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Publishing Academic Research Ethically and Getting Published in Journals with High Impact Factor

Publishing Academic Research Ethically and Getting Published in Journals with High Impact Factor. Gary N. McLean Texas A&M University gmclean@tamu.edu Mahidol University June 30, 2010. My Qualifications. Editor and Associate Editor of HRDQ General Editor of HRDI ; member, Management Bd.

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Publishing Academic Research Ethically and Getting Published in Journals with High Impact Factor

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  1. Publishing Academic ResearchEthically and Getting Published in Journals with High Impact Factor Gary N. McLean Texas A&M University gmclean@tamu.edu Mahidol University June 30, 2010

  2. My Qualifications Editor and Associate Editor of HRDQ General Editor of HRDI; member, Management Bd. North American Editor of Journal of Transnational Management Development Consulting Editor and Executive Editor of Journal of Education for Business How to Write Research Articles

  3. My Qualifications Special Issue Editor (3 times), Advances in Developing Human Resources Many Editorial Board Memberships, including SSCI journals, and Conference Proceedings Editorships Co-editor, best-selling textbook, Practicing Organization Development (1995) How to Write Research Articles

  4. My Qualifications Author, AHRD Book of the Year (2006), Organization Development: Principles, Processes, Performance Write 10-15 published refereed articles a year, including 1-2 per year in SSCI journals Selected as Outstanding Scholar for AHRD Recipient of several best paper awards How to Write Research Articles

  5. My Qualifications Hall of Fame: • 2006, International Adult and Continuing Education • 2007, Academy of Human Resource Development Ph.D. (hon.) awarded by NIDA in January 2010 How to Write Research Articles

  6. Why Publish? • Having fun in sharing discoveries and knowledge • Advancing theory and practice in one’s field • Enhancing personal reputation • Enhancing institutional reputation • Enhancing the field’s reputation How to Write Research Articles

  7. Why Publish? • Taking pride in accomplishments • Creating worldwide professional (and personal) networks • Building personal relationships and professional teams in co-authorships • Increasing consulting opportunities • Fulfilling the objective of what we’ve been trained for How to Write Research Articles

  8. Why Publish? • Increasing opportunities to travel • Creating opportunities to fund conference attendance • Enhancing personal development • Enhancing opportunities to author a book • Enhancing opportunities to become an editor or editorial board member of a journal and impact the field How to Write Research Articles

  9. Why Do We Have to Publish? • Obligation of professionals in higher education • Promotion, tenure, and pay increments (where merit pay or bonuses are offered) • Required for program accreditation (QA) • Required for government funding • Meet the government’s KPI for higher education Which type of reason is most effective—intrinsic or extrnisic? How to Write Research Articles

  10. What Does Impact Factor Mean? • Refers to the ratio of the average number of times a journal is cited in other ISI (Institute for Scientific Information) journals over a two-year period relative to the number of articles that journal has published in that time. How to Write Research Articles

  11. What Does Impact Factor Mean? • It is a measure of citation for a journal, not for an individual author. As an average, half of authors are always above and half below the average. How to Write Research Articles

  12. What Does Impact Factor Mean? • Published in JCR (Journal Citation Reports). • A proprietary index owned by Thomson through Thomson Scientific; originally, ISI (Institute for Scientific Information). • Inappropriately used as a proxy for the quality or importance of a journal. How to Write Research Articles

  13. What Does Impact Factor Mean? • SSCI (Social Science Citation Indes) List of Journals by Category and Name • science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=J • SCI (Science Citation Index) • scientific.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=J How to Write Research Articles

  14. How Is Impact Factor Measured? • 2009 factors are published in 2010 based on 2007-8 citations. • IF = A/B, where: • IF = Impact Factor • A = Number of times that journal’s articles were cited in the two-year period. • B = Number of articles published by that journal in the two-year period. How to Write Research Articles

  15. How Is Impact Factor Measured? • So, if a journal publishes four articles per issue, four times a year, and if each article is cited once, its IF is 16/16 = 1. • This does not reflect the number of times an individual author might be cited, but the journal. How to Write Research Articles

