20140619 Edanz Kyushu Session 3

Jeffrey Robens, PhD Senior Research Consultant

Education Group Leader

Kyushu University Department of Agriculture

Session 3 – Academic publishing

Kyushu University

19 June 2014

Seminar series

June 5 Effective presentations

June 12 Reviewing the literature

June 19 Academic publishing

June 26 Research and publication ethics

July 3 Effective writing

July 10 Manuscript structure

July 17 Communicating with journals

July 24 Peer review and revisions

Today’s presentation

June 5 Effective presentations

June 12 Reviewing the literature

June 19 Academic publishing

June 26 Research and publication ethics

July 3 Effective writing

July 10 Manuscript structure

July 17 Communicating with journals

July 24 Peer review and revisions

Importance of publishing

Section 1

Customer Service Importance of publishing

Why English?

International language of academics

International reputation

Career advancement

Overseas research


Publication success = Academic success

S

Publication Metrics and Success on the Academic Job Market van Dijk et al. Current Biology. 2014; 24: R516-R517.

• >25,000 researchers in PubMed • Determined which factors positively correlated

with becoming a PI

Publication rate Especially in first few years

Impact factor Become PI more quickly

Citations Can helps those with low IFs

University rank Especially post-doc > PhD

Gender Men have better chances


Writing a manuscript – 4 common myths

S

My manuscript is a written record of my findings

My findings speak for themselves, even if the manuscript is written poorly

Good English means only grammar and spelling

Complex words makes my writing more impressive

Your manuscript is to communicate your findings

You need a well-written manuscript to effectively communicate your findings

Complex words makes your writing more difficult to understand

Good English means clear English with high readability


Writing a manuscript – 4 common myths

S

My manuscript is a written record of my findings

My findings speak for themselves, even if the manuscript is written poorly

Good English means only grammar and spelling

Complex words makes my writing more impressive

Publishing process

Section 2

Publication process The submission process

Accepted—publication!

Editor Author

Peer review

Reject

Results novel? Topic relevant?

Revision • New experiments • Improve readability • Add information

Publication process How long does it take?

Submission Peer

review Revision Publication

~1 week 4–6 weeks 0–8 weeks ?

How can I make the process quicker?

3–12 months

• Follow author guidelines • Prepare a cover letter • Recommend reviewers

• Fully revise manuscript • Respond to all comments

• Evaluation • Finding

reviewers

Publication process Type of journals

Broad vs narrow- focused journals

International vs regional journals

Broad (General) Findings have implications across fields

Narrow (Specialized) Findings have field-specific implications

International Findings have worldwide implications

Regional Findings are restricted by geographical

or ethnic boundaries

Publication process

Research Article

Short Communication Case Report Technical Note Review Article Editorial Letter to the Editor

Brief report about a specific finding

Most common; full-length paper

Brief report about a specific patient

Brief report about a new methodology

Summary of recent advances in a field

Brief discussion about an interesting topic

Brief discussion about a published article

Type of articles

Publication process Publication models

Subscription-based

• Mostly free for the author • Reader has to pay

Open access • Free for the reader • Author usually has to pay

Hybrid • Subscription-based journal • Has open access options

Publication process Open access models

Green

• Repository at university or public (PubMed Central)

• Often deposited post-publication

• May be embargo period

Gold • Open access journal • Author may have to pay

Publication process Open access

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcbiol/about#openaccess

Online-only

Subscription journals –

publisher is the copyright

holder

¥270,000!

Publication process Open access myths

Open access is too expensive!

• Not all OA journals charge a publication fee (~1/3)

• Many grants (59%) and universities (24%) pay for OA

fees (only 12% of authors paid)*

• May offer waiver for authors who cannot afford

*SOAP survey: http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.5260

Publication process Open access myths

The quality of OA journals is not good

• OA journals have the same peer review process as subscription-based journals

• IFs are lower partly because they are newer

Less visibility in the field Fewer citations

Publication process Predatory journals

Some OA journals are not good

Easy way to get money from authors

• Promise quick and easy publication • Often ask for a ‘submission/handling’ fee

If you are ever unsure, please check the Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers

http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/06/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2013/

Publication process Trustworthy journals

Reputable publisher Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, PLoS, etc.

Editorial board International and familiar

Indexed Indexed by common databases

Authors Do you recognize the authors?

Fees Only paid after acceptance

What journal editors are looking for

Section 3

What journal editors want

What do international journal editors want?

