How to P ublish P aper with Impact Factor

1. How to Publish Paper with Impact Factor Professor Dr. J. L. van Genderen February, 2012, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Institute Sains&Teknologi Geospatial (INSTeG), JOHOR BAHRU, MALAYSIA

2. Shakespeare (about 450 years ago!), and 21st Century! Shakespeare ( born 1564): Most famous quote: “To “B”or not to “B” 21st Century scientists: To “P”or not to “P”, THAT! Is the Question!! PUBLISH or PERISH !!

3. CONTENTS • Choose a journal. • Guide to authors. • Format of Manuscript, including things like: title, abstract, keywords, introduction, main text, study area/data sets, procedures, methodology, results and discussion of results, conclusions, tables, figures, equations, references, appendices, acknowledgements. 4.Peer Review Process. 5. Ethical considerations. 6. Reasons for rejection. 7.Final suggestions.

4. 1. CHOOSE A JOURNAL. Question: Find a journal for your article or write an article for a specific Journal? Is it international? Is it peer reviewed? – How long does it take? Is it in Science Citation Index (SCI) data base? Is it available online and/or in printed form? Who is Editor in Chief? Who is on Editorial Board? Who is publisher of the Journal?

5. 1. CHOOSE A JOURNAL. (2) Is it published by a Learned Society? What is the Journal’s Impact Factor? How often is the Journal published? What is the scope of the Journal? Does your paper fit? What type of papers does the Journal publish? Does your paper comply? Relevance is main aspect. Relate your paper to Scope/Aims of the Journal. Some Journals have page charges, or charge for printing figures in colour. Where is the Journal Indexed? (e.g. ISI, ACM, SCOPUS, EI, ICE, GEOBASE, etc.?).

6. IMPACT FACTORS • Remote Sensing of Environment: 3.6122 • Journal of Geodesy: 2.4293 • ISPRS Jnl. of Photogrammetry and RS: 2.3084 • IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing: 2.2345 • GPS Solutions: 2.0406 • International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation: 1.776 • International Journal of Digital Earth: 1.425

7. IMPACT FACTOR The impact factor is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular year or period. It is one of the evaluation tools provided by Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports® (JCR®).The annual Journal Citation Reports impact factor is a ratio between citations and recent citable items published: a journal's impact factor is calculated by dividing the number of current year citations to the source items published in that journal during the previous two years.

8. 2. GUIDE TO AUTHORS. Most common error! Authors do not STUDY the “Instructions for Authors” Your paper must comply 100% before you submit. Especially in terms of format, style, length, type, etc. Before submitting your paper, read several issues of the Journal to understand format, style, referencing system, use of figures/tables, etc. Do they publish mainly methodology type papers or case studies, or application papers? Does yours fit? Type of paper: review, research, letter, technical note, case study, short communication, etc. Length of your paper.

9. Taylor & Francis Journals – New Titles for 2010

10. Taylor & Francis Journals – New Titles for 2011

11. Taylor & Francis Journals – Online Platform http://www.informaworld.com

12. 3. FORMAT OF THE MANUSCRIPT. • Pay attention to: • Structure of your paper • Grammar and Spelling • Style • Structure of your paper. Did you study “Guide to Authors? Did you read several issues of the Journal? • Grammar and Spelling. Did you use “Spelchecker”. American or English spelling? English language editing (Converting “Chinglish to English”). • Style. Check “Instructions to Authors”. Comply with length (word count). Referencing system. Use automated reference and/or article- formatting tools (e.g. Endnote ®, Reference Manager ®, ProCite ®, Biblioscape, Papyrus ®.

13. 3.1 TITLE : What’s wrong with this title?“Using the FFT8 Algorithm to calculate GPS-NDVI-LAI Indices”. Or this one:” How to write SCI Papers”? Do NOT use abbreviations or Acronyms in the title of your paper. Keep title “generic” – relevant to a wider audience, e.g. “A methodology to improving urban land use map accuracy,” instead of “An improved land use map of Johor Bahru, Malaysia, using R.S. data.” Use of Malaysian names: Maslan Bin Hashim, or: Hashim Bin Maslan? Or: M.B. Hashim? Or: H.B. Maslan? Another: MustaffaKamal Ahmad: or: M.K.Ahmad? Or: A.M.Kamal? OR WHAT?? Scientist often use search engines.

14. 3.2 ABSTRACT An abstract is a summary of the whole paper. It includes problem to be studies, objectives, methods, results and conclusions. An abstract should be able to stand alone often with online publications, access to the abstract is free. Access to full paper is not free. Hence readers decide on basis of abstract if they want to download / buy the full paper. Abstract should not include references. Usually one writes the abstract after the paper has been written Any Abbreviation/Acronym must be written in full first time it is used, followed by abbreviation in brackets. Thereafter, abbreviation can be used.

15. 3.3. KEY WORDS Normally about five key words should be selected. Choose them carefully. Don’t make them too general (e.g. remote sensing, mapping, etc.). These are used for indexing services, Google scholar, etc. so pay attention!

16. 3.4 INTRODUCTION • Should indicate general background. • Should summarize previous work. • It should not state the results or conclusions. • Do not assume reader has read the abstract (Remember that it is not part of the paper). • Introduction should explain: • What is the background to the problem/piece of research. • What is the problem. • How others have studied it. • How you have gone about researching it. • Introduction should be at right scientific level for your audience. Not too general, not too detailed.

