How to publish from your MEd or PhD research

1. How to publish from your MEd or PhD research Merrilyn Goos University of Limerick, Ireland

2. Homework • Which journals did you investigate? • Pair with another person to share what you found out about these journals (aims & scope, intended audiences, Editorial Board members, issues per year, reviewing processes …) • Write at least 3 questions you would like to have answered in this workshop.

3. Why publish? • To contribute to advancing knowledge in your field • To develop your academic career: finding a job, gaining tenure, getting promoted

4. What and how much to write about? • Conference paper: • a small slice of data • an emerging theoretical framework • a methodological challenge • Journal article: completed research with strong theoretical grounding and sufficient evidence to support your claims

5. Identify your contribution to knowledge • In the introduction, when you state the problem and argue for its significance • In the literature review, identifying key works, their contribution, and the gap and need you will address • In the Discussion, connecting your findings to the literature you reviewed earlier

6. Which journal?

7. Which journal? Is the journal a good fit for your research? What is the standing of the journal? Rejection rate Reputation of editors and editorial board members Citation analysis Reputation of authors • Aims and scope • Intended audience • Hand search issues from last five years • What about practical issues? • What is the word length for articles? • How many issues published per year? • How many articles published per issue? • How long does reviewing take? • How long from submission to decision?

8. Aims and scope Educational Studies in Mathematics presents new ideas and developments of major importance to those working in the field of mathematical education. It seeks to reflect both the variety of research concerns within this field and the range of methods used to study them. It deals with didactical, methodological and pedagogical subjects, rather than with specific programmes for teaching mathematics. The emphasis is on high-level articles which are of more than local or national interest.

9. Which journal? Is the journal a good fit for your research? What is the standing of the journal? Rejection rate Reputation of editors and editorial board members Citation analysis Reputation of authors • Aims and scope • Intended audience Need to have a Plan A, Plan B, …

10. The reviewing process

11. What do reviewers (and editors) look for? Educational Studies in Mathematics: The journal seeks to publish articles that • are clearly educational studies in mathematics, • make original and substantial contributions to the field, • are accessible and interesting to an international and diverse readership, • provide a well founded and cogently argued analysis • on the basis of an explicit theoretical and methodological framework, and • take appropriate account of the previous scholarly work on the addressed issues.

12. What do reviewers (and editors) look for? Journal for Research in Mathematics Education: Articles accepted for publication must be of high quality, must make significant contributions to the field, and must not have been accepted for publication elsewhere. In particular, the work should be well conceptualized, theoretically grounded, and move the field forward in clearly identifiable ways.

13. What do reviewers (and editors) look for? Journal for Research in Mathematics Education: • Does the research extend or deepen our understanding of important issues in mathematics education? Does it have the potential to lead the field in new directions?  • Do the research questions pertain to issues of significant theoretical or pragmatic concern? Are they well-grounded in theory or in prior research? • Is there an appropriate match between the research question(s) and the methods and analyses employed to answer the question(s)? • Does the conduct of the study include the effective application of appropriate data collection, analysis, and interpretation techniques? • Are the claims and conclusions in the manuscript justified in some acceptable way, and do they logically follow from the data or information presented? • Is the writing lucid, clear, and well-organized?

14. Decisions, decisions … • Accept • Accept subject to minor revisions being carried out to the editor’s satisfaction • Could be reconsidered after major revisions and additional external review • Reject

15. The decision letter • An example

16. Revising the manuscript • Read the decision letter carefully and respond to everything the editor requests. • Write a “response to reviewers” letter to accompany the revised manuscript. • Example 1 • Example 2

17. Common reasons for rejecting manuscripts • Does not make an original and significant contribution to knowledge in mathematics education • Not accessible to international readership • Lack of explicit theoretical framework • Lit review does not take sufficient account of previous research • Inadequate rationale for and/or description of methodology • Analysis is inappropriate or unconvincing • Insufficient evidence to support claims

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