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Jeff Robens, PhD
Senior Editor29 November 2012
Raising Your Chances of
Publication Success
Download from: edanzediting.co.jp/tokyo2012
About Jeff…
Researcher
Teacher
Mentor
Author
Peer reviewer
Senior Editor
� Reading strategies
� Good experimental design
� Manuscript structure
� Display items
� Journal selection
� Evaluating Significance
� Cover letters
� Responding to peer review
Today’s presentation …
Before your start
Section 1
Before you start …
Self-assess knowledge of topic
Read Title and Abstract first
Strategies for reading
Have you read similar papers?
Familiar with the terminology?
Do you understand the relevance
of the hypothesis
Before you start …
Read Figures and Results
Read Discussion for interpretation
Self-assess knowledge of topic
Read Title and Abstract first
Refer to Introduction and
Methods if necessary
Strategies for reading
Read last paragraph of introduction
for hypothesis/objectives
Before you start …
Good
Experimental
Design
Good
Experimental
Design
Relevant
hypothesis
Relevant
hypothesis
Appropriate
methodology
Appropriate
methodology
Proper
analysis
Proper
analysis
Accurate
conclusions
Accurate
conclusions
Consult a statistician
What is the association?
Present
quickly
and
efficiently
Present
quickly
and
efficiently
Take time
to build
suspense
Take time
to build
suspense
Structuring your
manuscript
Section 2
Structuring your
manuscript Telling a story
�Beginning
� ‘tell them what you did and why’
�Middle
� ‘tell them how you did it and what you found’
�End
� ‘tell them again what you did and what it means’.
Structuring your
manuscript IMRaD
� Abstract
� Introduction
� Methods
� Results
� and
� Discussion
The beginning
The end
The middle
Structuring your
manuscript
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Discussion
Methods
Results
The ‘write’ order
After selecting target journal
During your research
Write last
Abstracts General Guide
Aims
Background
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Why the study was done (20%)
Your hypothesis (10%)
Techniques (10%)
Most important findings (40%)
Conclusion & implications (20%)
Structuring your
manuscript
�Sufficient background information
�Puts your work into context
�Comprehensive literature review
�Cite reviews
Introduction
General
Specific
Structuring your
manuscript Methods
� Subheadings with multiple methods
� New methods must be described in sufficient
detail that they can be reproduced
� Established methods can be referenced
Structuring your
manuscript
� Past tense to describe your results
� Do not explain the results
� Avoid duplicating data among figures, tables
and text
Results
Structuring your
manuscript Display items
� Present a large amount of data quickly and
efficiently
�Keep it simple — use separate panels if
necessary
� Label all parts of your figures
� Legends must be able to ‘stand alone’
Structuring your
manuscript
)
Abbreviations
defined
Clear concise legend/caption
Data
formatted
for clarity
Tables
Structuring your
manuscript Figures
Axes labeled
Clear, ‘stand
alone’ legend
Scale bars
Structuring your
manuscript Discussion
BeginningBeginning
MiddleMiddle
EndEnd
Summarize key findings
State major conclusion
Summarize key findings
State major conclusion
Restate major conclusion
Applications/implications
Suggest future work
Restate major conclusion
Applications/implications
Suggest future work
Interpret results in context of other
studies
Describe limitations
Interpret results in context of other
studies
Describe limitations
What is the theme?
Impact factorImpact factor Publishing frequencyPublishing frequency
Open accessOpen accessReadershipReadership
Aims/scopeAims/scope
Journal
Selection
Journal
Selection
Journal selection
Section 3
Journal selectionFactors to consider
� Aims and scope
� Readership
� Publishing frequency
� Open access
� Impact factor
Which factor is most important to you?
Journal selectionEvaluating significance
NoveltyNovelty
RelevanceRelevance
AppealAppeal
Are your findings:
Incremental advances?
Conceptual advances?
Are your findings:
Incremental advances?
Conceptual advances?
Are your findings:
In an area of popular appeal?
Are your findings:
In an area of popular appeal?
Are your findings:
Geographically/ethnically specific?
Relevant to the human condition?
Are your findings:
Geographically/ethnically specific?
Relevant to the human condition?
Journal selectionJournal Advisor
Cover Letters
Section 4
Coverage and
Staffing PlanCover Letters
What do
journal editors want?
What do
journal editors want?
High quality research
Good design
Well executed
High quality research
Good design
Well executed
Original and novelOriginal and novel
Interesting to
journal’s readership
Interesting to
journal’s readership
Clear and concise
English
Clear and concise
English
Coverage and
Staffing PlanCover Letters
Abstract:
First impression for readers
Abstract:
First impression for readers
Cover letter:
First impression for journal editors
Cover letter:
First impression for journal editors
Significance
Relevance
Significance
Relevance
Level of EnglishLevel of EnglishRecommend
reviewers?
Recommend
reviewers?
Why your work
is important!
Why your work
is important!
Coverage and
Staffing PlanCover Letters
Dear Editor-in-Chief,
I am sending you our manuscript entitled “Techniques to detect
entanglement in cats” by Schrodinger et al. We would like to have the
manuscript considered for publication in Quantum Theory Frontiers.
