Issues related to Scientific Publication
– Presentation, Ethics and Impact
Prashant V. Kamat
Some Slides are Adopted from the talk of
Leonard V. Interrante
Editor-in-chief, Chemistry of Materials
Presented at in the Symposium on Scientific Publishing,
ACS National Meeting, Atlanta, GA March 2006
Scientific Knowledge
The object of research is to extend human
knowledge beyond what is already known.
But an individual’s knowledge enters the
domain of science only after it is presented to
others in such a fashion that they can
independently judge its validity
(NAP, “On Being a Scientist” 1995)
Sharing Scientific Knowledge
“Science is a shared knowledge based
on a common understanding of some
aspect of the physical or social world”
(NAP, “On Being a Scientist” 1995)
Presentations
- Social conventions play an important role in establishing
the reliability of scientific knowledge
Publications in peer reviewed journals
- Research results are privileged until they are published
Thesis
Why Publish?
• “A paper is an organized description of
hypotheses, data and conclusions, intended
to instruct the reader. If your research does not
generate papers, it might just as well not have
been done” (G. Whitesides, Adv. Mater., 2004,
16, 1375)
• “if it wasn’t published, it wasn’t done” - in
E.H. Miller 1993
Scientific Publication is a Team Effort
Journal
Authors
Reviewer
ACS Journals:http://pubs.acs.org/about.html
Author Responsibilities
– Preparation and Submission of Manuscripts:
Follow General Rules:
– Ensure work is new and original research
– All Authors listed on ms are aware of submission
and agree with content and support submission
– Agree that the manuscript can be examined by
anonymous reviewers.
– Provide copies of related work submitted or
published elsewhere
– Obtain copyright permission if figures/tables need to
be reproduced
– Include proper affiliation
What is publishable….
Journals like to publish papers that are going
to be widely read and useful to the readers
• Papers that report “original and significant”
findings that are likely to be of interest to a broad
spectrum of its readers
• Papers that are well organized and well written,
with clear statements regarding how the findings
relate to and advance the
understanding/development of the subject
• Papers that are concise and yet complete in
their presentation of the findings
What is not acceptable…
• Papers that are routine extensions of previous
reports and that do not appreciably advance
fundamental understanding or knowledge in the
area
• Incremental / fragmentary reports of research
results
• Verbose, poorly organized, papers cluttered
with unnecessary or poor quality illustrations
• Violations of ethical guidelines, including
plagiarism of any type or degree (of others or of
oneself)
Useful Definitions:
Scientific Misconduct
“Scientific misconduct means fabrication,
falsification, plagiarism, or other practices
that seriously deviate from those that are
commonly accepted within the scientific
community for proposing, conducting or
reporting research”
Managing Allegations of Scientific Misconduct: A
Guidance Document for Editors, January 2000, Office of
Research Integrity, Office of Public Health and Science,
U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
http://ori.dhhs.gov
Useful Definitions:
Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism
• Plagiarism: using the ideas or words of
another person without giving appropriate
credit (Nat. Acad. Press document)
• Self-Plagiarism: The verbatim copying or
reuse of one’s own research (IEEE Policy
statement)
Both types of plagiarism are considered to
be unacceptable practice by most
scientific publications
Other Types of Ethical Violations
• Duplicate publication/submission of
research findings; failure to inform the
editor of related papers that the author has
under consideration or “in press”
• Unrevealed conflicts of interest that could
affect the interpretation of the findings
• Misrepresentation of research findings use of selective or fraudulent data to
support a hypothesis or claim
Sooner or later
……. ethical violations get exposed
Some recent examples
24 MAY 2002 VOL 296 SCIENCE, p 1376
24 MAY 2002 VOL 296 SCIENCE, p 1376
A recent retraction …..
Ethical Responsibilities for Authors in
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
I recently took the step of retracting from the scientific record a letter published
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, as it is emblematic of a type of author
misconduct that we as research professionals must seek to avoid if we are to
uphold the integrity of the scientific literature.
