Publication in scientific journals. Impact factors

Publication in scientific journals

IMPACT FACTORS

Grupo de investigación EC3Evaluación de la Ciencia y de la

Comunicación Científica

Course: Current problems of modern philologyDate: June 23-July 3, 2014

Evaristo Jiménez-Contreras & Nicolás Robinson-García

Introduction

Why do we need to publish?

Introduction

Why do we need to publish?

To disseminate our work to our community

To gain prestige and recognition from our peers

To show our research perfomance to our funding bodies

To validate our findings

Introduction

Why should we publish in journals?

Journals are currently the main vehicle for scholarly communication

Journals ensure peer review and quality control

Journals are one of the main evaluation measures for funding bodies

Journals represent a fast way to communicate our findings ¿?

Objectives of this course

1. Understand the way researchers communicate and the different cultures among disciplines

2. Learn the meaning of peer review, how it works and its relevance

3. Know which are and how to use the main scientific databases

4. Learn the publication process and the ‘ways’ for publishing in a scientific journal

Week planning (I)

1. Brief introduction to scholarly communication

The role of scientific papers The role of journals The role of citations/references

2. Defining impact and impact journals What is scientific impact and why does it matter? Introducing bibliometrics and research evaluation What is the Journal Impact Factor and why does it

matter?

Week planning (II)

3. Selecting journals in our specialty Searching for scientific literature Searching for journals in our specialty Searching for impact journals

4. Getting published: The How-to guide Tips and hints on scientific writing Establishing a publication strategy The peer review process

Brief introduction to scholarly communication

Evolution of thescientific method

Timeline of the scholarlycommunication channels

Francis Bacon’ eliminative inductionDiscourse on the method by René Descartes

Foundation of the Royal Society in the UK

1665 The first two scientific journals are published

1675Peer review begins

Evolution of scientificmethod and writing

Timeline of the scholarlycommunication channels

End of the 19th Century

The IMRAD structure is introduced in the scientific discourse

Exponential increment of scientific journals

1967 Nature institutes formal peer review

1991The launch of ArXiv and the rise of e-journals

Questioning peer review and the need for reproducibility

The scientific method

A method or procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation,

measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Oxford English Dictionary

STEPS TO FOLLOW1. Define a question2. Gather information3. Form an explanatory hypothesis4. Test the hypothesis5. Analyze the data 6. Interpret the data7. Publish the results through the right

channel

DEFINE A QUESTION

What do we want to know?-> Defining the problem

Why is it important?-> Justifying the study

Why do we want to know it?-> Set the aims

GATHER INFORMATION

Has is been already studied?

If it has, let’s review the state-of-the-art

This will allow us to: Learn about its novelty Define the problem Establish the theoretical framework Compare results

FORM AN EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESIS

-Define the topic (time period, unit of analysis, geographical limits, theoretical framework)

- Set the objectives

-Formulate the hypothesis

- Value the importance (novelty, viability, relevance)

TEST THE HYPOTHESIS

Establish a methodology:o What are we going to do? How? With which tools? When? Where?

o Unit of analysis? Which is the sample?

Gather and process the datao Systematic data retrievalo Statistical techniques

ANALYZE AND INTERPRET THE DATA

Write a manuscript following the IMRAD structure (or a variant depending on the discipline and nature of the study)

This manuscript is the one that will be later on submitted to a journal in order to…

PUBLISH THE RESULTS

Informal

Scientific paper[Peer Review, Final and Public,

Specialized]

Books and monographs

Reference books

Congress[Peer Review,

interpersonal, public]

Web 2.0: blogs, facebook, twitter.

[without Peer Review, interpersonal, public]

University cafeteria, e-mail, telephone

[interpersonal, private]

Formal

How do researchers communicate?

Data SharingData Banks

Repositories preprints

Data papersProceedings papers

Informal

Specialized]

Reference books

Formal

From an uncontrolled environment…

… to transparent and controlled channels

Informal

Specialized]

Reference books

Formal

Where do they publish?

What do they cite?

Experimental Sciences

50%40%

Journals Books Others

Social Sciences

Humanities

Is it the same everywhere?

The role of the scientific journal

A scientific journal aims to disseminate original, valid and novel scientific knowledge in order to progress on the advancement of science.

Journals are a part of the scientific method as they play an essential role in the last phase of dissemination and communication of the research findings.

