Publishing in Journals: Some Tips Dr Felix B Tan Professor and Head Business Information Systems Faculty of Business & Law Auckland U of Technology, New Zealand
Introduction Where should I publish? o Suitability of submission o Target your journal(s) How do I prepare a manuscript for journal submission? o Anatomy of a scholarly article o Key aspects within each section General strategies
Where should I publish? Suitability of Submission o Check out mission and scope o Initial screening Target appropriate journals o What kinds of work does it publish? o Qualitative vs quantitative o Who is publishing there? o Find a familiar name o When ready, ask this person about your article
Anatomy of a Scholarly Article Issues and Concepts Theory Research Design Interpretations/Points of view Rhetoric
Why Papers Get Rejected Issues and Concepts are unclear Lacking theory Improper choice and application of methods and techniques Interpretations biased and lack believability Poor rhetorical style and stance
Preparing a Journal Submission Motivation/Contributions o Not sufficient to state research objectives and questions o “Great piece of research, but so what?” o Need to carefully position your study Literature Review o Theoretical foundation / Research framework o Synthesize not summarise (Webster & Watson, 2002) o Theoretical and methodological developments o Funnelling technique
Preparing a Journal Submission Research Questions & Method o Articulate the research question(s) clearly o Carefully justify propositions o State clearly how the method provide the data to answer questions o Present details esp. qualitative research (eg. interview protocol, coding techniques) o Justify every decision taken (cite relevant literature to support decision) o Do not forget to discuss how data is to be analysed
Preparing a Journal Submission Discussion/Conclusions o Supported by data/findings? o Theoretical reflection? o Implications for practice and research? o Limitations?
General Strategies How do you know you are ready? o Plan a sequence of publications: seminar – conference paper – journal article General Tips o Cite research published in targeted journal o Cite the editors / reviewers work o Make the job easier for journal editors
Publishing in IS Journals: Some Strategies & Tips Dr Felix B Tan Professor and Head Business Information Systems Faculty of Business & Law Auckland U of Technology, New Zealand