The letter in question was a publication by Fang et al., J. Phys. Chem. C 2007,
111, 1065-1070. After publication of the letter, it was brought to our attention
that the paper by Fang et al., as submitted and subsequently published by the
journal after peer review, included a number of figures that duplicated those
contained within previously published papers by other authors ……... I judged
such misconduct by the authors to constitute a serious instance of plagiarism.
George Schatz
Editor in Chief
J. Phys. Chem. A/B/C
Original paper:
Ultra-large-scale syntheses of monodisperse
nanocrystals, Park et al. Nature Materials,
2004, 3, 891 (Figure 3C)
Original Paper
Oriented Assembly of Fe3O4
Nanoparticles into Monodisperse
Hollow Single-Crystal Microspheres
Yu et al, J. Phys. Chem. B 2006,
110, 21667-21671 (Figure 3)
Plagiarized paper:
Fabrication of Monodisperse Magnetic
Fe3O4-SiO2 Nanocomposites with
Core-Shell Structures Hua Fang,*
Chun-yang Ma, Tai-li Wan, Mei Zhang,
and Wei-hai Shi J. Phys. Chem C
2007, 111, 1065-1070
Citations
-Read the work before you cite
-Important to cite the work correctly and completely
NATURE|VOL 420 | 12 DECEMBER 20002 p 594
The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 11, 2006
Also in Wall Street Journal –today’s issue
(40% students use materials downloaded from internet!)
The Plagiarism Hunter
When one graduate student went to the library, he found copycats —
lots of them By PAULA WASLEY, Athens, Ohio
In Ohio University's Library, Thomas A. Matrka takes just 15 minutes to hit pay dirt. Scattered
before him on a table are 16 chemical-engineering master's theses on "multiphase flow.“
Identical diagrams in two theses from 1997 and 1998 strike him as suspicious. Turning a few
more pages, he confirms what he suspected………..
Most of the plagiarism found at Ohio occurred in introductory chapters describing research
methods and reviewing the previous literature in the field, for which there is little expectation
of originality. And all but a few cases involved international students who, he says, whether
through ignorance, laziness, or cultural misunderstanding, may have either not known
correct citation practices or, struggling to write in a foreign language, been tempted to
borrow another student's words.
How Journals Detect and Handle
Problem Papers
 Information received from reviewers or other
editors
 Literature search for related papers by the author
 Withdrawal of a paper from publication
 Banning authors from publication in the journal
for 3-5 years and informing the co-authors and
editors of related journals of our action
 For less serious cases, placing the author on a
“watch list” for careful examination of their
submissions prior to requesting reviews
RETRACTED: Fluorescence lifetime increase by
introduction of F− ions in ytterbium-doped TeO2based glasses
Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 393, Issues 12, 3 May 2005, Pages 279-282
Guonian Wang, Shixun Dai, Junjie Zhang, Shiqing Xu
and Zhonghong Jiang
RETRACTED: Effect of F− ions on spectroscopic
properties of Yb3+-doped zinc–tellurite glasses •
Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, Volume 66,
Issue 6, June 2005, Pages 1107-1111
Guonian Wang, Junjie Zhang, Shixun Dai, Jianhu Yang
and Zhonghong Jiang
From Science@Direct (Elsevier)
A Call for Cooperation
“We would like to encourage the leaders of
academic research groups to inform their
students and research associates about the
ethical responsibilities of authors of scientific
publications and to insure that, when they are
given the responsibility for submitting a
paper, they are fully aware of the potential
consequences, to themselves and to their coauthors, of violations in these ethical
guidelines.”
Interrante & Reichmanis,C&EN, Vol 83(6), p. 4 (2005)
Summary
Scientific Ethics is an integral part of graduate
research.
STATEMENTS, FIGURES AND TABLES
Reproduced in a Report, Presentation and/or
Paper require proper citation.