Please let me know of your decision at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely yours,
Albert Einstein, PhD
Bad example
Not personalNot personal
Too shortToo short
No information about
the manuscript
No information about
the manuscript
Coverage and
Staffing PlanCover Letters
Dear Dr Graeber,
Please find enclosed our manuscript entitled “Amyloid-like inclusions in the brains of Huntington’s disease patients”, by
McGowan et al., which we would like to submit for publication as a Research Paper in Neurogenetics.
Recent immunohistochemical studies have revealed the presence of neuronal inclusions containing an N-terminal portion of
the mutant huntingtin protein and ubiquitin in the brain tissues of Huntington’s disease (HD) patients; however, the role of
these inclusions in the disease process has remained unclear. One suspected disease-causing mechanism in Huntington’s
disease and other polyglutamine disorders is the potential for the mutant protein to undergo a conformational change to a
more stable anti-parallel β-sheet structure…
To confirm if the immunohistochemically observed huntingtin- and ubiquitin-containing inclusions display amyloid features, we
performed Congo red staining and both polarizing and confocal microscopy on post-mortem human brain tissues obtained
from five HD patients, two AD patients, and two normal controls. Congo red staining revealed a small number of amyloid-like
inclusions showing green birefringence by polarized microscopy, in a variety of cortical regions.... ….detected inclusions
observed in parallel sections, suggesting that only a relatively small proportion of inclusions in HD adopt an amyloid-like
structure.
We believe our findings will be of particular interest to the readership of Neurogenetics, which includes researchers and
clinicians studying the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, we feel that your
journal provides the most suitable platform for the dissemination of our work to the research community.
Please address all correspondence to….
Give the
background to
the research
What was
done and what
was found
Interest to
journal’s readers
A good cover letter
Coverage and
Staffing PlanCover Letters General rules
General rulesGeneral rules
Manuscript title/
Publication type
Manuscript title/
Publication type
Corresponding
author details
Corresponding
author details
Backround,
rationale, results
Backround,
rationale, results
Address editor
personally
Address editor
personally
Why are your
findings important?
Why are your
findings important?
“Must-have”
statements
“Must-have”
statements
Peer Review
Section 5
Peer ReviewImproves your manuscript
� Peer review is a positive process
� Improves science
� Recommend to get involved in the peer
review process
http://www.springer.com/authors/
journal+authors/peer-review-academy
Peer Review
Point-by-point
RevisionRevision
Be politeBe politeRespond to
every comment
Respond to
every comment
Easy to see
changes
Easy to see
changes
Refer to line and page numbers
Use a different color font
Highlight the text
Peer Review
� Conduct additional experiments and
analyses as suggested
� If this is impossible, you must explain why
� You can disagree with reviewers, but
provide evidence (cite references)
� Comply with deadlines
Revision
Peer Review
Dear Dr. _____________: [address editor by name]
Thank you for your consideration of our manuscript
entitled _____________ [insert manuscript title]. We
have reviewed the comments of the reviewers and have
thoroughly revised the manuscript. We found the
comments helpful, and believe our revised manuscript
represents a significant improvement over our initial
submission.
In response to the reviewers’ suggestions we have
[summarize the key changes here]
The response –point-by-point
Peer Review
Reviewer Comment: In your analysis of the data you have chosen
to use a somewhat obscure fitting function (regression). In my
opinion, a simple Gaussian function would have sufficed.
Moreover, the results would be more instructive and easier to
compare to previous results.
Response: We agree with the reviewer’s assessment of the
analysis. Our tailored function makes it impossible to fully interpret
the data in terms of the prevailing theories. In addition, in its
current form it would be difficult to tell that this measurement
constitutes a significant improvement over previously reported
values. We have redone the analysis using a Gaussian fitting
function.
Agreement
Peer Review
Reviewer Comment: In your analysis of the data you have chosen
to use a somewhat obscure fitting function (regression). In my
opinion, a simple Gaussian function would have sufficed.
Moreover, the results would be more instructive and easier to
compare to previous results.
Response: We agree with the reviewer that a simple Gaussian fit
would facilitate comparison with the results of other studies.
However, our tailored function allows for the analysis of the data
in terms of the Smith model [Smith et al, 1998]. We have added
two sentences to the paper (page 3 paragraph 2) to explain the
use of this function and Smith’s model.
Disagreement
Avoiding Rejection
Section 4
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
Rationale and aims
not stated
Citations
Inappropriate data
presentation
Poor grammar
and style
Journal requirements
not met
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
� Clearly and explicitly stated
� Why did you do it?
� Why is it important?
Rationale and aims
not stated
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
� Research not appropriate for
the aims/scope of the journal
� Author guidelines not followed
� Formatting
Journal requirements
not met
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
Citations
Self-citations Old/irrelevant
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
Citations
• Broadly from different research groups
• Couple older seminal papers
• Couple review articles
• Mostly recent original articles
• Field-dependent
• Cell biology – within the last 2-3 years
Cite properly
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
� Clear and concise English
� No speling or grammatical errors
� Short sentences, easier to understand
Poor grammar
and style
spelling
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: the manuscript
� Illogical representation
� Duplication of results
� Too much data
� Raw data
Inappropriate data
presentation
Avoiding Rejection Reasons for rejection: other
Inappropriate journal
selected
Unlucky timingUnlucky timing
Thank you!
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