Interesting to journal’s readership

Increase impact

High quality research

Original and novel research

Clear and concise English

Real-world applications


Relevant topic

Significant results

Logical presentation

High readability

Addresses an important problem researchers are facing

Findings that advance the knowledge in the field

Information and results clearly presented in a logical manner

Ideas are easily understood

Qualities of a highly cited article


Submissions

Plagiarism

Data manipulation

Authorship

Only submit to one journal at a time

Paraphrase and cite all sources

No not fabricate or falsify data

• Study design • Data acquisition/analysis • Writing of the manuscript

Publication ethics

Conflicts of interest

Disclose any financial or personal relationships

Identifying research trends

Section 4

Research trends Where to identify research trends?

S

Journals

• Most read/cited • Special issues • Editorials • Review articles

Meetings

• Section topics • Oral presentations • Testing ground for

appeal

Research trends Journals

S

Most read/cited articles

Research trends

S

Most read/cited articles

Journals

Research trends

S

Special issues

Journals

Research trends

S

Editorials

Journals

Research trends

S

Editorials

Read to stay up-to-date with journal editor’s interests

Journals

Research trends

S

Review articles

Journals

Research trends Conferences

S

Section topics

Research trends

S

Section topics

Conferences

Research trends

S

Attendees reactions

Response to other’s oral and poster presentations Which topics are of current interest

Response to your oral and poster presentations How interesting is your topic?

Many people present at conferences before writing their manuscripts

Conferences

Activity 1

You have completed a study demonstrating a more efficient method of producing yin choy (苋菜, amaranthus dubius, or red spinach), an agricultural product in China. Which two of the following journals may be appropriate for your study? What would you need to emphasize in your manuscript to make it appropriate for the specific journal? 1. The Journal of Agricultural Science 2. Current Agricultural Research Journal 3. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology 4. China Agriculture Economic Review

Activity 1

You have completed a study demonstrating a more efficient method of producing yin choy (苋菜, amaranthus dubius, or red spinach), an agricultural product in China.

• Which two of the following journals may be appropriate for your study?

• What would you need to emphasize in your manuscript to make it appropriate for the specific journal?

1. The Journal of Agricultural Science 2. Current Agricultural Research Journal 3. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology 4. China Agriculture Economic Review

Potentially predatory and poorly indexed

Activity 1

The Journal of Agricultural Science

“The Journal of Agricultural Science publishes papers concerned with the advance of agriculture and the use of land resources throughout the world…”

Will need to emphasize how your study is applicable to the production of other similar

vegetables found worldwide

Activity 1

China Agricultural Economic Review

“China Agricultural Economic Review…provides a unique and insightful approach to documenting and disseminating research into the economics of agriculture, rural development, natural resources and the environment. …”

Need to emphasize the economic value of your method compared with that of other

commonly used methods

Activity 2

While working on your research project, you optimized one of the methods used in your experiments. You are very excited how well it now works after your optimization! You think it would be good to (A) publish this new technique first, and then publish the research project later. You ask your colleague about it, but he recommends that you continue with your research project, and then publish all the findings together in a one larger paper (B). When would it be better to do (A) versus (B)? If you choose (A), what type of articles would you write? What type of article would (B) be?

Activity 2

Option (A): • First publish paper about methodology • Second publish research project

Why types of articles?

1. Technical Note/Methodology Article 2. Research Article/Brief Communication

Why choose (A?) • Main reason: competition • New method important for the field

Activity 2

Option (B): • Wait and publish everything together

Why types of articles?

• Research Article

Why choose (B)?

• No competition • Usually can submit to higher IF journal • Will have higher impact in the field • Will have more citations

True or False

1. As long as your figures and data are clear, the English is not important to understand the significance of your work.

2. The quality of an open-access article can be equal to that of a subscription-based journal.

3. Conferences are a good place to identify new trends in your field.

4. Early in your career, it is important to publish many review articles to establish yourself as an expert in the field.

5. There are several things authors can do to make the publication process quicker.

6. Open access means that it is free to publish.

T

T

T

F

F

F

Fill-in Exercises

1. If the journal editor thinks your manuscript may be suitable for their journal, they will send it for ______________ to be evaluated by experts in your field.

2. When evaluating research trends in journals, you should look at which articles are most read/cited, special issues, ___________, and _______________.

3. There are three things that journal editors are looking for when evaluating a new manuscript: (1) __________, (2) _________________, and (3) _____________.

peer review

Editorials Review Articles

novelty reader’s interest clear English

Fill-in Exercises

4. In a journal with a ‘hybrid’ publishing model, you can choose to have your manuscript published subscription-based (where only those with subscriptions can read it) or ______________.

5. Complex words make your writing _________________________.

open access

more difficult to understand

Thank you!

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Jeffrey Robens: [email protected]