  16. What Are the Strengths of Such Citation Measures? • Makes it easy for those unfamiliar with field of research and journals in that field to make judgments. • Alternative is to use reputation of the journal, which is subjective and variable. • It appears to be objective (though it is not). • Results are readily available. • Appears to be international (60 countries). How to Write Research Articles

  17. What Are the Problems with Such Citation Measures? • Way too many to cover adequately, but they include lack of validity, misuse, and ease of manipulation. • Validity: Few journals are non-English and few from developing countries • Misuse: Comparisons across fields (sciences have much higher factors than social sciences) How to Write Research Articles

  18. What Are the Problems with Such Citation Measures? • Manipulation: Can control by negotiations the denominator of the formula and by use the numerator (requiring authors to cite that journal’s works in their articles) • Several fields not even indexed: Humanities, Computer Science, Human Resource Development How to Write Research Articles

  19. Problems with Use of SCI/SSCI Journals for Graduate Students and Novice Faculty • Because it is a listed journal, many more authors submit to that journal, increasing the probability of rejection. • It is not a measure of quality, though it is often thought to be. • Longer review time, longer production queues, and generally less feedback from editors and reviewers. How to Write Research Articles

  20. Problems with Use of SCI/SSCI Journals for Graduate Students and Novice Faculty • May not apply in some fields because those fields are not represented in JCR. • Inadvertently plays into the hands of those who want to misuse the indices and reinforces the fiction of their value. How to Write Research Articles

  21. Problems with Use of SCI/SSCI Journals for Graduate Students and Novice Faculty • See the Wikipedia article for much more detail and for references; some ideas from this reference were used in this section of the presentation. • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor (retrieved June 25, 2010) How to Write Research Articles

  22. Advice to Get Published (1) • Start with a conference paper. If it was good enough to be accepted as a refereed conference paper, it’s good enough to be published somewhere. • Pay attention to the feedback provided by the conference referees. • Ask people who attend your session for feedback. How to Write Research Articles

  23. Advice to Get Published (2) • Don’t be discouraged. A paper often requires 3-4 revisions. • Especially in SCI/SSCI and quality journals, you will probably be rejected the first time around. • Pay attention to all of the feedback you get and modify accordingly. How to Write Research Articles

  24. Advice to Get Published (2) • If you get an “accept with revisions,” make the revisions and resubmit in a timely way. • If you get a “reject, but resubmission with full review,” revise and resubmit. • If you get a “reject,” read the reviews carefully and consider whether you might have more success, after revision, with another journal. How to Write Research Articles

  25. Advice to Get Published (2) • Revise, resubmit, revise, resubmit, revise, resubmit. Be persistent. • When you resubmit, provide the editors with a table of how you responded to each piece of feedback. How to Write Research Articles

  26. Advice to Get Published (3) • Whenever you produce a paper--for a course, as a masters or doctoral thesis, for a company, or when a student submits the same to you—consider it as a potential publication. How to Write Research Articles

  27. Advice to Get Published (3) • Consider co-authoring it with a colleague, an instructor, or a student—but correctly decide on author attribution beforehand. • It’s all about mindset! (e.g., Leonardo da Vinci) How to Write Research Articles

  28. Advice to Get Published (4) • When you attend a conference, do you hear a paper that you particularly like? (If not, you are attending the wrong conference!) Talk to the author of the paper after the presentation and explore ways in which you can work together in doing joint research. How to Write Research Articles

  29. Advice to Get Published (5) • Co-author with a respected name in your field, which can enhance your possibilities for publication. They might say no, but they might say yes, too! • Think of people from other countries who might add an interesting cultural component. How to Write Research Articles

  30. Advice to Get Published (5) • The order of authorship, however, should reflect the relative amount of work that each party has contributed. How to Write Research Articles

  31. Advice to Get Published (6) • Who is writing in areas of interest? Write to them (e-mail) and explore their interest in working with you. You might even volunteer to do a draft of an article for them to critique and add to, or you might volunteer to do some data collection, especially in a cross-cultural study context. How to Write Research Articles

  32. Advice to Get Published (7) • Are you doing consulting? (If not, you should be! Volunteer to get started if you are lacking in experience or confidence.) Almost every consulting opportunity can be an opportunity to publish. But be sure your client knows and agrees. How to Write Research Articles

