Writing and Publishing Scientific Papers: Managing the Publication Process

1. Charlesworth is a leading editorial services and researcher training provider, a trusted partner to the global academic community for over 90 years

2. Writing and publishing scientific papers in high impact journals: Managing the publication process “Achieve your potential: Learn from experience” Dr. Gareth Dyke @gardyke Hacettepe University Sept 2019

3. Gareth Dyke, PhD American Museum of Natural History, US (2000-2002) University College Dublin, Ireland (2002-2011) University of Southampton, UK (2011-2015) University of Debrecen, Hungary (2014-) Editor-in-chief Historical Biology (Taylor & Francis) (2004-) Freelance editor (2015-) Nature, Science, Geology , Proceedings of the Royal Society http://zoology.unideb.hu/?m=Gareth_Dyke https://www.linkedin.com/in/gareth-dyke-58a42645/

4. Our Author Services can help with every step of your publishing journey Expert English Language Editing Abstract Writing & Editing Grant Proposal Writing Plagiarism Checking Scientific Review Translation Services Improve your chances of being accepted by your preferred journal Our experts can edit your paper to the style of your target journal We can check your references and check for any plagiarism risk We have helped our customers increase their acceptance rates by over 70% Increase your citations Improve your chances of making successful grant proposals We can review your paper before peer-review and help you respond to reviewer comments

5. Our Education Services can help you achieve your career potential Our trainers are active researchers who publish extensively in high profile journals Our trainers are active supervisors of PhD and MSc students We can provide webinars and on-site training workshops for your institution, tailored to your specific needs We can also provide one-to-one consultancy for your research and writing project

6. Why should I listen? You will gain: • Tips for writing and publishing your papers 2. Better communication during the submission and publication process Why? What’s the point of all this? “… topublish a paper more easily”

7. Writing and publishing • Your message; • Publication structure; • Managing the process; • Guiding your publication process. Examples from two recent papers we have edited and one of my own publications.

8. Key issues leading to rejection ‘Excellent research is being submitted’ -Papers outside the journal scope -Plagiarism -Incorrectly formatted -English -Reviewer responses -Recycled submissions

9. Why publish at all? Motivations Some stories (i.e. Luis / my numbers) To get funding To get promoted To develop research and development To get a PhD degree (These considerations are different to those of editors and reviewers)

10. What is your message? Grandmother On the bus

11. What is your message? If the editors cannot work out your single take-home message, they will reject your paper. They will also reject it if you haven’t convinced them of your study’s importance. “If I’m interested, then my readers will be too”

12. Preparations Checking the original nature of the results/the story/the take-home message -Is this new and interesting? Why? -How does your work relate to a currently hot topic? -What’s new and challenging? -Solutions to difficult problems It’s all in the story NB: try to assemble this into one/two sentence(s)

13. Road map • PREPARATION: things to think about before you even put pen to paper • SELLING YOURSELF: how to capture an editor’s attention • STRUCTURE: without a clear structure, you (and the editor) will be lost • EFFECTIVE WRITING: there are some simple rules that can make a huge difference

14. Target journal (this is the one of the most important steps) “I never start to write until I have decided on a target journal” -Every journal is different (i.e. scope, audience, length) -Full article/original article -Letters/Rapid Communications Self-evaluate Talk to others/colleagues/pre-submission enquiries

15. Who is your audience? There is a lot of marketing involved in writing scientific papers -Are you aiming for specialists/multidisciplinary researchers/general audience. Style should be adjusted in each case -Journals all have different readerships and each has its own style, with different backgrounds (check other similar papers) -Local, national, or worldwide audience?

16. The best target journal for your research Selecting a journal Rule 1: Aim high Rule 2: Choose appropriately Rule 3: Learn to sell and manage your submission Nature 390 (2018)

17. Preparation and the right mindset Things to do before you start -Choose your topic -Identify your audience -Identify your purpose -Gather supporting details

18. https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/international%20publishing%20china.pdfhttps://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/international%20publishing%20china.pdf

20. Title: Make it compelling • Concise and informative • Should contain the most important words related to the topic • Entices the reader without giving away the punch-line • Not overly-sensationalised • Some journals now insist on including information on study design

21. Sample research article titles Bad titles: The fantastic potential of land use changes in China: The future Digital elevation models: The future Good titles: Future trends in land use changes across China Future applications of digital elevation models

