More and more journal articles…
• World average growth in volume of articles published since 2006: 4%
per year.
• 2010: over 1.9 million articles were published.
• UK share of the world’s top 1% of most highly cited papers 13.8% in
2010, 2nd only to the US.
SOURCE: International Comparative
Performance of the UK Research Base
2011. Report prepared by Elsevier for
the Department of Business, Innovation
and Skills.
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UK research context (Finch report facts!)
• 28% of UK R&D is conducted in the HE Sector
• There are 250,000 researchers in the UK: 6m in the World.
• UK researchers produce just over 6% of the peer reviewed papers
published each year
• “The rise in the no. of articles published by UK authors has not been
as fast as in the very high-growth countries such as India and
Brazil…”
• “UK researchers’ rate of productivity is more than 50% above the
world average.”
• “citations to UK articles increased between 2006 and 2010 by 7.2%
a year, faster than the world average of 6.3%”
• “..part of the explanation for the UK’s success is that it attracts
internationally-mobile researchers. UK researchers are also more
likely than those in almost any other major research nation to
collaborate with colleagues overseas: almost half (46%) of the
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youpublished
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articles
by UK authors in 2010 included a non-UK author.”
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Your own publication strategy
1. How are you going to make your work stand out?
– Type of output: journal, book, conference, blog,
combination…
2. How can you make sure that your journal article is read and
cited?
– Choose a journal: which measures and features matter.
3. How to publicise your work once it is published?
– Combination of outlets
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1. Publication practices…types of output
RIN (September 2009). Communicating
knowledge: How and why UK researchers
publish and disseminate their findings,
Research Information Network; JISC.
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1. Overview of Publication types…
Types of publishing and dissemination
channels (listed in order of importance, as
rated by researchers in RIN survey)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Peer reviewed journals
Conference presentations
Posters
Monographs
Book chapters
Professional journals
Open access repository
Reports
Datasets
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10. Working papers
11. Creative works (including
exhibitions & performances)
12. Internet blog/forum
1. Overview of Publication types…
RAE: what was submitted?
• Warwick 2008 RAE journal articles: 3014
• Warwick 2008 RAE all types: 3923
• All institutions 2008 RAE journal articles: 167,831
• All institutions 2008 RAE all types: 222,177
• https://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/ProjectMerit/Merit-Search/
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How do I choose the best journal to send
my article to?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Publication practices in your field
Citation based measures like the impact factor:
Rejection/acceptance rates:
Other factors to consider
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What is the Journal impact factor?
• Measurement of citations to articles in a journal.
• Based on a particular data set:
– Thomson Reuters’ JCR, found on Web of Knowledge (WoK)
selects journals for indexing in this way.
http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=e1000226~S1
– SciMago is an alternative source to Thomson Reuters http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php (Based on Elsevier’s
SCOPUS citations data)
• Google Scholar also track citations but have not ranked journals
• Not all journals have one!
• Other journal rankings: http://www.harzing.com/jql.htm.
• European reference index for the humanities:
https://www2.esf.org/asp/ERIH/Foreword/search.asp
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COMPARE LIKE WITH LIKE –TR
http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/support/document
ation/#presentations
Differences in citation curves at the category level
12%
Cell Biol (5.9)
% of total citations to the category
Med, Gen Int (7.1)
10%
Math (>10)
Multidisc (7.6)
Econ (>10)
8%
Education(8.3)
6%
4%
2%
Impact Factor
0%
2006
2005
2004
2003
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2002
2001
Cited year
2000
1999
1998
1997
BEWARE: Impact Factors are based on
citations data
Reasons to cite:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Paying homage to experts
Giving credit to peers
Criticising/correcting previous work (own or others)
Sign-posting under-noticed work
Provide background reading
Lend weight to own claims
Self citations!
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3. Journal publication: measures of a journal
Not only the JCR 2 year impact factor…
JCR is part of Web of Knowledge: http://wok.mimas.ac.uk/
On JCR you can also look at:
• No. of articles per journal
• the 5 year impact factor,
• an immediacy index,
• cited half-life,
• the Eigenfactor and ArticleInfluence.
• Also see SJR: Uses Elsevier’s data
• http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php
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Other than Impact factors - Authors’
experience
• Is it peer reviewed? (Type of peer review & time it takes: who are
the reviewers?)
• Timeliness of their publication processes? (time ‘til
acceptance/rejection! From acceptance to publication?)
• Clear information about the journal and about how to submit on
their website?
• Contacts amongst their existing authors or reviewers or editors?
