how to publish_work

Research that others publish and how to publish your own

Ng Seik WengHonorary professorFuyang Normal College, Xianning College, Central China Normal University, Guangdong Ocean University, Guangxi Normal University, Guangzhou University, Harbin Normal University, Heilongjiang University, Jilin Normal University, Luoyang Normal University, Northeast Normal University, Northwest University, Qingdao University of S & T, Qufu Normal University, Shantou University, Shanxi Normal University, Wenzhou University, Yangzhou University, Yunnan University, Zhejiang Normal University, Zhengzhou University

Department of ChemistryUniversity of Malaya

Purpose of publishing research

• SCI publications are used to rank a university.

• Other researchers make use of the findings.

• ….. if a student doesn’t publish work, the student cannot graduate.

Conceptual design

• Is it a new tangible thing?

• Is it a new tangible construction?

• Is it new system?• Are systems being

compared with?• Is it only an idea?

It does not mean that the publication will answer all the questions.

Has the author published in the field?

If yes, why is the work extended?Does the project leader really know the field? Or, is the blind leading the blind?

Wouldn’t it be easier to wait for the rain to stop?

The cash is in the other machine ...

ATM robbers steal check deposit machine from bank in Bukit Mertajam

(9 August 2006)

Useless measurements: African speed trap

300-year da Vinci vs. 6-week Nagyvary: a blind test at Texas A&M (2003)

The core of research is in biomedical sciences …

Research on the auto immune system will always dominate science.

Some research topics will always be at the periphery:

tin is a “less common metal”,allergies are not life-threatening, ….. and there will be a market for cook books.

Ig Nobel prizes

to reward those research projects that first make people laugh, and then make them think….. (Nature)

Search engines

•Scholar Google•PubMed•British Library Direct•SciFinder•Web of Science

The Science Citation Index

The 6400 journals are ranked by Impact Factors published annually in Journal Citation Reports.

The journals (but not their impact factors) can be found at www.isinet.com.

Subject variation of impact factors

Types of publications

The Impact Factor refers to the journal, not the paper itself.

• The significance of a paper is judged by the number of citations for the paper.

• The reputation of the author is judged by the citations for author’s papers divided by author’s papers.

The “cold fusion” paper: 500 citations

M. Fleischmann, S. Pons & M. Hawkins (1989). Journal of Electroanalysis Chemistry Interface, 261, 301-8.

Impact factors do not take into account self-citations (about one

third).

P.O. Seglen (1997). Citation and journal impact factors: questionable indicators of research quality. Allergy, 52, 1050-1056.

Zeitschrift für Kristallographie

Online articles are more highly cited.

Generalized citation curve

Impact Factors (2006) of American journals are higher.

Inorg. Chem. 3.91Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2.70Chin. J. Inorg. Chem. 0.58Russ. J. Inorg. Chem. 0.18

J. Org. Chem. 3.79Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2.77Chin. J. Org. Chem. 0.74Russ. J. Org. Chem. 0.49

• Angew. Chem. 10.23• Chem. – Eur. J. 5.02• Chem. Commun. 4.52• Cryst. Growth Des. 4.34• Inorg. Chem. 3.91• CrystEngComm 3.72• Dalton Trans. 3.01• Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2.70• J. Inorg. Biochem. 2.65• J. Solid State Chem. 2.11

• … Acta Cryst. E 0.57

Impact Factors and Carats

0.5 carat $ 1,0001.0 carat s $ 5,0002.0 carats $ 15,0003.0 carats $ 50,000

Citation Classics

The number of times a paper is cited in the work of other researchers gives an indication of the usefulness of the paper.

Citation analysis can expose well-funded researchers publishing in obscure national journals and permit comparison with poorly-funded but well-cited researchers publishing in international journals.

Last words from the chairman emeritus of the Institute for Scientific Information

• Of the 4500 covered by SCI and SSCI, 3000 are biomedical journals.

• 500 journals account for 50% of what is published and 75% of what is cited.

Advice No. 1: Think about writing the report at every stage of research.

The analysis of data will unravel many relationships and the scientist will gain numerous insights into the problem.

The publication should consist of only one main point.

This point should be so fundamental that it can be expressed in one sentence or one paragraph.

