insights into publication success at hitotsubashi university

Insights into Publication Success

Hitotsubashi University Author Workshop Daniel McGowan, PhD Science Director Edanz Group Japan 20 November 2013

Customer Service Introduction A little about me…

Customer Service Introduction Today’s presentation

• Introduction

• Before you start – Journal selection

• Manuscript structure

• Hints and tips

Customer Service Introduction

Design research

Perform research

Draw conclusions

Hypothesis

New findings of relevance published

New validated method published

Publishing helps other researchers

Customer Service Introduction You must publish in English

¾The international language of academic inquiry ¾Other researchers want to hear from you ¾Become an effective communicator ¾Funding ¾International reputation ¾Career advancement

Customer Service Introduction Journal editors and reviewers ask themselves

• Is the manuscript novel? • Is the manuscript of interest to our readers?

Novelty Significance

Target audience Impact

Customer Service Introduction What do journal editors want?

Interesting to journal’s

readership

Increase impact

High quality research

Original and novel research

Clear and concise English

Topical research field

Customer Service Introduction Publication ethics

• Multiple submissions • Plagiarism

– self-plagiarism

• Improper author contributions • Data fabrication/falsification • Conflicts of interest

Before you start … The sciences are diverse

Journals from Different Fields

Different styles

Different sections Different amount of references

Different approach

Different age of references

Different section lengths

Are reliable

Are interesting to the readers

Present a logical argument

Are readable

Before you start … Form your research question

A good research question will guide your research ¾Be specific about a broad topic

“We investigated entrepreneurship in Japan”

Before you start … Form your research question

A good research question will guide your research ¾Be specific about a broad topic

“We investigated entrepreneurship in Japan”

“How does personality affect the desire to be an entrepreneur?”

“What macroeconomic factors influence entrepreneurship?”

“How will an entrepreneur react to rising transaction costs in their industry?”

“How can a firm encourage entrepreneurs within the company?”

Before you start … Construct an outline

Decide what story you are wanting to tell ¾ Rationale and aim ¾ Main findings ¾ Relevant aspects of approach ¾ How this advances the field ¾ Structure & content according to selected

journal

Journal selection Factors to consider

• Aims & scope • Prestige • Impact factor • Target audience

• Open access • Publishing frequency • Cost • Publication type

Journal selection Timing

• Choose your target journal: – After you have decided you have enough results

for a publication – After a decision has been made on how high to

aim—high, medium or low impact – Before writing the Title, Abstract, Introduction

or Discussion sections

Journal selection Choosing a target journal

Novelty Significance

Target audience Impact

• Journal selection must be based on an honest evaluation of your manuscript

Journal selection Edanz survey results

n = 333 published authors

Journal selection

Insert abstract

Journal Selector – www.edanzediting.co.jp/journal_selector

Journal selection

Recommended journals

Filter by: Impact factor

Publishing frequency Open access


Journal selection

Semantic matching terms

Journals IF, Aims & Scope, and Frequency

Similar published articles

Have they published similar articles recently? Have you cited some of these articles?


Manuscript structure

Manuscript

World Class

Your title

• Convey the main topics of manuscript • Be specific and concise: main finding or subject

of investigation in a few words • Avoid jargon, abbreviations and acronyms

A label for indexing Introduces your manuscript to an editor

Grabs the reader’s attention

Manuscript structure Abstract

First impressions are important!

Who’s hungry?

Manuscript structure Abstract

First impression of your paper

Importance of your results

Validity of your conclusions

Relevance of your aims

Judge your writing style

Probably only part that will be read

Manuscript structure Manuscript flow

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

General background to specific aims

Specific findings

Summary of findings to general

implications

Methods

Results

Discussion

Manuscript structure Introduction

Previous work

Research question

How addressed

Manuscript structure Literature Review

How does your research relate to the past?

Manuscript structure Literature Review

How did these lead to more recent studies? How is your manuscript different?

What is your hypothesis?

What did earlier studies show?

Manuscript structure Method/Model/Approach

¾Subheadings ¾Sufficient detail for analysis to be reproduced ¾All variables for models must be defined ¾Statistical tests used and parameters for data

clearly explained

Manuscript structure Results/Analysis

What did you find?

Appropriate comparisons?

Results statistically significant?

Data duplicated among figures, tables and text?

Manuscript structure Discussion/Interpretations

Summary of findings

Relevance of findings

Implications for the field

Manuscript structure Discussion/Interpretations

¾Avoid just restating results ¾Answer the research question(s) posed

¾Emphasize the major finding(s) first

¾State your major conclusion ¾Based on results presented

Beginning


¾Interpret your results ¾ Compare with other studies

¾Unexpected results ¾Briefly describe limitations ¾How could the approach used be

improved?