Published work is protected by Copyright Law
Copyright permission is necessary if you are
reproducing your work in another publication
(This applies even if it is your own work)
Guidelines For Authors and Scientists
 Ethical Guidelines to Publication of Chemical Research
(ACS Pubs. Div.) - available via Paragon or ACS Journals
web site
 “On Being a Scientist: Responsible Conduct in Research”;
National Academy Press, Wash. D.C, 1995
(http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/obas/)
 IEEE Policy Statement on Self-Plagiarism
(http://www.comsoc.org/pubs/jrnal/transcom/Self_Plagiaris
m.pdf)
 Managing Allegations of Scientific Misconduct: A Guidance
Document for Editors, January 2000, Office of Research
Integrity, Office of Public Health and Science, U.S. Dept. of
Health and Human Services http://ori.dhhs.gov
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
1896-1996
1997-2006
by
Prashant Kamat
Senior Editor
Univ. of Notre Dame
B
2007-
EDITOR
The Journal of
Physical Chemistry
George C. Schatz, Editor in Chief
SENIOR EDITORS
Bridgette Barry
Georgia Institute of Technology
Anne B. McCoy
The Ohio State University
Michael A. Duncan
University of Georgia
Timothy Minton
Montana State University
Peter M. Felker
University of California, Los Angeles
Catherine J. Murphy
University of South Carolina
John T. Fourkas
University of Maryland
Benjamin J. Schwartz
University of California, Los Angeles
Sharon Hammes-Schiffer
The Pennsylvania State University
Sarah H. Tolbert
University of California, Los Angeles
Kenneth D. Jordan
University of Pittsburgh
Paul H. Wine
Georgia Institute of Technology
Prashant V. Kamat
University of Notre Dame
Jin Z. Zhang
University of California; Santa Cruz
James M. Lisy
University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign
Josef W. Zwanziger
Dalhousie University, Canada
Gang-yu Liu
University of California at Davis
Timothy S. Zwier
Purdue University
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
Scope
The Journal of Physical Chemistry is devoted to
reporting new and original experimental and
theoretical basic research of interest to physical
chemists, biophysical chemists, and chemical
physicists.
• Papers submitted to J. Phys. Chem. should provide an in
depth study and present important new scientific advances.
It should also carry a strong scientific discussion.
• An important criterion for acceptance is that the paper
provides new physical chemistry insights derived from the
results.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
Types of Contributions
Letters are short articles that report results whose immediate availability to
the scientific community is deemed important. Letters may occasionally have
a follow-up publication when the research is continued and a more complete
account of the work is deemed necessary.
Articles should report original research that is expected to have a definable
impact on the advancement of science and technology. Manuscripts should
cover their subjects with thoroughness and clarity but should be as concise as
possible.
Feature Articles/Review Articles are usually published by
invitation; however, Authors in important active research fields of interest to
physical chemists are encouraged to propose such articles. Two page proposals
should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief for consideration.
NOTE: It is important to make a proper selection of the
Letter or Article category during MS submission
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
Scientific Publication is a Team Effort
Editorial Office
Author
Reviewer
Submission, Editorial Screening, Reviewing and Editorial Decision
Processes are similar to those presented in previous talks
Title, Abstract and Figures
-Title should represent the content of the paper (avoid study,
investigation, novel, facile, simple …etc in the title)
-Abstract should be concise.
Briefly indicate the problem, methods, results, and
conclusions in a simple text that general audience can
understand and appreciate your work.
-Figures should be checked carefully before submission.
Check font size, axis label and identification of
individual traces
Avoid meaningless numbers
Clarity
Move additional/ repetitive figures to supporting
information
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
Revision Request
• Read the Reviewers comments carefully.
• The Reviewers and Editors spend a lot of time to make
suggestions and improve the scientific quality of the paper.
The authors should make every effort to address their
concerns.
• Revision is an opportunity to improve the scientific quality of
the paper. If these issues are not addressed properly, the paper
gets rejected.
• Often misuse of scientific context or bad presentation leads to
misunderstanding of the statement made in the text.
• Use supporting information to include figures, tables,
derivations, movies, photographs, methods & techniques etc.
Request for Revision is not a guarantee that the paper will be accepted
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
What to do when a paper gets rejected……
Do not get discouraged. Read editorial comments and discuss
with advisor/students/collaborators. Find out how you can make
this study stronger and acceptable for publication.
Do not just turn around and submit the paper to another journal.