22. Titles of news stories/editorials/commentaries Bad titles: Farmer in land case Stress in farmers Better titles: Farmer convicted in $4m land use case Stress levels in farmers soar to a new high GOOD PRACTICE POINT (GPP): Editorials/commentaries/news: put a verb in the title

23. Recent economics titles (2017) Discrimination as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Evidence from French Grocery Stores Subsidizing Health Insurance for Low-Income Adults: Evidence from Massachusetts Gender Stereotyping in Academia: Evidence from Economics Job Market Rumors Forum Absolute Poverty: When Necessity Displaces Desire

24. Title: Example 1 Pedigree analysis in the Arab horse population: population structure, inbreeding and genetic variability Small changes, concise and too the point Try to be as compelling as possible and give the main context of the work

25. Title: Example 2 Comparative Proteomic Analysis Reveals the Mechanism of qTaLRO-B1 Regulated Primary Root Growth in Hexaploid Wheat Accurate title This was not edited This is unusual. Try to come up with several alternative titles for your study and then choose the most effective/shortest

26. Title: My own work

27. The abstract (Advertisement/Marketing) A good quality abstract is: -Honest and precise -Can stand alone (search engines, sometimes all people read) -No technical jargon -Short and specific -Cites no references The quality of an abstract will inform the editor’s decision

28. The abstract MANY JOURNALS NOW BASE THEIR DECISION ON THE ABSTRACT ALONE Sadly, many authors write the abstract in a great rush, almost as an afterthought. It should be a concise “standalone” piece with a very clear message. It must accurately reflect the full text of the paper. Why did you do the study? What did you do? What did you find? What did you conclude?

29. A structured abstract: It can help organise your ideas – try it!

30. A structured abstract: It can help organise your ideas – try it! The Commemoration and Memorialization of the American Revolution This project involves discovering how the American Revolution was remembered during the nineteenth century.  The goal is to show that the American Revolution was memorialized by the actions of the United States government during the 1800s. This has been done by examining events such as the Supreme Court cases of John Marshall and the Nullification Crisis. Upon examination of these events, it becomes clear that John Marshall and John Calhoun (creator of the Doctrine of Nullification) attempted to use the American Revolution to bolster their claims by citing speeches from Founding Fathers. Through showing that the American Revolution lives on in memory, this research highlights the importance of the revolution in shaping the actions of the United States government.

31. Abstract: Example 1 Template: First one or two sentences state the aim of the study/state of the art “The aim of this study is to ….” “In this study, we …”

32. Abstract: Example 1 Template: Second sentences state the ”methods used” and “the results”

33. Abstract: Example 1 Template: Final sentence(s) state the conclusion of the work Try to see if other Abstracts follow this template?

34. Abstract: Colours

35. Structure: The most crucial element Readers need to know throughout a paper …. Where they have come from Where they are now Where they are going A plot is needed: A paper is a story

36. Grab the reader: draw them immediately to the crucial issue that your paper addresses Keep it short: 2-3 paragraphs if possible Avoid a literature review: set the scene and give the state of the art rather than describe everything known on the topic Introduction: Content

37. Introduction: Good practice points Opening sentence takes you straight to the issue Contains the most important details of the issue Contains a brief summary of the controversies and the best evidence Ends in a crisp and clear research question and how you set out to answer it Keeps with the rules of good writing and is written using active rather than passive tense

38. Introduction: A useful template Try just three paragraphs 1. State the question 2. The ”state-of-the-art” 3. This study shows that ….

39. Introduction: Example 1 is a very good example 1. State the question The Arab horse is one of the most influential horse breeds in the world and has played a major role in shaping other famous varieties including the Thoroughbred and Lipizzan (Zechneret al., 2002; Bailey and Brooks, 2013). In particular, the Turkish Arab horse occupies a very important place in the history of Turkey, as horse breeding and record-keeping was restructured in 1925 and the ‘Law on Animal Breeding’ was passed in 1926 when some big studs were established. In Turkey, Arab horse breeding and associated development activities are conducted either by the government, the Jockey Club of Turkey, or by private studs.

