Publishing Scientific Articles –A · Publishing Scientific Articles, Liesbeth Mol Springer...

Publishing Scientific Articles – A Publisher’s Perspective

Liesbeth MolVU, June 8, 2017

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Publishing Scientific Articles, Liesbeth Mol

Publishing Scientific Articles – A Publisher’s Perspective

Who are we? The Publishing Landscape Selecting a Journal Writing the Article Getting ready to submit

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Who we are: SPRINGER NATURE

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Springer – some key numbers

• Founded in 1842

• More than 13000 employees worldwide, over 50 countries

• Over 10.000 new book titles published in 2016

• Some 2800 journals

• Covering all disciplines from mathematics, to life sciences to humanities

• Over 350 Open Access journals: largest OA portfolio worldwide

• OA agreements for hybrid journals with several countries, including the Netherlands

• Springerlink (http://link.springer.com): our searchable content platform with journal articles, books and reference works

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Springer – who am I

The Physics and Astronomy Team, Dec 2016

• PhD Utrecht University (1997)

• Research performed at AMOLF, Amsterdam

• Joined Springer 1997• VP Physics & Astronomy• Global team in Europe, US and Asia

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The Publishing Landscape

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The Publishing Landscape

• Why you should publish• The status of scholarly publications today• Impact Factors

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Why you should publish

• Publish or Perish: Your research is NOT complete until it has been published• Present new and original results or methods• Exchange ideas, communicate with peers ‐> Advance (not repeat) scientific

knowledge and enhance scientific progress• Grant writing, research funding• Recognition and career advancement

Grant writing

Funding Bodies

Researchers

Scientific Publication

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Competition to be read

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1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050

Log # articles

Year

Historical increase in annual article output

Based on data published in Jinha, A. E. (2010). “Article 50 million: An estimate of the number of scholarly articles in existence.” Learned Publishing 23 (3): 258–263.

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The status of scholarly publications today

The number of article submissions is growing exponentially compared to number of new journals Growing pressure on Editors and Peer Reviewers of journals

Competition to get published

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400

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1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

%

Year

Journal numbers

Journal submissions

Relative growth from baseline, Source: Daniel McGowan, Edanz, 2012

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Many Rankings and Measures of Quality An important one you will often encounter is the journal Impact FactorMeasure of the average number of citations articles in a particular journal receive in a particular year

Formula for the 2015 Impact Factor:Number of citations in 2015 to articles published in 2013 + 2014‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐Total citable articles published in 2013 + 2014

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Impact Factor – Points to consider

• Compare the IF only with journals within the same discipline because the average IF is very different among different disciplines (see chart)

• E.g. In mathematics researchers will usually cite older work, while only citations in the two years after publication count toward the IF. This is quite different in e.g. biomedical

• There is much debate over the Impact Factor (IF) in the scientific and publishing community

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0,5

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3,5

Economics Computing,Cybernetics

EnvironmentalSciences

Physics,Multidisciplinary

Infectious diseases BiochemicalMethods

Average Impact Factor 2010

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Selecting a Journal

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Publishing scientific articles – Selecting a Journal

• Before you begin• What journal editors want• How to choose the right

journal

You first do the research and evaluate the results and then you select the journal

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Before you begin

To Write = To Read• Know the status quo of your field of research ‐ scientific communication is

about advancing ‐ not repeating ‐ scientific knowledge • Make sure you have access to the most up‐to‐date scientific literature,

(remember your library provides access to most of the scientific publications, e.g. on SpringerLink, ScienceDirect, Wiley Online)

• Refine your writing skills by reading and reviewing papers of colleagues. This will help you form a strong framework for your own research writing

• Determine a feel of the (kind of) journal you wish to publish in: Interdisciplinary Journal: e.g. Nature, Science, Nature Communications

Discipline‐specific Journal: Solar Physics, Inventiones Mathematicae, BMC Biology

Megajournal publishing “sound science”: e.g. Scientific Reports, PLoS One

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How to choose the right journal

• Check where collaborating / competing research groups and researchers publish their work

• Follow the references. Where were the original papers you would like to cite published?

• Is an Impact Factor important to you? Or are you more concerned about usage / visibility?

• Talk to colleagues about their experiences with the journal• Check publisher sites – author information, aims & scope, editorial board,

abstracting and indexing, review and publication times• Avoid journals with no clear submission and reviewing process• Consider the costs (publishing in traditional ‐ subscription based ‐ journals is

in most cases free to the author, however, in Open Access publishing there is an Article Processing Charge)

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How to choose the right journal ‐ springer.com journal pages

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What journal editors want• Good quality science!• Work which will stand up to peer review (quality / language)• Novel to the scientific community, original research• Research that is interesting to the journal’s readership (so also make sure to choose

the right journal!)• Active research areas (many citations)• Clear concise writing

“Thank you for your article submission, the results are new and interesting.

Unfortunately the new results are not interesting, and the interesting results are not new.”

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Evaluating significance: what is the importance, novelty and relevance of your paper?

• Of specific interest only or of interest to many• Support for (or contradiction of) an existing theory• Substantially improves our understanding of a phenomenon or provide a

new technology or disease treatment• Does it have international significance• Is it in an area of ‘popular appeal’? E.g. is it likely to be reported in

mainstream or lay scientific media

Does your paper offer conceptual advances or incremental ones

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Nature and Nature Sister Journals – High Impact

NaturePublishes the MOST important advances with the WIDEST implications.The significance of a Nature paper should be obvious to any scientist working in any field of research.