Read carefully the comments and find ways to improve the
scientific quality of the papers
Carry out additional experiments and improve the quality of
scientific discussions. (JPC often looks for papers with
quantitative and mechanistic information that represent new
physical insights )
Rejected papers can be resubmitted if and only the concerns of the
reviewers are adequately addressed and new results are included.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact the
editorial office.
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
What to Avoid?
• Data without scientific discussion, applications of data, or
reviews of the literature are not sufficient.
• Routine synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials or
studies that report incremental advance are not considered
suitable for publication.
• Use of the phrase “Novel” or “First-time” in the title or
abstract. Such descriptions do not impress the reader or
the reviewer.
(Another over used phrase “One-pot synthesis” )
• Names of flowers, fruits and vegetables to describe the
nanoparticle/nanostructure shapes/morphology
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
To do even better ….
The authors should make every effort to make a
good presentation with proper usage of English
grammar.
“English is not my Native Language” is not a valid
justification for reviewer who cannot comprehend.
Reviewers do not wish to review papers that are not
readable. Badly written papers are often
recommended as “REJECT” by the Reviewers
ACS Publication office helps to edit the language for
accepted manuscripts, but this only happens if the
English was good enough to be reviewed.
Ten characteristics of an incredibly dull paper
Sand-Jenson in Oikos 2007, 116 723 (C&E News Sept 10, 2007)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Avoid Focus
Avoid originality and personality
Make the article really really long
Do not indicate any potential implications
Leave out illustrations (…too much effort to draw a
sensible drawing)
6. Omit necessary steps of reasoning
7. Use abbreviations and technical terms that only
specialists in the field can understand
8. Make it sound too serious with no significant discussion
9. Focus only on statistics
10. Support every statement with a reference
11
2006 Journal Impact Factors
IF=
10
9
# of citations (2 y)
# of published papers
(2y)
Impact Factor
8
PCCP 2.892
JElectroche 2.387
JMatChm 4.287
JPCA 3.047
JChmPhys 3.166
Langmuir 3.902
ChmPhyChm 3.449
JPCB 4.115
Chem.EuroJ 5.015
ChemMater 5.104
AdvFunctMat 6.779
Small 6.024
Adv.Mater. 7.896
JACS 7.696
NanoLett 9.960
Angew.Chem. 10.232
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2006
4.4
4.2
4.0
JPCA
JPCB
ChmPhyChm
PCCP
JMatChm
Langmuir
JChmPhys
JEChmSoc
3.8
Impact Factor
3.6
3.4
3.2
3.0
2.8
2.6
2.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Year
The Journal of Physical Chemistry
We need your Feedback
Suggestions for maintaining high scientific quality of papers
- Point out duplicate/simultaneous submissions during peer
review process
- Need to know submission by students without the consent
of other authors
- Information on the authentication of a submitted paper
Editorial Assistance
- Need competitive reviewer names
- Need suggestions for feature articles
- Advisory board member suggestions (invited by the
Editor in Chief to serve on the board)
- Any constructive suggestions
jpc@nd.edu or jphyschm@chem.northwestern.edu
Contributions from India 1997-2007
The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 10 Most Cited Papers since 1997
Source: ISI Web of Knowledge
1. Maiti, N.C.; Mazumdar, S.; Periasamy, N., J- and H-aggregates of porphyrin-surfactant complexes: Timeresolved fluorescence and other spectroscopic studies. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1998. 102,
1528-1538. (Times Cited 191)
2. Sarathy, K.V.; Raina, G.; Yadav, R.T.; Kulkarni, G.U.; Rao, C.N.R., Thiol-derivatized nanocrystalline arrays
of Au, Ag, and Pt. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1997. 101, 9876-9880. (Times Cited 152)
3. Nandi, N.; Bagchi, B., Dielectric relaxation of biological water. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1997.