40. Introduction: Example 1 is a very good example 2. The “state-of-the-art” One approach to define genetic variability in animal breeding and to assess changes over generations is to analyse pedigree information. Genetic variability in a population can be defined in terms of the variability of current alleles and genotypes (Boichardet al., 1997), while results of pedigree analysis give expected values for the increase in homozygosity and decrease in heterozygosis across an entire genome. These results are important because they may reveal appropriate strategies for managing mating programs and illustrating genetic variability (Valera et al., 2005). Pedigree analyses also allow us to assess the structure of a population and levels of inbreeding (Gutiérrez et al., 2005), which are important for populations under selection pressure, especially those bred indoors for many years. Indeed, using pedigree analyses, it is possible to determine the extent of genetic loss in small, indoor breeding populations because breeding values, inbreeding coefficients, and other parameters defining populations can be predicted. Evaluation of the genetic variability of a population, its structure and gene flow, together with managing genetic stock appropriately in order to enlarge the genetic basis of selection are required throughout the application of selection programs. Thus, pedigree information is very important in order to identify these issues (Głażewska and Jezierski, 2004). Moreover, demographic analyses may also us help to understand the important factors affecting the genetic history of a population (Zechneret al., 2002; Valera et al., 2005). In recent years, a number of studies have been carried out on the population structure and genetic variability of horse breeds (Zechneret al., 2002; Głażewska and Jezierski 2004; Valera et al., 2005; Gutiérrez et al., 2005; Cervantes et al., 2008b; Gutiérrez et al., 2008; Hamann and Distl 2008; Drumlet al., 2009; Teegenet al., 2009; Álvarezet al., 2010; Bartoloméet al., 2011; Vicentet al., 2012; Pjonteket al., 2012; Stephens and Splan 2013; Sideritset al., 2013; Medeiros et al., 2014; Macielet al., 2014).

41. Introduction: Example 1 is a very good example 3. This study shows that … .. the purpose of this study is to evaluate the pedigree information of Turkish Arab horses to measure existing population genetic variability in terms of inbreeding levels and the relative contributions of founder animals to the current population.

43. Materials and methods (Data and methods) Extremely common for editors to reject a paper because authors used the wrong method to answer their question Give enough detail so that a qualified reader could repeat the study If your methods section is “thin on details” editors worry that you are hiding something What statistical methods did you use to analyse your data?

44. Key tip: Be VERY structured Make a list BEFOREHAND Methods: Sections

45. Results This section presents the results of the study but does not attempt to interpret their meaning. As with the Methods section, the trick to writing a good Results section is knowing what information to include or exclude. You will not present the raw data that you collected, but rather you will summarise the data with text, tables and/or figures. Use the text of the paper to state the results of your study, then refer the reader to a table or figure where they can see the data for themselves. Note:Often one section “Results and discussion”. One tricks is to follow the sections of the Methods or Key Topics you feel are important. MAKE A LIST OF THESE BEFORE YOU WRITE THE RESULTS.

46. Results: The facts and nothing but the facts Should be ordered around primary and secondary outcomes in the same order as listed in the Methods section State clearly and simply what you found using words and numbers Use tables and figures for the main numbers Don’t duplicate information in text and tables

47. Key tip: Be VERY structured Make a list BEFOREHAND Results: Sections

48. Discussion In this section, you are free to explain what the results mean or why they differ from what other workers have found.  You should interpret your results in light of other published results, by adding additional information from sources you cited in the Introduction section as well as by introducing new sources. Ensure you provide accurate citations.  Relate your discussion back to the objectives and questions you raised in the Introduction section. However, do not simply re-state the objectives. Make statements that synthesize all the evidence (including previous work and the current work).  Limit your conclusions to those that your data can actually support. You can then proceed to speculate on why this occurred and whether you expected this to occur, based on other workers' findings.  Suggest future directions for research, new methods, explanations for deviations from previously published results, etc. 

49. Discussion Don’t write an expansive essay that extrapolates widely from what you found Start the discussion with a single sentence that states your main findings Discuss both strengths and weaknesses

50. Discussion Relate your study to what has been already found • How do your results fit in with what is already known? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of your study compared to previous studies? • Why does your paper offer a different conclusion? Discuss what your study means • Don’t overstate the importance of your findings; readers will probably come to their own conclusions on this issue Unanswered questions • What did your research not address? Avoid using the cliché more research is needed.