Types of publications (I)

Letters Communications and short descriptions of current research findings which are considered as urgentNotes Short descriptions of current research findings which are not considered as urgent

Reviews Description of previous literature written in a narrative way about the state of the art in a field

Types of publications (II)

Research articles

First acceptable, publicly-available manuscript containing sufficient information to make it the object of evaluation (peer review), to show reproducible results, and to evaluate the intellectual processes undertaken during the research study in order to justify the conclusions reached.

Day, 2005

The IMRAD structure

What question was studied?

Introduction

How was the problem studied?Methods

What where the results?

Results

What do the findings mean?

Discussion

The peer review process

Day, 2005

What question was studied?

Introduction

How was the problem studied?Methods

What where the results?

Results

What do the findings mean?

Discussion

Why must we follow this structure ?

“Peer review is the principal mechanism for quality control in most scientific disciplines. By assessing the quality of research, peer review determines what [..] research results get published.”

Bornmann, 2011

PEER REVIEW ENSURES CREDIBILITY

Blind review The authors ignore who are the reviewers of their manuscript, but the reviewers do know the authors identity

Double-blind review None, authors or reviewers know which the identity of the other

Open peer review Both, authors and reviewers know which the identity of the other

How are published papers evaluated?

The role of citations/references

1. Support the authors’ arguments

2. Demonstrate to the reviewers that you are knowledgeable of the field of study

3. Refute, compare or validate the work of authors

4. Pay tribute and acknowledge the contributions of their peers

The role of citations/references

Specialized]

Why scientific papers?

Scientific journal[Impact Factor, Journal Rankings,

Visibility]Journal-level Metrics

Article-level Metrics“The bibliographies contained in most scientific papers represent a brief history of the subjects they treat and lead to earlier related events.”

CITATIONS TRACK “IMPORTANT” PAPERS

http://scimaps.org/maps/map/histcite_visualizati_52/detail/

Garfield, Sher & Torpie, 1964

What do we mean by Scientific Impact?

Campanario, González & Rodríguez, 2006

What do we mean by Scientific Impact?

• Conversation• Citations• Quality

Article

• Visibility• Competition• Prestige

Journal • Funding• Tenure• Success

Recognition

Wrapping up

1. The scientific paper as the main publication type is characterized by following the scientific method and being structured following the Introduction – Methods – Results – And – Discussion structure

2. Journals are the main communication channel among the research community as they ensure credibility through the peer review process.

Wrapping up

3. Citations/References reflect the importance or impact research contributions have among the scientific community

4. Citations are used as a measure of visibility and impact for journals and of recognition for researchers.

Recommended readings

Day, R.A. How to write and publish a scientific paper. Oryx Press, 1998.

Defining impact and impact journals

How do we define an Impact Journal?

Science Citation IndexSocial Science Citation Index

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Ke, Börner & Viswanath, 2004

Boyack, Klavans & Börner, 2005

Leydesdorff & Rafols, 2009

Where can I look for citations?

How do we define Impact? The Impact Factor

The Impact Factor is a bibliometric indicator which measures the relevance, importance or visibility in terms of citations of scientific journals

The Impact Factor is updated every year and it is officially published in the Journal Citation Reports from Thomson Reuters

How do we define Impact? The Impact Factor

Lozano, Larivière & Gingras, 2012 arXiv:1205.4328v1

Due to low citation rates, journals in Humanities do not have an Impact Factor. In this field we consider as impact journals all indexed in the

Arts & Humanities Citation Index

How do we calculate the Impac Factor

IMPACT FACTOR 2006 =

CITATIONS 2004-2005

PUBS 2004-2005

How do we calculate the Impac Factor

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

ct Fac

INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

LINGUISTICS

PSYCHOLOGY

IF –

What does the Impact Factor measure?

Seglen, 1999

Article’s Impact

≠Journal’s Impact

Limitations of the Impact Factor

It does not represent the actual number of citations of the paper It varies among disciplines It is dependent on the number of papers and of document types the journal publishes There is a problem with self-citations Sometimes two years are not enough

There are no Impact Factors in the HUMANITIES

Here we consider as impact journalsthose included in the Arts & HumanitiesCitation Index

PREMISES All researchers want to publish their research in impact journals

These are international journals where authors all over the world try to publish

They receive lots of manuscripts and, hence, they reject most of them

The peer review process is tough as it is done by the best experts in each field

What does the Impact Factor really measure?

