Writing an Article for Writing an Article for PublicationPublication

David TaylorDavid TaylorWISER Lunchtime Seminar, February WISER Lunchtime Seminar, February

20092009

“A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it. An

experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it” Albert

Einstein

Why Write?Why Write?

List three reasons why you want to List three reasons why you want to write an article.write an article.

Why ReadWhy Read

List three reasons why you read List three reasons why you read published articlespublished articles

Science Works Through Science Works Through PublicationPublication

The way we do science has developed The way we do science has developed over the last 300 yearsover the last 300 years

Publication in widely-available form is a Publication in widely-available form is a crucial elementcrucial element

New scientific ideas can be openly New scientific ideas can be openly discussed, criticised, tested, accepted or discussed, criticised, tested, accepted or rejectedrejected

Until you publish, you are not doing Until you publish, you are not doing sciencescience

The Journal of the Mechanical The Journal of the Mechanical Behaviour of Biomedical Behaviour of Biomedical

MaterialsMaterials

What Happens to Your What Happens to Your Article?Article?

Submitted to EditorSubmitted to Editor Editor’s “assessment” (reject; revise)Editor’s “assessment” (reject; revise) Sent to ReviewersSent to Reviewers Reviewers reply to EditorReviewers reply to Editor Editor’s decision (accept; reject; revise)Editor’s decision (accept; reject; revise) Back to you: revised version and letterBack to you: revised version and letter Editor may revert to ReviewersEditor may revert to Reviewers

Note: It’s always the Editor who decidesNote: It’s always the Editor who decides

What Do I Look For as an What Do I Look For as an Editor?Editor?

What do you think is the most What do you think is the most important feature of an article?important feature of an article?

What Do I Look For as an What Do I Look For as an Editor?Editor?

OriginalityOriginality What’s new?What’s new?

ContentContent Is there enough?Is there enough?

SimplicitySimplicity Can it be clearer, shorter?Can it be clearer, shorter?

A Perfect ArticleA Perfect Article

Brings together the two key scientific Brings together the two key scientific elements of THEORY and elements of THEORY and EXPERIMENTEXPERIMENT

Shows how a variety of disparate Shows how a variety of disparate data/results/observations can be data/results/observations can be understood through a single, elegant, understood through a single, elegant, hypothesis.hypothesis.

It’s Your WorkIt’s Your Work

There’s no fixed formula for writing a There’s no fixed formula for writing a paperpaper

You need to develop your own styleYou need to develop your own style But…there are some useful But…there are some useful

guidelines…guidelines… (…once you know them, you can (…once you know them, you can

decide when to break them…)decide when to break them…)

Elements of an ArticleElements of an Article

Abstract (Summary)Abstract (Summary) KeywordsKeywords IntroductionIntroduction Methods (Experimental Details)Methods (Experimental Details) ResultsResults DiscussionDiscussion ConclusionsConclusions AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

What’s wrong with this What’s wrong with this abstract?abstract?

““In this paper, we will describe some In this paper, we will describe some experiments that were conducted to experiments that were conducted to measure the creep strain rate in a measure the creep strain rate in a stainless steel, and we will discuss stainless steel, and we will discuss the significance of the results.”the significance of the results.”

This one is better, but could This one is better, but could still be improved – how?still be improved – how?

““We conducted a series of experiments We conducted a series of experiments to measure the creep strain rate in to measure the creep strain rate in the stainless steel alloy SUS678F. We the stainless steel alloy SUS678F. We showed that the creep strain rate is showed that the creep strain rate is proportional to the applied stress.”proportional to the applied stress.”

““Creep strain rate is an important measure of Creep strain rate is an important measure of a material’s high-temperature performance. a material’s high-temperature performance. Creep has been measured in various Creep has been measured in various materials but not in the stainless steel alloy materials but not in the stainless steel alloy SUS678F. We conducted a series of SUS678F. We conducted a series of experiments which showed that the creep experiments which showed that the creep strain rate is proportional to the applied strain rate is proportional to the applied stress in this alloy. This strongly suggests stress in this alloy. This strongly suggests that the mechanism of creep in this material that the mechanism of creep in this material is grain boundary diffusion.”is grain boundary diffusion.”

The ObjectivesThe Objectives

The end of the Intro is a good place The end of the Intro is a good place to state:to state:

Objectives, orObjectives, or Hypothesis, orHypothesis, or Research QuestionResearch Question

DiscussionDiscussion Most often done badlyMost often done badly Most feared by young researchersMost feared by young researchers Say what’s good about your workSay what’s good about your work Say what’s bad (limitations)Say what’s bad (limitations) Compare to other published workCompare to other published work SpeculateSpeculate Criticise other workCriticise other work

StyleStyle

Do you say… Do you say… ““We did this…” or We did this…” or ““This was done…” or This was done…” or ““The present authors did this…”The present authors did this…”

FeedbackFeedback

How to handle rejection!How to handle rejection! Increasing rejection rates, editorial policyIncreasing rejection rates, editorial policy

Revising your article: responding to Revising your article: responding to reviewers’ commentsreviewers’ comments Point by pointPoint by point Explain what you changedExplain what you changed OR explain why you didn’tOR explain why you didn’t

Some Other Points for Some Other Points for DiscussionDiscussion

How do you choose which journal to How do you choose which journal to submit to?submit to? Impact factors Impact factors ReviewersReviewers ReadershipReadership Turnaround timeTurnaround time

Some Other Points for Some Other Points for DiscussionDiscussion

““Open Access” journals versus traditional journalsOpen Access” journals versus traditional journals Here’s what Bentham Open publishers say…Here’s what Bentham Open publishers say…

WHY PUBLISH IN OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS? WHY PUBLISH IN OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS?    

Your article will obtain more citations.Your article will obtain more citations. You own the copyright to your article.You own the copyright to your article. Your article will be peer-reviewed and published very Your article will be peer-reviewed and published very

fast.fast. All interested readers can read, download, and/or print All interested readers can read, download, and/or print

open access articles at no cost!open access articles at no cost! Your article can be read by potentially millions of Your article can be read by potentially millions of

readers, which is incomparable to publishing in a readers, which is incomparable to publishing in a traditional subscription journal. traditional subscription journal.

Open Access journals are FREE to view! Open Access journals are FREE to view!

Elsevier’s monopolyElsevier’s monopoly