An insider’s guide to getting published in research journals

An insider’s guide to getting published in research journals
Presenter’s name Presenter’s job title Presenter’s affiliation Presenter’s Tel: Presenter’s phone number

Aims of the session To ‘demystify’ the publishing process
To provide tips, insider knowledge and key questions to maximize your chances of publication To encourage some of you to go beyond publishing, e.g. reviewing, book reviewing, editorial roles Q&A session: ask anything! Follow-up: I’m always available to help To get you sharing your knowledge, i.e. to get you writing

Emerald Group Publishing – company background
Emerald Group Publishing Limited (formerly MCB University Press) Founded in 1967 in Bradford, West Yorkshire Over 200 employees. Offices in China, India, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, USA 1996 launched the Emerald Fulltext database 2005 launch of Emerald Management Xtra – developed with and for business schools 2008 Series and Books acquisition from Elsevier Emerald Group Publishing – company background Emerald Group Publishing began in 1967 when a group of academics from Bradford Management Centre, dissatisfied with the publishing outlets at the time, decided to start up their own business which focused on niched management disciplines such as strategy, change management, and international marketing. The company has come a long way since then and now employs over 160 people in Bradford with regional offices in the USA, Malaysia, Australia and Japan, China and India. Back in 1996 the company launched its Emerald Fulltext Database – an online collection of over 100 journals. In 2005 we launched Emerald Management Xtra – a product developed for business schools, with the help of business schools, which not only services libraries, but also offers lots of resources for authors, researchers, students, faculty, alumni and managers. This year Emerald moved in to book publishing, with the acquisition of series and books from Elsevier. This brings Emerald into a new and exciting publishing medium and more diverse subject areas. However, if the name Emerald is not familiar to you, then you may know us indirectly from some of our journal titles such as: Management Decision European Journal of Marketing International Journal of Operations & Production Management Journal of Documentation Journal of Knowledge Management Assembly Automation As an academic publisher, we are: international; inclusive (we have a philosophy of theory and practice, rigour and relevance); supportive of scholarly research and its processes; and focused on improving author, reader and customer experiences – the reason I am here today.

The Emerald portfolio Journals:
160+ business and management; 28 library and information science. 16 engineering, mathematical and materials science journals. 39 journals are Thomson Scientific ranked (formerly ISI). Almost all are peer reviewed (normally double blind), except practitioner titles. Electronic databases: Emerald Management Xtra ( Emerald Management First (first.emeraldinsight.com) Emerald Management Reviews – e.g. Harvard Business Review, MIS Quarterly ( Emerald Abstracts – e.g. Computer Abstracts International Database ( Books: 241 book series 299 stand-alone text/reference books Totalling almost 2,000 titles Coverage: Over 1,600 university libraries worldwide, including 97 of the FT top 100 business schools (2007 figures) Potential readership of 15 million The Emerald portfolio In our portfolio we have more than 160 business and management journals, 28 titles on library and the information sciences and 16 titles in engineering and materials science. 39 these journals are Thomson Scientific (ISI)-ranked and all have a peer-review system appropriate to the journal – largely double blind peer review (Are you all aware of what double blind peer review means?). The only exceptions are the few newsletters and chatty professional magazines we publish. As well as Emerald Management Xtra, our online resources include Emerald Management Reviews (independent reviews of the top 400 management journals in the world), the award-winning Emerald Management First – a portal for practising managers that provides concise, practitioner articles, case studies, interviews, and access to some of our practitioner-focused journals, and Emerald Abstracts (three abstracting & indexing databases give you instant access to article abstracts of the world's leading civil engineering, computer science and computer & communications security collections – over 250,000 articles!). Our online resources greatly increase the dissemination of all our authors’ work world-wide. 97 of the world’s top 100 business schools are our customers. This means that a paper has a potential readership of 15 million people.

Emerald’s publishing philosophy
We believe that good management can – must – make a better world We believe in inclusivity, internationality, innovation and independence A better-managed world means better government, better business, more equality, meritocracy of race, age and gender, more employment, more wealth Supportive of scholarly research Committed to improving author, reader and customer experience. ‘Research you can use’ Emerald’s Publishing Philosophy Our publishing philosophy is, and always has been ‘research you can use’ (rigour AND relevance, theory AND practice). Good research in management should help the world to be better managed. To make the world better managed means a bridging of the gap between the world of research and the world of application. Although our head office is in the UK, 63% of our readership is outside the UK. Your research should have an international focus, and so your audience should be global. We are not exclusively “academic” in focus. We have always encouraged rigour and relevance, but with a PRACTICAL application! We have many awards, funding schemes and partnerships which will be discussed later. We are committed to improving author, reader and customer experience. That’s why I’m here today. Many of our enhancements/new services are as a direct result of face-to-face visits like today’s.