THE IMPACT FACTOR IS AN INDICATOR OF

COMPETITIVENESSAs journals receive more manuscripts they have more where to choose and therefore, more possibilities of publishing better papers. These papers will get cited will be well received by the community, improving their Journal Impact Factor.

What does the Impact Factor really measure?

Selecting journals in our specialty

Most of the research policy guidelines and research evaluation exercises

consider them as key factor

You will develop a successful research career

Why publish in a Impact Journals?

You will gain a wider audience of readers and hence, your contribution

will get more visibility

Evaluation agencies

You will improve your university’s status

You will increase your budget

Become active in the international community

Zuccala, 2005

Excuses for not publishing in impact journals

My research line and my articles are of national interest

International reviewers are uncapable of understanding the wide scope of my research papers

I do not publish in English, we must defend our language!!

International journals usually take a long time to publish my papers

In my research area books and book chapters are more important

There are no international journals covering my research interests

http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/globalwos-essay.pdf

Bornmann & Daniel, 2010

CHEMISTRY

Torres-Salinas et al., 2014

• CHANGE THE PERSPECTIVEAdapt to international standards

• CHANGE THE STRATEGY Less papers but better

• CHANGE THE TOPICSSearch for relevant research questions

in your area

I may have to change some things

Where to publish?

Identify the audience to which you are targeting

Professional Academic

Always publish in peer-reviewed journals

That is, your papers will be anonimously evaluated by two or more experts

Where to publish?

Where are those journals?

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASES

International

National

It belongs to Elsevier, the biggest scientific publisher in the world

It includes around 16500 journals from all research fields.

They have their own ‘impact indicator’ called SJR.

Developed by the European Science Foundation

It includes 6459 journals in Humanities published in any European language.

Journals are classified according to their impact (International1, International2 and National) and 15 thematic categories.

It is a subject index for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics.

It dates back to 1925 and includes records from more than 4000 journals and 1000 books.

It includes the JSTOR Language and Literature Collection.

Hands-on exercises

Web of Science

1. Access to the database2. Citation indexes3. Types of search4. Boleean operators -> AND – OR – NOT5. Search fields6. Filtering and analyzing the results page

Hands-on exercises

Journal Citation Reports

1. Access to the database2. Search options3. Journal information -> Citation frame – Self-

citations – Citing and cited journals4. Other bibliometric indicators

Hands-on exercises

Scopus

1. Access to the database2. Citation indexes3. Types of search4. Boleean operators -> AND – OR – NOT5. Search fields6. Filtering and analyzing the results page

Getting published: The How-to guide

• It is better to articulate a good research question and look out for the necessary tools in order to answer it than to pose a research question according to the tools you already have.

• You must try to be original. A curious thing I’ve found out from papers authored by Spanish-speaking people is that, the more evidences they find in the literature supporting their results, the more assertive they feel over the importance of the contribution they are making.

• We must address the difficult issues. Unfortunately, that is the interesting one and the one which will be getting published in Nature or any other of our journals. That is the main difference between famous researchers and the rest of us.

First comes first…

• Focus on innovative aspects• Be clear in your mind about the

structure of the paper• Make it comprehensible and

interesting• Select carefully which is the best

place to get it published• Be honest and upstanding• Focus on quality rather than quantity• Be patient when writing the article

Things you must take in mind

Look out for partners when publishing

Effects of no collaboration, national collaboration and international collaboration

Katz & Hicks, 1997

Collaboration is not so common in the Humanities

Larivière, Gingras & Archambault, 2006

WHY IS IT A GOOD A IDEA TO COLLABORATE?

Teamwork allows researchers to confront and fulfill large research projects:

Little science -> Big science

The more people involved on the writing of a paper the more polished the final version it will be theoretically

Collaborating involves strengthening social networks and fostering creativity

Collaboration allows developing interdisciplinary research

i.e., Digital Humanities

Be honest with authorship

Authorship is a recurrent source of controversy among collaborators

The position in authorship reflects the contribution of each author

It is advisable to agree on authorship position before conducting the research

Restrain from including too many authors

BEWARE: The authors’ position reflect their contribution to the paper

AUTHOR 1; AUTHOR 2; AUTHOR 3

Authorship: Criteria and Policy

Authorship implies accountability. Listed authors must have contributed directly to the intellectual content of the paper... Authors should meet all of the following criteria:

• Conceived and planned the work that led to the article or played an important role in interpreting the results, or both.