Nature sister titlesPublishes the MOST important advances across each discipline.Significance should be apparent to anyone in that discipline.

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Writing the Article

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Publishing scientific articles – Writing the Article• How to structure your article• Discoverability of your work: metadata

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How to structure your articleFollow the author instructions of the journal you chose to submit toYou are telling a story:• Beginning (introduction)

• Middle (main body: results)

• End (conclusion)

The order in which you actually write your paper should be:• Methods and Results

• Introduction

• Discussion and Conclusion

• Abstract and Title

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Title Read first and most. Keep it short and to the point. Must reflect the content of the paper.

Authors Correct spelling, consistency in affiliation.

Abstract 100‐300 word summary of objective and results. Includes key message of paper.

Keywords Make specific. Ideally not words from the title because title words are automatically keywords.

Introduction Explain i) why the work was conducted ii) what methodology was employed iii) why you chose this particular methodology iv) How the methodology accomplished the hypothesis set out in your abstract.

Methodology Written clearly and concisely so that someone can follow how you did your research and can reproduce it.

How to structure your article (cont.)

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How to structure your article (cont.)

Analysis/Results What: Present the results clearly and carefully.

Discussion So what?Discuss the results here. If the results were not what you were expecting this is where you can provide insights or speculations as to what happened and/or what you could have done differently.

Conclusions Write down your conclusions from the study.

Acknowledgements & Conflict of Interest Statement

Acknowledge the people and institutions who have made your research possible e.g. funding.

References Properly cite your referenced material; use the style of the journal. Use e.g EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, Papers

Supplementary Material List any supplementary materials, appendices.

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Discoverability of your work: metadata

Your article needs to be found, read, used and cited!Metadata ensures that your article can be found through abstracting and indexing databases and search engines.

The abstract is quite possibly the most important part of your entire manuscript, as most people will only ever read this section of your manuscript.

• It must be able to ‘stand alone’

• An accurate summary of your research; objectives, methods, results and major conclusions reached

• Avoid references

• Avoid abbreviations unless necessary. But if you have to, use well‐established ones

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Getting Ready to Submit

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Publishing scientific articles – Getting ready to submit• Publishing ethics• Peer review• Rejection• Acceptance and publication of your article• ORCID: Open Researcher and Contributor ID

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Getting ready to submit

• Get the agreement from all co‐authors on what is submitted and to which journal and agree on the order of the authors

• Prepare a cover letter (when appropriate)o Give the background to your research

o Explain the importance of your article in relation to the scope of the Journal

o Emphasize the key take away points

o Recommend reviewers. Usually the journal editor makes a different selection, but it shows knowledge of the field.

o Exclude reviewers and include the reason (e.g. members from a competing research group)

• Language editing – many papers are rejected for language reasons• Conform to the author instructions in terms of set up, reference style, etc.

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Getting ready to submit – Publishing ethics

• The work described has not been published before• It is not under consideration anywhere else – do not submit your paper to

more than one journal at the same time, that would be violating publishing ethics

• Publication has been approved by co‐authors and responsible authorities• Conflict of Interest statement included• Permissions have been obtained from copyright owners. Note that this

may also be needed for re‐use of text or figures you have published yourself!

• No data fabrication or falsification

CrossCheck powered by iThenticate is an initiative started by CrossRef to help its members actively engage in efforts to prevent scholarly and professional plagiarism

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Peer review ‐What it is

When you submit an article, other experts in the field evaluate your article, your research and methodology, to determine if your paper is suitable for publicationPeer review is employed to maintain a high quality standard of published papers and to provide credibility

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Peer review – How to deal with the feedback• Nearly every manuscript requires revisions, often two or three revisions• If you receive reviewer comments for re‐submission, act on them• Consider peer review feedback as advice to help you improve your article, do NOT

take offense• Minor revision does not guarantee acceptance after revision; address all

comments carefully

Acceptance Minor revision

Major revision

Rejection

(Daniel McGowan, Edanz, 2012)

Very few manuscripts get accepted without the need for any revision

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Rejection

Do not be disheartened if you receive a rejection: very often the article and the research are good, but you have not found the right journal

Science

• Novelty

• Research question

• Methodology

• Statistics

• Analysis

• Conclusion

Manuscript

• Formatting

• References

• Language

Other

• Scope

• Expected Impact

• Audience

• Too hypothetical

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Acceptance and publication of your article

• Accepted articles will be typeset, proofread and published online. The article receives a DOI number (Digital Object Identifier) and can be read and cited, e.g.: DOI: 10.1007/s10681‐012‐0632‐1

• This is the official publication of the article and can not be changed afterwards

• For many journals, page numbers and an issue number are assigned once the article is published in an issue, in other cases, the DOI or article number will be the unique identifier

• Share your work. SpringerNature offers shareable links to a read‐only version of your article

• Articles in Springer journals where the corresponding author is from the VU are automatically open access without additional article processing charges

• Present your work and network.

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ORCID: Open Researcher and Contributor ID

Go to www.orcid.org and register for your own Digital Identifier

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Thank you

Liesbeth MolVice President Physics & AstronomySpringer

Acknowledgement

Alex Cheronet and Nathalie Jacobs (Springer)

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