101, 10954-10961. (Times Cited 147)
4. Pal, S.K.; Peon, J.; Bagchi, B.; Zewail, A.H., Biological water: Femtosecond dynamics of
macromolecular hydration. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 2002. 106, 12376-12395. (Times Cited
124)
5. Maiti, N.C.; Krishna, M.M.G.; Britto, P.J.; Periasamy, N., Fluorescence dynamics of dye probes in
micelles. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1997. 101, 11051-11060. (Times Cited 99)
6. Murase, N.; Jagannathan, R.; Kanematsu, Y.; Watanabe, M.; Kurita, A.; Hirata, K.; Yazawa, T.; Kushida, T.,
Fluorescence and EPR characteristics of Mn2+-doped ZnS nanocrystals prepared by aqueous
colloidal method. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1999. 103, 754-760. (Times Cited 93)
7. Datta, A.; Mandal, D.; Pal, S.K.; Bhattacharyya, K., Intramolecular charge transfer processes in confined
systems.. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1997. 101, 10221-10225. (Times Cited 89)
8. Sastry, M.; Mayya, K.S.; Patil, V.; Paranjape, D.V.; Hegde, S.G., Langmuir-Blodgett films of carboxylic
acid derivatized silver colloidal particles: Role of subphase pH on degree of cluster incorporation.
Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 1997. 101, 4954-4958. (Times Cited 74)
9. Thomas, K.G.; Barazzouk, S.; Ipe, B.I.; Joseph, S.T.S.; Kamat, P.V., Uniaxial plasmon coupling through
longitudinal self-assembly of gold nanorods. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 2004. 108, 1306613068. (Times Cited 69)
10. Dhanaraj, J.; Jagannathan, R.; Kutty, T.R.N.; Lu, C.H., Photoluminescence characteristics of Y2O3:
Eu3+ nanophosphors prepared using sol-gel thermolysis. Journal Of Physical Chemistry B, 2001.
105, 11098-11105. (Times Cited 69)
The Journal of Physical Chemistry A
10 Most Cited Papers since 1997
Source: ISI Web of Knowledge
1.
Bhattacharyya, K.; Bagchi, B., Slow dynamics of constrained water in complex geometries.
Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2000. 104, 10603-10613. (Times Cited 176)
2.
Karmakar, R.; Samanta, A., Solvation dynamics of coumarin-153 in a room-temperature ionic
liquid. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2002. 106, 4447-4452. (Times Cited 105)
3.
Roy, R.K.; Krishnamurti, S.; Geerlings, P.; Pal, S., Local softness and hardness based reactivity
descriptors for predicting intra- and intermolecular reactivity sequences: Carbonyl compounds.
Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 1998. 102, 3746-3755. (Times Cited 96)
4.
Das, S.; Datta, A.; Bhattacharyya, K., Deuterium isotope effect on 4-aminophthalimide in neat
water and reverse micelles. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 1997. 101, 3299-3304. (Cited 91)
5.
Karmakar, R.; Samanta, A., Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence behavior of C153 and
PRODAN in room-temperature ionic liquids. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2002. 106, 66706675. (Times Cited 79)
6.
Chattaraj, P.K., Chemical reactivity and selectivity: Local HSAB principle versus frontier orbital
theory. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2001. 105, 511-513. (Times Cited 65)
7.
Chattaraj, P.K.; Maiti, B.; Sarkar, U., Philicity: A unified treatment of chemical reactivity and
selectivity. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2003. 107, 4973-4975. (Times Cited 61)
8.
Maheshwary, S.; Patel, N.; Sathyamurthy, N.; Kulkarni, A.D.; Gadre, S.R., Structure and stability of
water clusters (H2O)(n), n=8-20: An ab initio investigation. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2001.
105, 10525-10537. (Times Cited 75)
9.
Biswas, N.; Umapathy, S., Density functional calculations of structures, vibrational frequencies,
and normal modes of trans- and cis-azobenzene. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 1997. 101,
5555-5566. (Times Cited 61)
10.
Karmakar, R.; Samanta, A., Dynamics of solvation of the fluorescent state of some electron
donor-acceptor molecules in room temperature ionic liquids, [BMIM][(CF3SO2)(2)N] and
[EMIM][(CF3SO2)(2)N]. Journal Of Physical Chemistry A, 2003. 107, 7340-7346. (Times Cited 58)
Thank you
B