17. 3.5 MAIN TEXT (1) 3.5.1 Study area / Data used. 3.5.2 Procedures. 3.5.3 Results and discussion of results. 3.5.1 Study area/data used • Location of Test site needs to be clearly given so that anyone, anywhere in the World can see where it is (e.g. location map, co-ordinates for Google Earth) • What data did you use? Give sources and details • Did you collect data yourself, or obtained it from other source? Date of the data ( old or new?).

18. 3.5 MAIN TEXT (2) 3.5.2 Procedures Procedures differ from the methodology. In procedures, you describe what and how you actually did your research. How did you process/analyze your data. The methodology gives the overall/general/approach to solving the problem you have researched. 3.5.3 Results and discussion of results First present the results. Then discuss the results. Discussion should include section on errors in your results, accuracy assessment, significance of results, potential practical applications (if any). If results are negative, explain possible reasons: e.g. data used, methodology adopted, procedures applied, analysis techniques used, or other suspected reasons.

19. 3.6 CONCLUSIONS This gives the new information/discovery/advancement of knowledge resulting from your research. It should NOT be a summary of the whole paper. The summary belongs in the abstract.

20. 3.7 TABLES These often leads to lot of problems. It is really necessary? Who’s going to read all the columns with lots of numbers? In any case, if table is vital to prove a point, then highlight the significant numbers, so that they are noticed.

21. TABLES

23. TABLES

24. 3.8 FIGURES Are all your figures really necessary? If so, do they have to be in colour? Note page charge for use of colour in printed versions. Usually for online versions, no limitation to use of colour. Make sure size of lettering of figures is adequate for single or double column size of journal page (often A5).

25. 3.9 EQUATIONS Be very careful when typing equations (notations, fonts, symbols). Check them carefully when you correct the proofs. The terms, symbols, used in equations should be same as those used in the text.

26. 3.10 REFERENCES Make sure they are in format asked for in the “Instructions to authors”. Each journal has his own style. Make sure all references cited in text are included. Sometimes references in list are NOT included in the text. Often the references are incomplete or even wrong! Did you actually read all the references you cited ??!! Quote all authors, and not just “et al.” Be careful with quoting web links (may no longer be active) or with internal reports, or other difficult to find document. Always state if a reference is not in English (e.g. give English title, but then say in brackets “(in Chinese)”.

27. REFERENCES NOTE!! Nearly all Editors of Scientific Journals want to increase their number of citations, and increase their IMPACT FACTOR, SO!! When submitting to , for example: “Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, MAKE SURE YOU CITE TWO OR THREE PAPERS FROM THIS JOURNAL IN YOUR PAPER! If you don;’t cite any papers from the Journal to which you are submitting, then WHY should they include your paper? They’ll think let him publish in another journal from which he has quote his research!

28. 3.11 APPENDICES Depends on nature of the paper and policy of the Journal. Some journals use appendices for long mathematical derivation, or Software Code. Some journals do not allow them at all. Sometimes better to refer to a literature reference (e.g. a textbook or thesis).

29. 3.12 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS These are important! Acknowledge all persons who contributed to your paper. Acknowledge those who provided you with the data used. Especially acknowledge the organization who have sponsored / financed your research.

30. 4. PEER REVIEW PROCESS The editing process ( Elsevier) Only two people will ever see your manuscript: a managing editor and a language editor. Both have signed confidentiality agreements. The managing editor reviews your manuscript and assigns an appropriate language editor, who edits the manuscript. The managing editor reviews your manuscript before it is returned to you. Within four business days, you will receive an e-mail that your manuscript is ready.  Log-in at any time to check the status.

31. 4. PEER REVIEW PROCESS (2)

32. 4. PEER REVIEW PROCESS (3) What they do: Correct spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. Check for problems in parallelisms, tense and conjugations. Eliminate improper language and poor word choice. Conform to your choice of British or American English.

33. 4. PEER REVIEW PROCESS (4) What they don’t do: Format the manuscript, conform to a style sheet or word count changes. Edit the content. Verify, edit or format references. Write, re-write or paraphrase any part of the manuscript. Elsevier language editors are PhDs or PhD candidates.  All are native English speakers with excellent communication skills. To meet the demanding requirements, they undergo extensive training and have frequent performance reviews.

34. 5. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Submit original work – plagiarism on the rise? or more effective method of detection? Present an accurate account of your research. Submit the same/similar paper to only one journal at a time. Avoid fragmenting your research to maximise on number of papers. Do not self-plagiarise – not more than 10% of own previous work without attributing it. Cite all relevant references. Acknowledge all co-authors and fellow researchers. Declare any source of funding for your paper. Disclose any conflict of interest. Do not submit an incomplete paper just to get feedback.

35. 6. REASONS FOR REJECTION Author Submits Paper Online Submission System ScholarOne Manuscript Peer Review Rejection Acceptance Online Platform informaworld Author Revises Paper According to Reviewer’s Comments & Submits Final Version Paper Published Online and/or Printed Production – Corrections Made Production – Copyedited & Typeset Online Tracking System CATS Page Proofs Sent to Author for Checking Author Returns Page Proofs

36. 6. Reasons for Rejection. • You did not follow instructions to authors! • Topic does not fit “Scope of Journal” • CHINGLISH instead of ENGLISH! • Paper length too long or too short. • No clear methodology. • Structure of paper. • Lack of justification of conclusions. • Limited references cited. • No clear “ Introduction/statement of objectives”. • Bad comments from reviewer(s).

37. 7. FINAL SUGGESTIONS (After Elsevier)

38. FINAL SUGGESTIONS • IF YOU DON’T SUCCEED AT FIRST: • “ TRY, TRY, TRY AGAIN”!! • For comments or questions: Prof. John van Genderen: genderen@itc.nl • GOODLUCK!! PUBLISH OR PERISH!!