• Wrote the paper and/or made substantive suggestions for revision.• Approved the final version

Contributing to a paper is not the same

as authoring a paper

Who should author a paper?

AN AUTHOR SHOULD HAVE…

AN AUTHOR IS NOT SOMEONE WHO HAS…

… Contributed substantially on theo Designo Conceptiono Data retrievalo Analysiso Interpretation

…. Written or critically revised the manuscript… Approved the final version of the manuscript

… Helped with technical assistance… Revised the style of the writing… Supervisors and directors of research teams or departments who have not contributed… Assure the funding

Allen et al., 2014

BEWARE: The authors’ position reflect their contribution to the paper

Who are the main authors?

FIRST AUTHOR

LAST AUTHOR

Has conceived the paper.Has played a leading role on its conception, design and development.

Has revised and analyzed the paper critically and has consented and given the final approval before submitting the final version of the manuscript to a journal

Make a good literature review

Be honest when citing, do not omit competitors

Cite the most recent literature

Cite international papers, use scientific databases

Make sure to cite all papers on the topic published in the journal to which you are submitting your

manuscript

Make a good literature review

DON’T BE CHEEKY!

When writing the manuscript1. Many papers are rejected or loose their value because they

are not well written, presented or structured.

2. If we do not pay attention to the details, probably the main message and good ideas expressed in our paper will be missed out and go unnoticed.

3. Just taking care of a series of basic details our paper may improve substantially.

4. Work out which are the main conclusions of your work and write and present the paper always keeping them on mind.

5. Give some thought to the introduction, in it we must present what has been previously done and what will we contribute with.

“[…]However, the paper does its utmost best to present itself as a contribution to just Spanish national matters. Then, non-Spanish readers may not be very interested, and that includes most of Research Evaluation readers. Thus, unfortunately, the paper as it stands now is only of marginal interest to RE and is much more suitable for a Spanish national journal. Now, the paper could certainly be improved: focus on what is interesting for an international public, present the study as dealing with a general issue[…]”.

Because if you don’t, this will be the answer you will receive

Approach the topic from an international perspective

FINAL PUBLICATION:Cabezas-Clavijo A, Robinson-Garcia N, Escabias M & Jimenez-Contreras E (2013). Reviewers' ratings and bibliometric indicators: Hand in hand when assessing over research proposals? PLOS One. 8(6): e68258

“[…]Considering target audience of the article, present the methodology in terms of spectral decomposition makes no sense. This was introduced by Gabriel in the journal Biometrika that is aimed to mathematicians. If one observes the article of Odoroff and Gabriel (1990), which was aimed at doctors, presentation omitted any algebraic development. Should be limited to providing clear rules of interpretation and limit the method to his original quote (properly cited, of course)[…]”.

Because if you don’t, this will be the answer you will receive

Address your research topic according to the audience to which you address

Respect authors’ guidelines

Pay a special attention to the journals’ instructions for authors

• Abstract, keywords• Structure, tables and figures

• Length• Referencing

IF WE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS WE WILL AVOID HAVING THE EDITOR AND REVIEWERS CALLING OUR

ATTENTION. THESE ERRORS MAY BE CRUCIAL ON THE FATE OF OUR PAPER

Check some papers previously published by the journal

Look out for your English

http://www.ease.org.uk/guidelines/index.shtml

• Journals hate badly written manuscripts

• Check the terminology you use

• If you are hiring a translator • Choose someone specialized in your field of

endeavour

• If you have written the text • Have a native English-speaker to check it

• Beware the type of English you use • American or British

Aspects that must be taken into account

Some aspects journals take into account when reviewing manuscripts

Revista Española de Documentación Científica

Look out for tables and figuresSometimes tables and figures are the most important part of our work or even the only one our readers will pay attention to.

Include only the neccessary ones, only those that reinforce our results. Do not transform your paper into a list of tables, try to comprise results

in just a few tables always preserving their quality. More tables and figures do not neccessarily mean more results!

Avoid redundancy. Avoid overlapping tables and figures.

Use explicative titles avoiding acronyms if possible. Make sure the tables and figures can be interpreted without reading the text.