Advice No. 2: Know your audience.

a.k.a. First Rule of Advertising

Is your work suitable for the journal?

Is the level too high?

Will the review take too long?

Advice No. 3: Give your findings, the whole findings and nothing but your findings.

Inform the scientific community • why you want to conduct the study, • what you are investigating,• how you conducted your

investigation, • what results you found and • what you think of your work.

Your job is to report, not to convince.

Formats for reporting:

Sonata-allegro format

The exposition introduces the main theme in a tonic key and minor theme in a related key.

The development expands on the themes. It is creative but “unstable”.

The recapitulation re-states the themes. Sometimes, the work ends with a coda.

“Ten-course Chinese dinner” format

1 Cold dish2 Soup3 ……….4 ……….5 ……….6 ……….7 ……….8 ……….9 Rice or noodles10 Desert

Format of a research paper

• Title• Authors and addresses• Abstract• Introduction• Experimental• Results and

Discussion• References• Schemes and figures

Long titles are self-explanatory

Size matters: how height affects the health, happiness and success of boys (Stephen S. Hall: Houghton Mifflin)

(Taller people are smarter than shorter ones.)

‘Novel’ does not mean new!

J. Am. Chem. Soc. banned ‘novel’ in 2003 because many cases turned out later not to be ‘novel’.

There are many words that having no useful meanings, e.g., facile, respectively.... there is no such word as “unreacted”.

Abstract:The abstract is not a conclusion, and a house is not a home.

• Give some real information. • Do not re-state the problem.• Concentrate on the solution of the problem

and your findings.

“The title compound has been synthesized and its crystal structure determined” is not an abstract!

Advice 4: Give a reason for the study.

Advice No. 5: Connect the previous to the present work in Introduction.

Do:• Survey and summarize the field.• Explain how your work is a

contribution to the field.

Do not:• motivate the study because of

“potential applications”.• harp on the importance of the

field.• give multiple references to prove

the importance of the field.

Examples of flawed introductions

A well-cited introduction to supramolecular chemistry but …

An example of a four-line introduction:“Dream”

People say that life is like a dream.

I say that a dream is like life.

Third line ….. (singer talks about his dreams).

Fourth line ….. (singer will talk of he learned from life).

A four-line introduction

1 So-and-so reported something (ref) and so-and-so reported a related thing (ref); the field has been surveyed (ref).

2 However, they missed something which takes place in another system (ref).

3 You wish to conflate the two ideas because ….. (give a reason/ref).

4 You round up the introduction by hinting what you will do.

The reader should want to kick himself.

Advice No. 6: Pace your ideas by references.

• Use about ¼ to introduce the subject.

• Use another ¼ for the Experimental.

• Use the rest for the Results & Discussion.

References: the suit of cards in your hand

• Use some of your own papers as references.

• The references will tell whether the field is a important field or not.

• The year will tell whether the field is new or old.

Advice 7: Weave your thoughts by connecting and contrasting your ideas with discourse marks.

Furthermore,strengthen sentences by transitive verbsandweaken sentences by intransitive verbs.

Experimental

• Give full details so that someone who is not in the field can repeat the experiment.

• Someone should be able to read the experimental only.

• Say it matter-of-factically (say it with a straight face).

• Note anything unusual even if you cannot deal with the problem.

Results and Discussion

• Describe the work and highlight any unusual features.

• Return to the problem you introduced.

• Talk on the significance of the work.

... and

• Do not explain the work.• Do not explain the charts. • Do not talk on the significance of the

field.• Do not write a conclusion!!!

Advice 8: Don’t write a conclusion if you have no final impression to leave to the reader.

Why say “in conclusion, we have done this and done that”, which already appears in the abstract?

Advice 9: Paint a thousand words with one picture.

Reminder: SCI papers contribute to

ranking.

When a university campus is faced with an outbreak of dengue, it is not the time to read a zoological treatise on the Aedes aegypti.

Gesundheit! … not for weak-hearted

53-Year old robber dies of heart attack after being chased by police (NST 3 November 2006)

Advice 10: Don’t give the reader a headache.

Art consists in concealing art. Horace

Connect your ideas seamlessly so that the reader does not notice the art that has gone into the writing.

The expanding universe

Malaysia

The people

The religions

The food

Twin Towers

Tourism

Thank you