How to Write Great Papers

How to Write Great Papers Presented by: Ingrid van de Stadt, Regional Marketing Manager, EMEALocation: Universidad de Sevilla Date: 2 February, 2012

What will we cover? • What do publishers do? • history and future • Why publish? • publish or perish? • How to publish? • your paper • How NOT to publish • publishing ethics What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

10000 No of titles launched and still extant 2001 100 1 1665 1765 1865 1965 Year Peer-Reviewed Journal Growth 1665-2001 2011 40 million articles in >23,000 journals by >2,000 publishers Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (London) Source: M A Mabe The number and growth of journals Serials 16(2).191-7, 2003 What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

University of Sevilla – article output

Solicit and manage submissions • Organize editorial boards • Launch new specialist journals Manage peer review Archive and promote Publish and disseminate Edit and prepare Production Journal publishing volume • 600,000+ article submissions per year • 1,000 new editors per year • 20 new journals per year • 200,000 reviewers • 1 million reviewer reports per year • 40%-90% of articles rejected • 11 million articles now available • 11 million researchers • 5,000+ institutions • 180+ countries • 400 million+ downloads per year • 3 million print pages per year • 7,000 editors • 70,000 editorial board members • 6.5 million author/publisher communications /year • 280,000 new articles produced per year • 190 years of back issues scanned, processed and data-tagged What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

What do publishers do? What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Trends in publishing • Rapid conversion from “print” to “electronic” • 1997: print only • 2011: 60% e-only 20% print-plus-electronic 20% print only • Changing concept of journal article - due to e-access • Increased usage of articles, at lower cost per article • Electronic submission • Better connection between authors, editors and reviewers • Experimentation with new publishing models • E.g. “author pays” models, “delayed open access”, etc. What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

What will we cover? • What do publishers do? • history and future • Why do publish? • publish or perish? • How to publish? • your paper • How NOT to publish • publishing ethics What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Your personal reason for publishing However, editors, reviewers, and the research community don’t consider these reasons when assessing your work. Get promoted? Get funding? PhD degree? …??? What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Your personal reason for publishing (2) Researchers: which publishing objectives are most important to you? Sources: NOP/Elsevier surveys 2005 and 2010 Publishers exist to provide highly valued services to researchers What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Always keep in mind that … …. your paper is your passport to your community ! What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Thought Question What is it that distinguishes an excellent article from a poor one? "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."- George Orwell - Animal Farm What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

A good paper always has: good CONTENT – useful and exciting as well as a good PRESENTATION of the data – clear, logical What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Your paper: which type? • Full articles/Original articles; • Letters/Rapid Communications/Short communications; • Review papers/perspectives • Self-evaluate your work: Is it sufficient for a full article? Or are your results so thrilling that they need to be shown as soon as possible? • Ask your supervisor and colleagues for advice on manuscript type. Sometimes outsiders see things more clearly than you. What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Your paper: when to publish? Check the originality of the idea at the very beginning of your research. • Have you REALLY done something new and interesting? • Is there anything challenging in your work? • Is the work directly related to a current hot topic? • Have you provided solutions to any difficult problems? Only when all answers are “yes”, then start preparing your manuscript What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Your paper is worthless if no one reads, uses, or cites it A research study is meaningful only if... • It’s clearly described, so • Someone else can use it in his/her studies • It arouses other scientists’ interest, and • Allows others to reproduce the results By submitting a manuscript you are basically trying to sell your work to your community What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Practical Advice • Evaluate your research area • http://top25.sciencedirect.com/ • http://applications.sciverse.com/ • Journals, authors, publications per year (Scopus) • Evaluate which journal is right for your article • Impact Factor • Alternative metrics (H-index, SNIP, SCImago) • Journal Analyzer (Scopus) • Find out more about the journals • Who are the editors? • Guide for authors IF What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Evaluate your research area – free tools What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Evaluate your research area – in Scopus “Save as Alert”: Remind yourself about the new findings. What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Evaluate your research area – in Scopus • Ancestry Approach: aquiring a research paper and examining its references „backward searching“ • Descendency Approach:identify a paper‘s offspring: those recent publications that reference the earlier work „forward searching“

Review the development of your research area Check the phase in the life-cycle of your research topic. N.B. Decline may be caused by backlog in publication