Make attractive figures, take your time, they summarize part of the message you are sending

Look out for tables and figures

FIGURES AND TABLES ARE PRETTY…

Look out for tables and figures

… AND INFORMATIVE

Select the right journal

Audience• Academic• Professional

Scope• Readership• Research community

Visibility• Impact journals• Publishers

Publish• Continue the conversation

BEWARE: Read the journal’s scope carefully

You can even point out the target audience in the paper

“Dear Mr Daniel Torres-Salinas,

Thank you for your submission for Journal of Informetrics entitled "State of the Library and Information Science blogosphere after social networks boom: a metric approach".

The editorial office has, however, decided that this paper is outside the scope of this journal.

Yours sincerely”

If you get it wrong, this will be the answer you will receive

Double check which type of papers they publish

ng –

Select the right journalBEWARE OF SCAM JOURNALS!!!

I will send this paper to

1º PUBLIC UNDERST SCI

If rejected, then:

2º ISIS3º MINERVA

Writing a research paperWriting a research paperBefore submitting a manuscript

You may as well send it to some colleagues to check some aspects. Don’t forget to thank them!

Writing a research paper

• Include a “Cover Letter” underlining the paper’s originality and novelty, also pointing out its potential interest to the journal’s readers

• List the main results of your research and emphasize its importance How are you contributing to the field?

• Sometimes it may be interesting to suggest some possible reviewers, especially if the paper is of great novelty

Writing a research paperSending the manuscript

Authors should include a cover letter detailing the key findings of their manuscript. The cover letter should highlight the novel aspects of their data and briefly describe how the authors feel their results will generate progress in their field. ….Furthermore, if the authors feel their work merits publication as a breakthrough paper, they should indicate this in the cover letter...

Not all journals ask for a “cover letter” but it is advisable to always send it

Example extracted from the “authors guidelines” of:

Sending the manuscript

Writing a research paperThe peer review process

ACCEPTED √MINOR CHANGES √MAJOR REVISIONS ¿?REJECTED X

1) Answer to all the commentaries, even if you don’t agree or are minor issues.

2) Be well-mannered when answering and use solid scientific arguments when you disagree with the reviewer.

3) If necessary, get ready, you may have to retrieve more data, undertake more observations or perform new experiments.

4) If the changes suggested do not require an excessive effort and do not alter the paper excessively, make them, don’t waste your time arguing with the reviewer.

This may be one of the hardest moments, we must study the reviewers comments and respond to them in a letter.

“Reviewer: I do not think that computer science is the appropriate field for the method to be tested. In computer science there is heavy reliance on proceedings… It would be good to test the method on additional fields as well”

Coments implying retrieving new data, processing it and redoing the paper

“You say that CS is well represented in JCR. I strongly disagree with this”

Comments which do not imply changing the paper but responding to the reviewer

“TOPCIT - you should provide a more detailed definition”

Comments which involve minor changes

“Page 8, first line "proving" I suggest to replace this by "indicating"

Comments which imply modifying the text without further discussion

What can we have in a review?

Example of a structured response to a review

The peer review processBe prepared for the unexpected

COMMENTS MADE TO THE SAME PAPER!

The peer review processAlways be polite but firm…

… and present proofs that justify your answer

• NEVER take it as something personal

• Be honest and try to understand why the paper was rejected

• Make the most of reviewers’ comments to improve your work

• Rewrite a new paper but don’t send it to another journal without correcting the facts why it was rejected on the first place

Accept rejected papers with good nature

“Undeniably, the most common way to communicate a given finding, theory or discovery is through its publication in articles submitted to learned journals. It may happen that the editors and referees who read articles reporting a novel discovery are not able to assess the value of innovative work”

Campanario, JM. Rejecting and resisting Nobel class discoveries... Scientometrics, 2009

Maybe your paper was not that bad after all!

• Good and well-focused research lines• Good knowledge of research methodologies in our specialty• Ambition for publishing internationally• Patience with the research, writing and reviewing• Neatness, clarity and conciseness when presenting results• Persistence against failure

Final tips

Publication in scientific journalsIMPACT FACTORS

Questions?

Evaristo Jiménez-Contreras evaristo@ugr.es http://www.ugr.es/~evaristo

This is an adapted version of:- Torres-Salinas, D. Cómo publicar en revistas de impacto. Unidad de Bibliometría, Universidad de Granada.

Nicolás Robinson-Garcíaelrobin@ugr.es

http://www.ugr.es/~elrobin

Publication in scientific journals. Impact factors

Education

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