Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics1 Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics Promotionskolleg Agrarökonomik 1Introduction  Objectives  Grading  Material online  Course content 2Literature Search

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics Objectives  developing and improving skills to publish scientific research in refereed journals  acquiring relevant knowledge on the scientific publication world and the publication process  learn about what is expected from a good scientific article  practicing technical writing in exercises  but most importantly learning to think about your own research Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search 2

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics Grading  Pass/fail based on the “performance” in assignments and full participation  One or two assignments per day to be turned in via e- mail at pre-defined time bonn.de, use “P&W-assignment”, #, + last name in subject of bonn.de  Late delivery and copying will be graded as “fail”  For most assignments, quality is more based on sincerity of effort and not on “right or wrong”  Overall estimated time to be spent on assignments during course: 15 hours Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search 3

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics Material  Course material will be provided on bonn.de/agpo/courses/pw/pw_d.htm bonn.de/agpo/courses/pw/pw_d.htm  Some interesting links with background information and fun reading are given on this site as well Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search 4

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics Course Content 1. Introduction 2. Literature Search 3. Journals / Journal quality / Impact factors and Co. 4. The review process 5. Writing process: structure, content and style Note: Many issues in this course are a matter of taste, style, experience, and are often case specific. Everyone will therefore benefit from active participation sharing own experiences and problems in discussions... Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search 5

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics 2. Literature Search Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search A high quality literature search is important for the quality of own research and later publications because  nobody is interested in research that is “reinventing the wheel”  to identify the state-of-the-art methods to answer the type of research question posed  to learn from others about what is most relevant for the topic under investigation  to understand weakness of current scientific knowledge and identify/evaluate potential own contributions  to identify relevant publication outlets 6

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics What literature is relevant? Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search No single answer to this, but some hints possible:  Above all: close relation to my own research question  but what is “close” is not so obvious (content or methodology…)  Something cited a lot by others must have provided a ‘contribution’ of more general interest  The higher the ‘journal quality’ the more generally relevant contributions are to be expected  Most recent articles often incorporate the development of scientific knowledge on the subject (but don’t be too narrow to just stay within one branch or time period) 7

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics What literature is relevant? Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search …continued:  Non-scientific sources are ok for data, policy regulations, motivation of relevance…but not to motivate own scientific approach or compare own results to  Recent peer reviewed (refereed) publications in internationally visible journals, widely used recent textbooks, and overview articles (handbooks) are important for overview on the scientific knowledge in subject area  But more specialised, regional, and applied journals can potentially offer significant and more specific help closer to the own research approach 8

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics Search Tools Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search A pdf document is provided on ecampus with useful links for literature searches in agricultural economics and economics. Some examples:  Scientific Search Engine Google ScholarGoogle Scholar  Social Sciences Citation Index Social Sciences Citation Index  AgEcon conference contributions/working papers/AJAE extended appendices…: AgEcon Search AgEcon Search  German National Library of Economics (ZBW) German National Library of Economics 9

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics10 JEL classification system  The Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) offers a widely accepted classification systems for economic literature: JEL-codes and journal AEA journal list JEL-codes and journal AEA journal list  Authors need to provide the relevant codes for their article for most agecon and econ journals  The EconLit database provided by the American Economics Association allows searching by JEL code: EconLit provided by University of Bonn library EconLit provided by University of Bonn library Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics11 Reference management software  Software for recording and utilising bibliographical references  Allows to generate bibliographies (reference lists) in the format of the book or journal considered for publication  Typically integrated with word processor  Comparisons of existing software solutions: e_management_software e_management_software  Online access web pages often allow to import the citation information of articles. Example: Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search

Thomas HeckeleiPublishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics12 Reference management software  In-house system: Citavi Campus licence often provided. Free test version:  Zotero – web based (  Hints for use:  Use it! (ad hoc reference lists are a pain for yourself and others…)  Fill in regularly (no point in having an incomplete archive)  Add abstracts (they should summarize the essence)  Don’t invest in own keyword system (professional ones are better and you only waste time)...at least use only a very simple one targeted at your own research  Own experience? Objectives Grading Material Course Content Literature Search