Do not just “descend the stairs” Top journals Nature, Science, Lancet, NEJM, ...... Field-specific top journals Other field-specific journals National journals Choose the right journal • DO NOT gamble by submitting your manuscript to more than one journal at a time • International ethics standards prohibit multiple/simultaneous submissions, • and editors DO find out! What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Choose a target journal • Useyourownreferences • Check databases to find in whatjournalsmostarticles on yourtopicwerepublished

Is this a prestigious journal? Impact Factor [the average annual number of citations per article published] • For example, the 2008 impact factor for a journal would be calculated as follows: • A = the number of times articles published in 2006 and 2007 were cited in indexed journals during 2008 • B = the number of "citable items" (usually articles, reviews, proceedings or notes; not editorials and letters-to-the-Editor) published in 2006 and 2007 • 2008 impact factor = A/B • e.g. 600 citations = 2 150 + 150 articles What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

SJR and SNIP new journal “metrics” • SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) , is a measure of the scientific prestige of scholarly sources: value of weighted citations per document. A source transfers its own 'prestige', or status, to another source through the act of citing it. • A citation from a source with a relatively high SJR is worth more than a citation from a source with a lower SJR. • Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) measures contextual citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of citations in a subject field. • The impact of a single citation is given higher value in subject areas where citations are less likely, and vice versa. www.journalmetrics.com

Is this a prestigious journal? Other tools of journal evaluation have become available (e.g. in Scopus)

Determine the level of your achievements: h index It is important to remember that current metrics such as the impact factor and the SJR are based on journal evaluation, whereas the h-index accounts for a researcher’s body of work without the influence of other factors Dr. Jorge E. Hirsch, University of San Diego

Assessment often highly based on publications and citations “not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted” Albert Einstein (1879-1955) What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Find out more about your target journal Aims & scope Guide for authors Impact factor What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

One last thing before typing: Read the ‘Guide for Authors’ of the target journal! Again and again! Apply the Guide For Authors to your manuscript, even to the first draft (text layout, paper citation, nomenclature, figures and tables, etc etc). It will save you time, and the editors! http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/howtosubmitpaper What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

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. M. Errami & H. Garner A tale of two citations Nature 451 (2008): 397-399 What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Ethics Issues in Publishing Scientific misconduct • Falsification of results Publication misconduct • Plagiarism • Different forms / severities • The paper must be original to the authors • Duplicate publication • Duplicate submission • Unappropriate acknowledgement of prior research and researchers • Unappropriate identification of all co-authors • Conflict of interest What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Data Fabrication and Falsification Fabrication • Making up data or results, and recording or reporting them Falsification • Manipulation of research materials, equipment, processes • Change in / omission of data or results “The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.” G.C.Lichtenberg (1742-1799) What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Figure Manipulation What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Figure ManipulationExample - Diffferent authors and reported experiments Am J Pathol, 2001 Life Sci, 2004 Life Sci, 2004 Rotated 180o Rotated 180o What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Plagiarism: Tempting short-cut with long-term consequences Plagiarism includes inappropriate, or inadequate paraphrasing Paraphrasing: restating someone else's ideas while not copying verbatim Plagiarism is considered a serious offense by your institute, by journal editors and by the scientific community. Plagiarism may result in academic charges, but will certainly cause rejection of your paper. Plagiarism will hurt your reputation in the scientific community.

Publication ethics – Self-plagiarism 2004 2003 Same colour left and right Same text What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Plagiarism Detection Tools Elsevier is participating in 2 plagiarism detection schemes: Turnitin (aimed at universities) Ithenticate (aimed at publishers and corporations) Manuscripts are checked against a database of 20 million peer reviewed articles which have been donated by 50+ publishers, including Elsevier. All post-1994 Elsevier journal content is now included, and the pre-1995 is being steadily added week-by-week Editors and reviewers Your colleagues or other “whistleblowers” “The walls have ears", it seems ... What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

The article of which the authors committed plagiarism: it won’t be removed from ScienceDirect. Everybody who downloads it will see the reason of retraction… What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

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 What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

Thank You!Questions welcome What do publishers do? Why do publish? How to publish? How NOT to publish.

How to Write Great Papers