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Other than Impact factors…
• Is it online? Distribution/readership/web statistics
• Is it abstracted & indexed – where?
• Peer opinions : of journal : of editorial board!
SUITABILITY – subject, style, length, diagrams, etc
Is it Open Access? Or is there an OA policy?
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Sources of data when evaluating a journal
• Ulrich’s periodicals directory records “300,000 periodicals”:
http://www.ulrichsweb.com/ulrichsweb/ (Library subscription)
• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) :5700+ titles:
http://www.doaj.org/
• SherpaRoMEO (OA deposit policies of 799 publishers):
http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
• Journal Home pages (not host sites)
• People! http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/publications/index.html to
find Warwick authors.
• MLA Directory of Periodicals give submitted and published
stats
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Peer Review (aka Refereeing) processes
• Open: both authors and reviewers know each other.
• Blind: author doesn’t know reviewer.
• Double blind: neither author nor reviewer known to each other.
(Often difficult to hide author/institution!)
– Nature use blind peer review
• Peer review in other contexts than journal publication: eg REF!
• Number of reviewers per article? They may disagree: Editor final
decision?
• Outcomes:
1. to unconditionally accept the manuscript or proposal,
2. to accept it in the event that its authors improve it
3. to reject it, but encourage revision and invite resubmission,
4. to reject it outright.
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Rejection: Resilience & persistence!
• Journal rejection rates are high: they may be explained on
journal home page. Editors will know.
• Some over 90%
• “Rejection rate” depends on what they consider to be a
rejection. Some give an acceptance rate instead!
• Vary with discipline.
• Speed of publication may be a factor: better to get a swift
rejection!
• No.s of articles submitted are increasing.
• PLoSOne rejects about 30%
• BUT this is not a probability rate: You can influence your
chances!
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Tips for getting accepted
• Other than ensuring that your article fits the aims and scope of
the journal and is formatted according to instructions, you can:
– Make your abstract exciting! Explain what your article brings
to knowledge in this area.
– Include a covering letter tailored to the editor/journal you are
approaching.
– Make it easy for the editor to notice and remember your
article.
• Introduce yourself to an editor at a conference or any other
opportunity, and make a good impression!
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Vancouver protocols for co-authorship
• authorship credit should be based on all of these:
• (1) substantial contributions to conception and
design, acquisition of data, or analysis of and
interpretation of data;
• (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for
important intellectual content;
• (3) final approval of the version to be published.
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Copyright… & Intellectual Property Rights
(IPR)
• Don’t publish if you intend to patent!
• Expect:
– Permissions clearances for content in your publication
– Indemnity clauses: nothing the author has written is libellous /
infringes IPR / is contempt of court.
• Warwick guidelines:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/gov/legalservices/whentouse/co
pyright
• Theses & third party guidelines:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/main/research/instrep/faq
s/theses/
• Publisher Agreements on SherpaRomeo http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
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Payments to publishers
• Open access fee
– Vary by country.
– Limited sources of support for paying these
• Article processing charges
• Per-page fee (often if you go beyond a set number)
• Per colour illustration
• Cost of permission to include others’ copyright
content in your article.
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After your work is published… Publicise it!
• Deposit in repositories (institutional/subject)
– OpenDOAR directory: http://www.opendoar.org
• List your publications online: department page, own page,
profile/networking sites like LinkedIn & Academia.edu
• Send print copies to other researchers/authors
• Network to find researchers with interest in your work – real
world & online.
• Blog or tweet?
• Citation alerts to see who is citing your article
• Self-citation!
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UK Research Integrity Office & Committee
on Publication Ethics:
Retractions
Corrections
Seriously flawed or erroneous data
such that findings/conclusions
cannot be relied upon – honest error
or misconduct.
Proven and justified authorship
claims
“Redundant publication” (more than
one journal!)
Small part of article reports on flawed
data, as result of genuine error
Plagiarism
Author errors: not production errors
(those are Erratum)
Unethical research - failure to
disclose conflicts of interest
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Finally…
5 Dos and Don’ts for authors
…from the Research Exchange article
• Do look at journals in your own bibliography. If you are citing
from them, your work could be of interest to other readers.
• Do check the websites of suitable journals. Journal guidelines
on preparing your article will help you tailor your writing to match
the style and language of other published pieces.
• Do send your article first to friends and peers for informal
review.
• Don’t let rejection knock your confidence – learn from the peer
review process and revise your article in light of it.
• Don’t underestimate the length of time it takes – calls for rapid
responses and online publications might be a faster route.
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