Getting Your Article Accepted into a Conservation...
Transcript of Getting Your Article Accepted into a Conservation...
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Improving your odds
Good science Design your study well. If possible, replicate
samples and years. Get advice before you start.
Use the correct statistical analyses;
get advice if necessary.
Present reasonable conclusions, preferably
comparing competing hypotheses.
Good presentation
Insect predation on cane toads Write clearly and concisely, using good grammar.
Write a good cover letter and abstract that
clearly convey your bottom line.
Present and explain statistics well.
Design clear figures that tell your story.
Make sure that the take-home story of your
paper is abundantly clear in each section.
Your introduction should effectively summarize
the current literature and indicate how your paper
advances the field.
Follow the journal’s guidelines for authors; use
recent issues of the journal as guidelines for style.
Getting good advice Include strategic co-authors who will improve
the research and paper. Remind co-authors that
that they must help when needed.
Contact the journal editor to make sure
the paper is a good fit with the journal.
Ask colleagues to review the paper for the
quality of the science and presentation.
Get help from English-speaking colleagues or
editors (sometimes you may need to pay for help).
A Tough Market
Some statistics on publishing in Biological Conservation as a case study for
leading international journals in conservation biology:
Impact factor: 3.8 - ranked 6th in the field of Biodiversity Conservation by
Thomson Reuters Journal Citation Reports
Types of articles published:
• Original research articles and short communications
• Reviews
• Perspectives and opinions
• Letters to the editor
High rejection rate for all authors:
50% of submitted papers are Immediately
Rejected without review; not including
Letters to the editor.
60% of reviewed papers are Rejected.
80% of all submitted papers are Rejected.
The rejection rate is particularly high (more than 90%) for authors from certain
developing countries, such as China and India.
Common reasons for rejection:
Not of interest to readers of Biological Conservation – (wrong journal)
Not novel enough – provides only marginal insights beyond previous
work published in a particular field – (just another example)
Inadequate sample size – (not enough samples or years)
Weak presentation – statistics, figures, writing – (unclear)
Poor introduction, conclusion, and literature review – (out of date)
Getting Your Article Accepted into a Conservation Journal
Richard B. Primack1, Sandra Broerse2, Julie Lockwood3, and Andrew S. Pullin4 (part of the Biological Conservation team)
1Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 2Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 3Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; 4University
of Wales, Bangor, UK
The Challenge
Publishing in well-respected, peer-reviewed journals is important for
communicating the results of your research and advancing your
scientific career. However, acceptance rates at leading journals are very
low. How can you improve your odds and take an efficient path to
getting your work published?
Resources for authors
All journals have guidelines for authors – follow them. Use recent
articles in your target journal as guides for style.
Keep a file of your favorite papers – note what you like about them
and copy those techniques when possible and appropriate.
Here are a few good references on writing:
Strunk and White. 1999. The elements of style.
Gopen and Swan. 1990. The science of scientific writing. American Scientist.
Yau. 2013. Data points: Visualization that means something.
Few. 2011. Show me the numbers: Designing tables and graphs to enlighten.
Conclusion
The advice in this poster may seem pretty boring—but following it
will increase your chances of acceptance. Surprisingly, most authors
slip up on one or more of the points we recommend. If your paper is
rejected, use the reviews and editor’s comments to improve your
paper before re-submitting to another journal. Examine the reviews
for ideas on how to improve your research. Good luck!
For more information about the journal:
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/biological-conservation
Acknowledgements The editors thank the authors for submitting papers to our journal,
and the reviewers who provide valuable evaluations. We also thank
the supporting staff of Elsevier for the production of the journal.
Credit: Andy Dean Photography on PhotoDune
Credit: Richard Primack
Credit: Figure from Cabrera-Guzmán et al. 2012. Biological Conservation
Credit: Wayne MacPhail