  33. Advice to Get Published (8) • Explore grant opportunities. Even development grants (which seem to be more available than research grants in some fields) can lead to publication. How to Write Research Articles

  34. Advice to Get Published (9) • Consider colleagues at other universities in your country or in other departments in your university. With whom do you have shared interests? Write with them. How to Write Research Articles

  35. Advice to Get Published (10) • Talk with your practitioner friends about co-authoring. they almost always have interesting stories to tell, but they don’t know how to write them up and often have no incentive to do so. • Attend practitioner conferences and offer to work with practitioners to write case study articles. How to Write Research Articles

  36. Advice to Get Published (11) • Respond to CFPs (Calls for Papers) for a journal that is publishing a special topics issue that might be in your area of interest or expertise. • Get these through professional organizations to which you belong—which suggests that multiple professional organization memberships are important. How to Write Research Articles

  37. Advice to Get Published (12) • Many journals publish interviews and book reviews, yet they have a difficult time getting them. These may not be as prestigious as a journal article, but they give you visibility and get you comfortable with writing and being published. How to Write Research Articles

  38. Advice to Get Published (13) • Read your professional literature—faithfully. Almost every journal article provides suggestions for future research. • Reading the literature also makes it easier when it comes to providing your theoretical framework, doing your review of the literature, and understanding the structure of the article you are writing. How to Write Research Articles

  39. Advice to Get Published (14) • Determine your most productive work time and focus on your writing during that time. • Set aside time every day to do nothing but write. It can be a short time interval, but do it consistently. How to Write Research Articles

  40. Advice to Get Published (15) • Consider all of the possibilities for publication from your research—you might be able to do a theory paper, an integrated literature review, a qualitative empirical article, and a quantitative empirical article. How to Write Research Articles

  41. Advice to Get Published (16) • N.B. Always review and follow the journal’s guidelines exactly. These are almost always on the Web. • Major mistakes usually occur around referencing, manuscript length, journal scope, and submitting the manuscript correctly. How to Write Research Articles

  42. Advice to Get Published (16) • NEVER submit an article to a journal that you have not read. Know what the journal is looking for and know that your manuscript fits and follows the format used in the journal. How to Write Research Articles

  43. Advice to Get Published (17) • One of the major problems encountered by authors in Asia is their English skills and lack of standard formatting. • Work with a professional editor or a co-author who is experienced and has native English skills. How to Write Research Articles

  44. Problems Faced in Publishing • Not enough time; incentives for doing publishing are too small • KPIs are often quantity rather than quality or impact based • Publication expectations should be consistent with assignments (e.g., teaching faculty vs. research faculty) and career objectives (e.g., masters students). How to Write Research Articles

  45. Problems Faced in Publishing • Faculty do not receive the support they need (research assistants, IT help, budget for doing research, English editing, and others) • Expected to move from a rather low level of competence to high level competence with little transition or support. How to Write Research Articles

  46. Ethical Issues in Publishing • It is unethical to submit the same manuscript to two journals or conferences at the same time; this can be done sequentially once a rejection has been received. • It is unethical to present a paper at a conference that has been presented at another conference or has been published in a journal. How to Write Research Articles

  47. Ethical Issues in Publishing • Some journals do not allow a manuscript published in a conference proceedings to be published in a journal. APA has just changed its standard; manuscripts can now be considered if the proceedings have not been widely distributed or if major changes have been made in the manuscript. Check journal guidelines for its policy. How to Write Research Articles

  48. Ethical Issues in Publishing • Taking more credit for your contribution than warranted (e.g., taking sole authorship for someone else’s writing; insisting that your name come first when you have done the least work; insisting that you be included as an author when you have made no contributions). This is all about Power Distance. How to Write Research Articles

  49. Ethical Issues in Publishing • It is unethical to manufacture data or to misrepresent the accuracy of your information. • PLAGIARISM – this is the death of your career. Do not use others’ ideas, or, even worse, their very words, without providing adequate references. How to Write Research Articles

  50. What Is Plagiarism? • Claiming that words you use are your words based on your ideas rather than those of a source, i.e., a paraphrase for which credit is not given • Failure to use quotation marks and page references when exact words are used • If you have to look at a source in order to write, you must provide a reference! How to Write Research Articles

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