Publishing Top Tips:

Sexy topics, titles and abstracts

Stanislav Ivanov

Email: stanislav.ivanov@vumk.eu

Web: http://stanislavivanov.com

PhD Workshop, 16 May 2017, University of Aveiro, Portugal

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Dr. Stanislav Ivanov

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• Professor and Vice Rector (Research), Varna University of Management, Bulgaria (http://www.vum.bg)

• Editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Tourism Research (http://ejtr.vumk.eu)

• CEO of Zangador Ltd. (http://www.zangador.eu)

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Content

• Manuscript pre-publication cycle

• Manuscript post-publication cycle

• Sexy topics

• Sexy titles

• Sexy abstracts

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Idea

Research

AnalysisWriting

Review process

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Manuscript

pre-publication

lifecycle

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Attention

Interest

AccessReading

Using

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Manuscript

post-publication

lifecycle

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Sexy topics

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Sexy topics

• Few publications on the topic > ‘blue ocean strategy’

• Important now and still important in 5 years!

• Theoretical, methodological and/or applied value > ‘so what?’

• Availability of research funding does NOT make a topic sexy!

• Politically correct topics are NOT necessarily sexy! > Be bold!

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Sexy titles

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Sexy titles

• Catch the attention of readers

• Inform about the content of the paper

• Avoid too long titles

• Avoid too many abbreviations

• Be creative!

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Sexy titles

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Sexy titles

• Shortest possible:

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Sexy titles

• Research question as a title:

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Sexy titles

• Incorporation of movie titles:

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Sexy titles

• Incorporation of book titles or famous catch words:

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Sexy abstracts

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Sexy abstracts

• The abstract should properly reflect the content of the paper

• Follow the journal’s guidelines in regard to structure and word count of the abstract

• Be specific: include key facts about methodology and results

• Include in the text of the abstract some important words to improve the visibility of the abstract in search engines

• The abstract is NOT a summary of a mystery novel!

• Make the abstract readable and citable!

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Small is the new sexy!

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THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION!

QUESTIONS?

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