Discussion/Interpretations

Middle


¾Restate major conclusion(s) ¾ In summary … In conclusion …

¾Possible applications and policy implications ¾Suggest future work

Discussion/Interpretations

End

Manuscript structure A good reference list

• Provides relevant information for the readers

• Self-citations

• Old references

• 75% of references from the last 5 years

Manuscript structure References

Cite all statements from previously published works

Use reference management software EndNote, Papers, RefWorks, Mendeley

Cite broadly from different groups in your field

Coverage and Staffing Plan

Hints and tips Consider your reader

• Reader expectations • Communicating clearly • Responding to reviewers


Hints and tips Reader expectations

• Information is easier to understand when placed where most readers expect to find it

• Good writers are aware of these expectations

• Readability

Coverage and Staffing Plan Hints and tips

Subject

Verb

1. Verb placement

• Readers expect verbs to closely follow subjects

Sentence

.

Subject Verb

Coverage and Staffing Plan Hints and tips Avoid reader confusion

• Readers become confused if subject and verb are separated by too much content

Capital, unlike labor, which is a country-specific factor, moves freely across countries.


Capital, unlike labor, which is a country-specific factor, moves freely across countries.

Capital moves freely across countries, while labor is a country-specific factor.

Avoid reader confusion


Hints and tips Which voice?

• Active or passive? – Eight separate models were analyzed... – We analyzed eight models...

Coverage and Staffing Plan Hints and tips 2. Active voice

• Sentences written in the active voice are: simple direct clear

easy to read

Subject Verb

Active


• Readers focus on information at the end of a sentence.

.

take-home information

Subject Verb

3. Stress position


Topic position

. Stress position

Subject Verb

• Readers expect a sentence/phrase to be a story about whoever shows up first

4. Topic position

Coverage and Staffing Plan Hints and tips Topic position

idea idea idea idea

Topic link

sentence

• Linkage and context We analyzed eight models of monetary policy. In the first model, interest rates were responsive to inflation. Interest rates were varied to test the effects of variation on output. In the second model, interest rates were responsive to taxation…


Hints and tips Topic sentences

• Indicates the main idea of a paragraph

• Provides writer with a focus • First sentence of a paragraph • Then discuss/explain the topic • Summarize with a concluding

sentence Beginning Î Middle Î End


Hints and tips Readability

“only 4% of readers understand a 27-word sentence the first time”

¾Your reader should – Only need to read once – Not have to read slowly – Understand your logic immediately


Hints and tips Simple is best

¾Simple language is best ¾Makes your science more relevant ¾Minimizes confusion – maximizes

understanding ¾Science is complex ¾Use simple language to help more people

understand your work


Hints and tips

Avoid Additional Adequate Apparent Attempt Demonstrate Endeavor Exceedingly

Simple words

Preferred More Enough Clear Try Show Try Very


Accepted—publication!

Editor Manuscript

Peer review

Revision

Reject

Results novel? Topic relevant? Journal requirements met?

New experiments Improve readability Add information

Submission process and time frames


Hints and tips Peer review improves your manuscript

• Few papers are accepted without revision • Rejection and revision are integral • Peer review should be a positive process

Acceptance Minor

revision Major

revision

Rejection


Hints and tips

• Politely respond to all comments in a response letter

• Make it easy to see the changes – Refer to line and page numbers – Different color font – Highlight the text

How to revise your manuscript


Hints and tips Revision

• Conduct additional experiments and analyses as suggested – If this is impossible, you must explain why

• You can disagree with reviewers, but provide evidence (e.g. cite references)

Coverage and Staffing Plan Hints and tips Writing your response

letter Address editor personally

Manuscript ID number

Thank reviewers

Summarize major changes

John G. Hunter Editor-in-Chief World Journal of Surgery 16 August 2012 Dear Dr. Hunter, Re: Resubmission of manuscript reference No. WJS-07-5739 Please find attached a revised version of our manuscript originally entitled “Long-term outcomes following right-lobe living donor liver transplantation,” which we would like to resubmit for consideration for publication in World Journal of Surgery. The reviewer’s comments were highly insightful and enabled us to greatly improve the quality of our manuscript. In the following pages are our point-by-point responses to each of the comments. Revisions in the manuscript are shown as underlined text. In accordance with the first comment, the title has been revised and the entire manuscript has undergone substantial English editing. We hope that the revisions in the manuscript and our accompanying responses will be sufficient to make our manuscript suitable for publication in World Journal of Surgery.


Point-by-point response

Reviewer comment 1: There are many typos and complicated phrases. This manuscript should be corrected by a native English speaker before resubmission. Response: We thank the reviewer for this comment. The entire manuscript has now undergone English editing by a native English-speaking scientist.


Point-by-point response

Reviewer comment 2: Some additional background on the development of the Taylor rule is required in the Introduction. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of monetary policy? Response: In accordance with this suggestion, we have added some additional information on the advantages and disadvantages of the Taylor rule to the Introduction section of the revised manuscript (page 4, lines 7–13).


Hints and tips Free online resources

• Springer Exemplar springerexemplar.com/ • Google Scholar scholar.google.com/ • Purdue Online Writing Lab owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/


Hints and tips Free online resources academy.springer.com/

This presentation is available for free download from our website: www.edanzediting.com/tokyo20131120 www.edanzediting.co.jp/tokyo20131120

Thank you Good luck!

insights into publication success at hitotsubashi university

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