In line with current research thinking
Key bodies such as HEFCE, AACSB and EFMD all espouse this goal. “AACSB should develop mechanisms to strengthen interaction between academics and practicing managers in the production of knowledge in areas of greatest interest” (Final report of international task force on Impact of Research, 2008, recommendation #5). In line with current thinking Our “research you can use” philosophy is being championed more and more around the world. HEFCE = Higher Education Funding council for England AACSB = Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business EFMD = European Foundation for Management Development

Research you can use Emerald publishes research that makes a difference through: Application in practice Influencing public policy Use in the classroom Developing research in the field Research you can use So, how do we help make a difference? These four main areas. Diagram: These three areas don’t exist in isolation – they intersect. Sometimes eg during an MBA program in a physical way (public sector/corporate students in an HE setting). Emerald aims to support and contribute to the interaction between these areas – publishing material which speaks to the various communities and working with organisations that share these goals.

Ensuring usefulness Highlighting implications for practice and research in article abstract Review procedures include assessment of article applicability Emerald works with HE institutions and public/academic/professional associations to further this aim Emerald ensures quick/easy navigation to content for students, teachers, researchers and practitioners Ensuring usefulness These are some of the measures we take to make sure our content is relevant and has real-world applicability. Our structured abstracts (discussed later) make it easy for you to see what implications (for practice and research) our articles have, and by asking you to write one if you submit to us, we actively encourage you to think more about these implications. All our reviewers are tasked to assess article applicability. Make it applicable if you want o get published!! We do not work in isolation; our goals and principles both influence and are influenced by HE institutions and public/academic/professional associations We make our content as easy to access/search as possible; we are regularly complimented on how intuitive and easy to use our site is. We aim to bring all the best of our search engine to our books portfolio too.

Good examples of how this has worked
Emerald Management First (over 340k hits/month Jan-August 2008). Association links e.g. EFMD (publisher of choice); IFLA (our publisher is a Section Standing Committee member); ERES (licensed content). "The high dissemination of my article on corporate social responsibility [over 19k downloads ] helped me secure further time and resources to pursue this extremely important area of research", Geoff Lantos, Stonehill College, USA. Good examples of how this has worked Emerald Management First earned a "Smart Choice" award from Europe's leading newspaper for the information industry. The Information World Review accolade is given to a site that stands "head and shoulders above all others." The award is also described as "best of the best: an accolade awarded to an information management tool that really will make a difference to your organization." EFMD = European Foundation for Management Development – we are their publisher of choice and sponsor annual doctoral research awards jointly with the EFMD. These awards are across all areas of management. Get your application form today! IFLA = International Federation of Library Associations (US based) – we are actively involved in the work of this federation which seeks to develop initiatives in the field of library and information management. Our publisher in this area is a board member. ERES = European Real Estate Society – we license content from our property journals to this association bringing the articles within the reach of both academics and practitioners who are society members. One of our longest-serving and most experienced publishers, Eileen Breen, is now a Section Standing Committee member of IFLA. This demonstrates just how much value we put on working with and understanding our customers/stakeholders.

Key differences between books and journals
Journals Books Frequency Regular Irregular Format Predominantly electronic Predominantly print Length 1 article = approx ww 1 chapter = approx 5-10,000+ Size Tends to be around 6 articles Usually chapters Review Typically double-blind Mixed Process peer-reviewed Route to Predominantly subscriptions Libraries and individuals Market from academic libraries Key differences between books and journals LENGTH - The advantage of publishing a chapter in a book is that the scope for longer chapters provides authors with an opportunity to explore a topic in greater depth. Subsequently the size of the finished publication differs too…SIZE Books are predominantly in print, and can come in a variety of styles: Series – a set of books/publications in a certain format published on a particular theme. The title of the series is consistent, e.g. Advances in Librarianship. Volume – a book/publication within a series. Each title will have its own unique title and ISBN. Each volume will also carry the Series title and its ISSN. Reference books – books that do not need to be read from cover to cover, but are referred to mostly in academic study, e.g. dictionaries and encyclopaedias. Textbooks – a book used as a standard source of information on a particular subject. It is usual for these titles to be ‘adopted’ by academic tutors and placed on their reading lists for students. Therefore, they are sometimes referred to as ‘adopted texts’.

