How to write scientific papers ' and get them published

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How to write scientific papers . and get them
published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
December 15-16, 2008
Dr Laura A Meyerson Assistant Professor Dept of
Natural Resources Science University of Rhode
Island Kingston, RI
Dr Sue Silver Editor in Chief Frontiers in
Ecology and the Environment Ecological Society
of America Washington DC
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Overview of 2-day course

• Thanks to
• Dr Philippa Benson, The Wildlife Society, USA
• Dr Lindsay Haddon, British Ecological Society, UK
• Dr Roy Turkington, University of British
  Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
• Dr Iain Taylor, University of British Columbia,
  Vancouver, Canada
• Lennie Rhine, HINARI

Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
How to get published
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Overview of 2-day course

• Format of the workshop
• Short talks
• Questions and discussion
• Exercises

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Overview of 2-day course

• Topics we will cover
• Deciding what sort of paper to write
• Deciding which journal to send it to
• How to write the different sections of a paper
• What to do after you have received the decision
  letter

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Overview of 2-day course

• Main sections of a research paper
• Introduction
• Materials methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Title, abstract, keywords, conclusions,
  citations, etc

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Overview of 2-day course

• Topics we will cover
• Figures and tables
• Who should be an author
• Cover letter
• Peer review

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Overview of 2-day course

• Topics we will cover
• Decision letters
• Rejection (what happens next)
• Acceptance (what happens next)
• Electronic publishing
• Ethical issues

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Exercise 1

• Top reasons authors choose a journal
• Divide into teams and put on team colors
• With your team, rank the four most important
  reasons for choosing a journal for your paper
• Give the most important reason a score of 4
• the next most important a 3, and so on
• Write your scores on the paper handed out and
  give them to Sue or Laura

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Deciding what kind of paper to write

• Laura A. Meyerson

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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The type of paper you write should depend on

• What you have to say
• Is it based on data?
• Are your results theoretical or applied?
• Are you presenting new ideas based on published
  literature (e.g., a synthesis)?
• Have you developed new tools or methods?
• Are you informing a policy or expressing an
  opinion?

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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The type of paper you write should depend on

• Who your intended audience is
• Scientists in your field
• Scientists outside of your field
• Policy makers and managers
• Public

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Types of papers

• Research paper
• Review paper
• Methods paper
• Policy paper
• Opinion paper

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Research Paper original paper
Do you want to present your data?

• Types of research papers
• Standard data paper
• Application
• Rapid communication
• Note
• Purpose and audience
• Presents results or applies results
• Generally aimed at colleagues

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Standard research papers

• Evidence-based
• Experimental
• Theoretical
• Synthetic
• Clear conclusions
• Yields valuable insights for journal readers

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Example of a standard research paper
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Shorter papers Rapid communications and notes

• Papers may be shorter because
• Topic is less complex but still complete
• Cover only a single aspect of a study
• Develop methods in a new way
• Journals may fast-track publication
• In rapidly developing fields
• If your data is novel, exciting or
  important

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Rapid communications

• Journals often want fast-breaking material
• They will offer
• Faster processing and publication
• Prominent position
• In return for
• Clear cut results
• Concise presentation
• Justification of importance

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Opinion papers

• Intended to provoke debate
• May be speculative
• Too soon to publish as full paper
• Alternative viewpoints
• Attempt to resolve conflicts
• Will still be peer-reviewed

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Reviews

• Many journals include reviews.
• Topical synthesis of a major area in your field.
• Offer new perspectives on future research.
• Often by invitation, but not always.

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Do you want to present new ideas based on
published literature?
Review Paper

• Reviews and synthesizes existing literature.
• Overview, critical commentary, or historical
  perspective.
• Generally reaches a (new) conclusion and/or
  develops new insights for future research.
• Often aimed at colleagues but may also be
  accessible to scientists outside of your narrow
  field.
• Usually lays the basis for new research
  directions

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Example of a review paper
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Methods Paper
Do you want to publish a new method that you have
developed?

• Methods paper
• Describes or presents new methods of analysis or
  approaches
• Laboratory, field or statistical
• Generally aimed at scientists within your field

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Examples of a methods paper
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Policy or Opinion paper
Do you want to share information with policy
makers or express your opinion?

