HOW TO ENHANCE THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF ACADEMIC

PUBLICATIONS

Clyde B. McCoy, Ph.D.

Professor

University of Miami

Publication of research findings is an expectation.

– Need to further increase scientific knowledge base

– Career– Required for successful grants funding– Ethical considerations

Peer Review

Publications (and other academic areas) are driven by peer review.– GOOD—Our peers with common goals, interests,

and ethics decide– BAD—Not always considered; inappropriate time

and effort go into the review/evaluation.– UGLY—Academic competition can eliminate good

work so as to eliminate reviewer’s competition.

Systemic Barriers to Publication– “Publish or Perish”– What, Where and How to publish– Rejection of manuscript– Difficult to complete revision requests– Long wait between submission, acceptance and

publication

Personal barriers to publication– Tyranny of the immediacy – Difficult to find time– No deadlines make it easy to delay– Lack of peer support– Lack of feedback– Getting started

Tips for Academic Publishing*

Don’t compare yourself to others Abandon perfectionism Know how you work

Wall of pain

Use what you have already writtenAbstractsMaterial for conferencesTeaching materialExperiential material

*Bucholtz,M. (2007) Tips for Academic Publishing

University of California:Santa Barbara.

Tips on Writing

James Michner—Excellent approach is to write every morning.

Isaac Asminov—Don’t finish the last sentence.

Clyde B. McCoy—Rough is better than nothing; I can not edit nothing.

Getting Feedback

Show people your work. Don’t take criticism personally. Revise and resubmit means just that.

– Not making revisions misses a great opportunity

Expect rejection and keep trying.

Keep your publishing projects moving.

Where to Publish

Peer-reviewed journals Calls for papers, special issues Specialized journals General interest journals Be selective Submit from top down, not bottom up

– Submit at the highest level where there is a reasonable chance of acceptance.

Publishing Tips

Read the journal before you submit. Follow submission guidelines carefully Do not submit an article to more than one

journal at the same time.

Format of Article

Follow guidelines in “Instructions to Authors” section of the journal to which you will submit.

Journals have different format styles, particularly in regard to citations and references.

If article is not accepted and resubmitted to a different journal, redo the format to match the requirements of new journal.

Format of Article

Depends upon journal Most journals require:

– Abstract– Introduction– Methods– Results– Discussion– References

Publications Workshops

Started in 1988 by Dr. Clyde McCoy to increase the quantity and quality of publications by the faculty of the Comprehensive Drug Research Center at the University of Miami.

UCR requested Dr. McCoy to begin workshops in 2007-2008.

Format of the workshops

Interactive Each participant completes a form

addressing major issues for an article. The participant then presents his or her ideas

for a publication to the entire workshop. The article is discussed and critiqued.

Suggestions for improvement are made. Simple and alterable.

Publication Template

Working Title Purpose of article Lit Review Database to be Used Outline of article Outcome variables Independent variables Analysis Plan Tables

Publication Template

For those unable to complete the template, the workshop participants will assist in finalizing the template.

Deadlines:

Completion of article Date: Analyses of data Date: Literature Review Date: Introduction Date: Methods Date: Results Date: Discussion/Conclusion Date: Abstract: Date:

Timelines

Timelines are established for each phase of the article production.

Deadlines must be seen as immutable—the same as grant and conference abstract deadlines.

All authors on the article must adhere to timeline. Timeline adherence will be assessed at next

publication workshop. Self monitoring must occur continuously

Authorship

It is permissible and often helpful to have co-authors.

Individuals interested in co-authoring a particular paper should inform the primary author.

The primary author will assign duties, based on the co-author’s areas of expertise

Co-authors must be willing to adhere to the timeline.

Future Workshops

Two to three workshops a year should be scheduled.

Participants will report on progress from the last workshop and adherence to timeline.

New article templates will be introduced and discussed.

This will allow for a continuous stream of publications.

The publication workshops held at the University of Miami for members of the CDRC have resulted in thousands of published peer-reviewed articles by over 500 co-authors.

If followed, the workshop process works. Always looking for ways to improve the

workshops.

Clyde B. McCoy—A study is not completed until it is published.