requirements met? [Yes] Assign reviewers [No]
REJECT Revise the paper
Collect reviewers’ recommendations [Reject]
Make a decision
[Revision required] [Accept]
ACCEPT
Review and give recommendation
Types of editorial decisions
Accept
Reject
Minor revision
Major revision
Decisions
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Overview • •
Publishing Country, Institute
How to get published •
• • •
Before you begin Bibliometrics Writing your paper The review process
Responsibilities of the author (and what not to do)
Publish AND Perish! – if you break ethical rules
International scientific ethics have evolved over centuries and are commonly held throughout the world.
Scientific ethics are not considered to have national variants or characteristics – there is a single ethical standard for science.
Ethics problems with scientific articles are on the rise globally.
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The most serious issues Fabrication Making up research data
Falsification Manipulation of existing research data
Plagiarism Previous work taken and passed off as one’s own
These are the 3 most common forms of ethical misconduct that the research community is challenged with
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Types of plagiarism Work that can be plagiarised includes… Words (Language) Ideas Findings Writings Graphic Representations Computer Programs Diagrams
Graphs Illustrations Information Lectures Printed Material Electronic Material Any Other Original Work
Higher Education Academy, UK
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Paraphrasing Paraphrasing is restating someone else's ideas while not copying their actual words verbatim
Unacceptable: Using exact phrases from the original source without enclosing them in quotation marks Emulating sentence structure even when using different words Emulating paragraph organization even when using different wording or sentence structure – Statement on Plagiarism Department of Biology, Davidson College. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/dept/plagiarism.html 74
Can you plagiarize your own work? “Text re-cycling/Self-plagiarism” A grey area, but best to err on the side of caution: always cite/quote even your own previous work
You publish a paper and in a later paper, copy your Introduction word-for word and perhaps a figure or two without citing the first paper Editors may conclude that you intentionally exaggerated your output
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Correct citation is key Crediting the work of others (including your advisor’s or your own previous work) by citation is important for at least three reasons:
To place your own work in context
To acknowledge the findings of others on which you have built your research
To maintain the credibility and accuracy of the scientific literature
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Conflicts of interest They can take many forms: Direct Financial - employment, stock ownership, grants, patents Indirect Financial - honoraria, consultancies, mutual fund ownership, expert testimony Career & Intellectual - promotion, direct rival Institutional Personal Belief
The proper way to handle potential conflicts of interest is through transparency and disclosure. At the journal level, this means disclosure of the potential conflict in your cover letter to the Journal Editor
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Authorship: order and abuses General principles for who is listed first: First Author: • conducts and/or supervises the data analysis and the proper presentation and interpretation of the results • puts paper together and submits the paper to journal Co-Author(s): • makes intellectual contributions to the data analysis and contributes to data interpretation • reviews each paper draft • must be able to present the results, defend the implications and discuss study limitations Abuses to be avoided: Ghost Authors: leaving out authors who should be included Scientific Writers and Gift Authors: including authors when they did not contribute significantly
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Submission A researcher is ready to submit her paper and decides to submit to Science, Nature and Cell at the same time.
A researcher has had his paper rejected by Science and decides to submit it to Nature. Failing that, he plans to submit it to Cell. Failing that, he plans to submit to each journal in his discipline until it is accepted. The first scenario is not acceptable to most research communities and journals The second scenario is acceptable but authors should heed the advice of referees and editors concerning improvements.
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All Stakeholders
Authors
Institutions Companies Agencies Funding Bodies
Publishers/ Journal Editors
Who is really responsible for Ethics?
All Elsevier journals are members of:
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The article of whose authors committed plagiarism: it won’t be removed from ScienceDirect. Everybody who downloads it will see the reason of retraction… 82
Consequences, or how it can end .....
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What leads to acceptance ?
Attention to details Check and double check your work Consider the reviewers’ comments English must be as good as possible Presentation is important Take your time with revision Acknowledge those who have helped you New, original and previously unpublished Critically evaluate your own manuscript Ethical rules must be obeyed – Nigel John Cook
Editor-in-Chief, Ore Geology Reviews
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References and Acknowledgements
Guide for Authors of Elsevier journals. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/index.html Petey Young. Writing and Presenting in English. The Rosetta Stone of Science. Elsevier 2006 EDANZ Editing training materials. 2006 William A. Perrie, Editor-in-Chief Ocean Modelling Jullian Eastoe. Co-editor, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Peter Thrower. Editor-in-chief, Carbon Roel Prins. Editor-in-chief, Journal of Catalysis Nigel Cook. Editor-in-chief, Ore Geology Reviews. Frans P. Nijkamp, Journal of Ethnopharmacology Wilfred CG Peh. Editor, Singapore Medical Journal Malcolm W. Kennedy. Professor, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, UK
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