• Policy / Opinion paper
• Recommends a policy position or solution
• Generally aimed at decision makers
• Clearly states why the suggested approach is a
  better way
• Meant to encourage discussion or debate

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Example of a policy or opinion paper
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Example of dissertation work that produced 5
papers by a single author

• PNAS Cryptic invasion by a non-native genotype
  of the common reed, Phragmites australis, into
  North America
• Molecular Ecology - Microsatellite variation
  within and among North American lineages of
  Phragmites australis
• Molecular Ecology Notes - A set of primers for
  amplification of noncoding regions of chloroplast
  DNA in the grasses
• Wetlands - A Rapid Method for identifying the
  origin of North American Phragmites populations
  using RFLP analysis
• Estuaries Genetic variation in Phragmites
  australis implications for management

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Summary Making the decision

• If you ran an experiment and want to report
  results research paper
• If you developed new methods and this is the main
  point methods paper
• If you reviewed published literature and reached
  new conclusions or insights review paper
• Time to publication how fast do you need to get
  this out Letters, rapid communications, etc.
  Sue will send slide

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors
Sue Silver
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• What is an Impact Factor?
• How is it calculated? By whom?
• What can it tells us? What can it NOT tell us?
• Some other considerations

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Impact factors original purpose
• Invented by Eugene Garfield (late 1950s/early
  1960s)
• A method for identifying the most influential
  science journals ( which journals publish
  science that is cited most often by other
  scientists)
• Originally intended only as a measure applied to
  journals (NOT researchers and NOT individual
  papers)

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Where do impact factors come from?
• Thomson Scientific calculates IF of journals they
  index
• Published every year , in May/June, in
• Journal Citation Reports (JCR)

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Thomson ISI journal index
• About 16,000 peer-reviewed journals world-wide
• (1.4 million articles/year)
• Every year, about 2000 new journals sent to
  Thomson Scientific for evaluation (accept
  about10)
• Index over 7,600 journals (814,000 papers), in
  200 disciplines, from 3300 publishers, in 60
  countries

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Journal criteria for indexing in JCR
• Descriptive title
• Named authors
• An abstract
• Citation list
• Regular publication schedule
• Published on time

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
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Understanding impact factors
Frontiers impact factor 2007 2007 impact
factor Citations in 2007 to articles published in
2006 168 Citations in 2007 to articles
published in 2005 293
TOTAL 461 Number of article published
in 2006 54 Number of article published in 2005
54
TOTAL 108 Frontiers 2007 impact factor
461 /108 4.269
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
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Understanding impact factors
IF 30
How to get published
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• IF variations between disciplines
• Medical
• Annual Review of Immunology 54
• JAMA 24
• Lancet 21
• General
• Nature and Science IF 30
• Ecology Environmental science
• Trends in Ecology and Evolution 14
• Environmental Health Perspectives 5

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• What is counted as a citable item? Papers must
  include
• Informative title
• Named authors contact details
• Abstract
• Data or other new scientific information
• Citations

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Counted
• Research papers
• Reviews
• Not counted?
• Editorials
• News stories
• Letters to the Editor
• BUT, If News items, letters to the Editor, etc,
  are cited, they are added to the numerator, so
  increasing the IF

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Authors
• Identify journals in which to publish their
  research
• Decide which journals to read
• Employers
• Compare and choose candidates for job vacancies
• Give tenure
• Grant awarding organizations
• Used as a criterion for receiving research
  grants

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
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Understanding impact factors

• Librarians
• Identify most influential journals for their
  collections
• Decide which to subscribe to and which to drop
  from collections
• Publishers
• Compare journals influence against
  competitors
• Monitor success of new publication strategies
• Editors
• Assess effectiveness of editorial policies
• Monitor the influence of their journals vs
  competitors

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Acceptable strategies for increasing IF
• Reviews receive more citations than research
  papers
• Longer articles receive more citations than
  shorter ones
• Articles in open access journals receive
  citations sooner
• Editorials, news items, etc, may be cited
• Editorials and overviews best papers last
  year

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Bad strategies for increasing IF
• Editors invite authors of submitted articles to
  
• cite papers in their journal (not professional)
• Editors discourage authors from citing papers in
  
• a rival journal (not professional)

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Criticisms of the IF system
• Authors only want to do research on hot topics
• Editors only want to publish hot topics
• Basic research gets more citations than applied
  research
• Less than ¼ of the worlds journals are covered
  and the majority of those are English language
  publications
• Journals in other languages have low IF because
  not many indexed journals are likely to cite them

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors

• Criticisms of the IF system (continued)
• Thomson can make mistakes!
• Authors can make mistakes!
• Different areas of science have different
  citation patterns
• For some sciences, 3 years is a better timeframe
• Cant assess quality of a particular article or
  its author
• Can only measure interestingness not usefulness
  or importance

How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Understanding impact factors
The journal impact factor is a measure of the
frequency with which the average article in a
journal has been cited in a particular year. The
impact factor will help you evaluate a journals
relative importance, especially when you compare
it to others in the same field. Definition taken
from ISI Web of Knowledge Journal Citation
Reports 2008
How to get published
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 15/16 December
2008
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Break!