School
of something
Publications
Master Class
FACULTY OF OTHER
Professor Alan Haywood
(Director of Research and
Innovation – School of Earth and
Environment)
Why do we publish papers?
• To communicate our work to others
• To satisfy our funders e.g. NERC
• To satisfy our egos?
• To raise the profile of the School/Faculty/University
• To enhance the School’s position in national
research assessment exercises e.g. RAE2008,
REF2014
• To enhance our promotion prospects (CV etc)
• To get our next job
So what’s in it for me?
• Improved job prospects (a CV with several GOOD
publications on it will distinguish you from other
applicants)
• Makes it much easier to write up your PhD thesis
• Parts of your thesis will have already been validated
by external PEER REVIEW
• Tremendous sense of satisfaction in seeing your
work in print
Isn’t it a lot of extra work?
• Writing papers brings a sense of discipline to your
research – it makes you more organised!
• It is a good incentive to get to grips with graphics
software e.g. Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator; you have
to produce good quality diagrams to illustrate your
paper
• The papers you write can be incorporated into your
thesis – so your thesis is building up as you go
Planning your research
• A successful PhD has to contain “material of
publishable quality” – so why not get ahead of the
game and plan to publish some key papers as you
go along?
• Discuss a “publications plan” with your
supervisor(s) – early on in your research; they are
the best people to advise on which aspects of your
work will make good papers. Such a plan will provide
a “structured framework” for your research
Choosing the right journal
Some Do’s and Don’t’s
. Don’t expect to be writing papers for Nature in your
first year! BUT it can happen!
• Decide on your target journal before you start to
write. Be ambitious in your choice! Discuss this with
your supervisor. What is the journal’s ISI Impact
Factor? Is it recognised as a good journal in your
field?
• Does your work fit the Journal ? Has it published
papers on similar topics recently?
What is your paper about?
What is the “story”?
• What is the core idea that you want to get over?
• Keep the message simple – ideally just a single
idea or “message”
• Plan out the diagrams and data tables before you
start. Do you have all the data you need to
substantiate your story?
• Look at some recent papers in the journal you have
decided to publish in. Check the Instructions to
Authors (usually on the journal web site) and follow
them! Does the Journal have an on-line manuscript
submission system?
Does the “evidence” support
your story?
The publication “cycle”
• Write a draft of your paper (manuscript)
• Get your supervisor/colleagues to comment on it
• Revise manuscript (this may require many iterations)
• SUBMIT your manuscript
• WAIT ( several weeks to several months) for
comments from external reviewers (selected by the
Editor of the journal)
• RECEIVE Editor’s decision – e.g. Minor Revision,
Major Revision, Reject
• REVISE & RESUBMIT – and maybe REVISE again!
Editors are your fellow scientists
So be respectful in your communications!
Writing the Abstract
• The hardest part!
• Write this last
• Practice writing “structured abstracts”
• Look at some examples in different journals
• DO NOT cut and paste from the main text –
the Abstract should stand alone – it should
“wet the appetite” of the reader
Are you up to date with the
current literature?
Citing the relevant literature
• Have
you cited all the relevant literature?
• Have you actually read and understood what
you cite?
• Be very careful not to plagiarise by copying
parts of other’s papers. Many journals use
software to check this. The “power of the
internet”!
Develop your writing style
Writing Style
• Keep it simple. Use short sentences
with a minimum of subordinate clauses
• Generally use “third person, past tense”
– although increasingly “ I did this/ We
did that” is becoming commonplace
• Check spellings and conventions
University Publication Policy
Leeds University has a broader publication policy in
that all papers published from 01 April 2015 must
be Open Access.
http://library.leeds.ac.uk/university-publicationspolicy
If you have any questions on this please email: seepublication@leeds.ac.uk
There is also information on this available on the
SEE staff pages under publications.
University Publication Policy
From 1st April 2015 all journal articles and conference
papers accepted for publication must be deposited by
the author in the institutional repository (Symplectic) no
later than 3 months after acceptance. From
Symplectic publications will automatically be uploaded
to White Rose Research Online (WRRO). All research
outputs not subject to copyright restrictions, commercial
or confidentiality constraints must be open access.
Adhering to the University policy will ensure that
HEFCE and RCUK requirements are also met.
Questions?