Publishing Academic Papers Dr Andy Wilson UK Staff Development Advisor

Research isn’t really research until it is…

The Need to Publish  Publications determine…  Institutional status etc  Departmental income etc  Personal promotion etc  Getting the job!

The RAE and the REF  Assessments of the quality of research in every department in every university in the UK  Determine funding for several years  Critical to careers and institutions’ status  Based largely on quality of publications.

This Little Piggy…  Journal editors operate in a marketplace just like any other editor  Serials costs are a major drain on library resources  So you’re helping the editor sell her/his journal…  …by getting staff to tell their libraries…  …to buy the journal.

What Gets Published?  On the basis of your experience…  What is it that leads to papers being published in your field?  What characteristics do they have to have?  Please share your thoughts with your neighbour(s).

Your Publications Plan  What are you going to publish over the next few years?  Where?  When?

1.Research base 2.Topic for paper 3.Select your journal/conferenc e 4.Further research 5.Write your paper 6.Submit 7.Wait…...for referees’ reports 8.Revise and/or resubmit 9.Publish (eventually). The Steps to Publication

1 Research Base  This will be your Masters or PhD  As you do these, keep publications in mind.

2 Topic for Paper  Talk to your supervisor  Look for a market niche  Try ideas out in seminars.

3 Select Your Journal/ Conference  Tricky judgment  Done alongside choice of topic  Different journals/conferences require different types of paper  Consider risk, uncertainty and profit  Consider timescale  Talk to your supervisor.

Journal Matrix  Berridge and Wilkinson suggest…  Select a list of some six journals, and make up a matrix of their objectives, such as topic, length, treatment, intended audience, and refereeing process.

Planning Activities  Visit the library often  Look at journals – ones you know and ones you don’t  See which journals publish what  Read – and copy – journals’ missions and notes for contributors  Read your subject-specific articles.

Strategic Questions  What is your story?  Who is your audience?  What is your preferred outlet?  Does your paper fit their needs?  Have they published it already?  Who is/are the editors?  What is your/their timescale?

4 Further Research  Focus this on the proposed paper and the proposed journal/conference.

5 Write Your Paper  Your paper will be read by a couple of referees  So it’s critical to know what they’re looking for  We’ll examine this later  At this stage, let’s just talk about the business of writing…

Notes for Contributors  All journals worth publishing in issue Notes for Contributors  These tell you about stylistic conventions  Get these for your target journals.

How Do You Write?  What works for you?  Please share your ideas with your neighbours.

Advice on Writing  Conflict between the general advice on clarity, simplicity, etc…  …and the style sometimes seen in journals  Our work with directors of major social science research centres…  …identified the ability to write in different styles as a rare and valuable skill.

Academic Style Although solitary under normal prevailing circumstances, raccoons may congregate simultaneously in certain situations of artificially enhanced nutrient resource availability.

Fowler on Writing  Be direct, simple, brief, vigorous, and lucid.  Prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched.  Prefer the concrete word to the abstract.  Prefer the single word to the circumlocution (use of many words where one will do).  Prefer the short word to the long.

Punctuate WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS A MONSTER

Writing Sins  Commission – what you’ve written that you shouldn’t have  Omission – what you haven’t written that you should have  Sins of commission are much easier to spot than sins of omission.

Using Your Word Processor  Learn to use (probably) Word well  If you’re not using Styles you are writing with one hand tied behind your back  Styles offer you…  Consistency  Easy movement of chunks of material  Tables of contents.

6 Submit  Get the details right…  …or it’ll get thrown back  Use the journal’s conventions for references…  …else it looks like a reject from somewhere else.

7Wait…... for Referees’ Reports  The job of the referee is to recommend:  Acceptance  Acceptance with revisions  Rejection  We’ll look at things from the referee’s perspective…  …then you can act as a referee on a paper.

8 Revise and/or Resubmit  Read the comments  Go through the pain barrier  Decide whether you can revise for this journal…  …or whether you should offer it somewhere else.

9 Publish (eventually)  (Note that there can be long delays throughout the process)  Celebrate!