Editorial supply chain and journal management structure: journals
Publisher/ Managing Editor Author Editor Production Users Research Quality research papers EAB and reviewers Solicits new papers Handles review process Promotes journal to peers Attends conferences Develops new areas of coverage Access via library Hard copy Database Third party The link between the publishing company and editor Helps editors succeed in their role and build a first class journal Overall responsibility for journal Promotion and marketing Attends conferences Handles production issues QA – sub-editing and proof reading Convert to SGML for online databases Print production Despatch Added value from publisher Editorial supply chain and journal management structure: journals Now, the editorial supply chain. This is probably obvious, but is perhaps worth looking at, just to ensure that you know what happens to your paper once it has left your desktop. These are the people who take your paper from your PC to the finished journal and make it available on a library shelf or database. The first stage of the chain is, of course, the authors who submit their work to the journal. The Editor who is responsible for: sourcing new papers and working with the authors; liaising with the EAB to ensure an effective vetting of the papers; attending conferences; and networking and promoting the journal to his or her peers. The publisher, employed by the publishing company, is the direct link between the publishing company and the Editor. Their aim is to help the Editor succeed in turning their title into an internationally recognised journal. At Emerald they work with the Editor to create long-term development plans for each journal and also attend conferences with a view to raising the profile of the journals. They also liaise closely with the sales and marketing departments in order to identify opportunities for promotion. Day-to-day, publishers are responsible for ensuring that journal issues come in from the Editor and are passed to the production department in time to meet the schedule deadlines. From the publisher an issue of a journal will pass through a Quality Assurance process before being converted into SGML/XML formats for the databases and into hard copy for despatch. As with the peer-review process, this is another area where a publisher will add value to your work. Each article is tagged, which makes it searchable within databases and the QA department will correct typographical errors, and inconsistencies within your article. Finally, we come to the users who access Emerald papers in different ways. This could be through a printed copy of the journal, via a database on the internet, or as part of a third-party service (such as Proquest) which has an arrangement with us to host our content. Although your article will be published in a specific journal, it will usually be found and read via a search across a database. All of this then comes back full-circle to you, our authors who, more often than not, are also our users and readers. Ultimately the articles that Emerald publishes feed directly back into the body of research and assist in furthering other researchers, authors and faculty members.

Timetable from submission to initial feedback to authors
The Editor(s) do an initial read to determine if the subject matter and research approach of the manuscript is appropriate for the journal (approximately 1 week) The Editor(s) identify and contact two reviewers for the manuscript (approximately 1 week) Reviewers are usually given 6-8 weeks to complete their reviews The Editor(s) assess the reviewers' comments and recommendations and make a decision on the manuscript (approximately 2 weeks) Expected time from submission to review feedback: months Timetable from submission to initial feedback to authors This slide helps to show what exactly happens to the paper following submission. It helps to explain why it can take months before an author gets feedback from first review!

Editorial supply chain and book management structure: books
Commissioning Editor /ACE Volume Editor / Series Editor Production Users Research Collates quality research papers Identifies and develops new areas of coverage Libraries University Adoptions Sales Agents Researchers Practitioners The link between the publisher series editor/ volume editor / author Overall responsibility for on-schedule publication of the book Promotion and marketing Attends conferences Deals with production queries Typesetting Copy-editing Proofs Print Despatch Editorial supply chain and book management structure: books In books it is slightly different, the authors submit their work to an external series / volume editor who is responsible for commissioning new volumes (in conjunction with their CE) and collating the chapters of a manuscript. Often, authors are invited to contribute to a volume or book, but in some cases, particularly in series, where there are sometimes calls for papers, there is some commonality with journals. The commissioning editor and assistant commissioning editors employed by the publishing company, are the direct link between the publishing company and the author, the Series Editors and/ or the Volume editors. CEs are responsible for series development and commissioning new series titles or texts. They also liaise closely with the sales and marketing departments in order to identify opportunities for promotion and adoption of texts. On a daily basis, CEs/ACEs are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts are submitted by the Editor on time, that they are intact and process them in order to pass it to production. At the production stage, the type-setters are involved with the and copy-editing. After this, proofs of the chapters are returned to authors for correction, followed by the final voucher proof stage. Once these have been approved, the book goes to print. The books are then available from the Emerald Bookstore, Amazon, retailers such as Blackwell, etc All of this then comes back full-circle to you, our authors who, more often than not, are also our users and readers. Ultimately the articles that Emerald publishes feed directly back into the body of research and assist in furthering other researchers, authors and faculty members.

Submitting a book proposal
Brief synopsis of the proposed title Rationale for publication Originality of the proposed book (as compared with existing books) Target market Competition USPs Potential for adoption Promotional opportunities Submitting a book proposal) As previously stated, there is a difference between books series and books. This has an effect on the commissioning process. Should you have a proposal for a new text book, you would complete the publisher’s proposal form, and would need to supply…

Online usage and dissemination of authors’ work: journals
60,000+ articles online, over 14 years of content in Emerald Management Xtra 9,000 abstracts from Over 18 million downloads in 2007 Nearly 2 million articles downloaded each month in 2008 63% of customer usage occurs outside the UK New to Emerald: EarlyCite 20 new journals for 2009 Emerald Backfiles (60,000+ articles from over 120 journals; launched 2008) Emerald Series and Books (acquired 2008) Online usage and dissemination of authors’ work Online usage of journals increases all the time. Through this medium publishers are always looking for better ways to disseminate their authors’ work and, hopefully, increase their citation rates. Here are just a few statistics to show you how the online community currently uses Emerald’s content. As you can see, we have 60,000 papers online, which represents over 14 years of our journals. Prior to 1994 we have five years of the abstracts. We are still considering whether to go back even further to digitize all our back volumes. We have already done this for a selected number of well-known titles. There’s a monthly download of nearly 2 million articles (final quarter of 2007) and 63 per cent of usage is by people from outside the UK. Although online usage may not be your key concern when writing and submitting an article, it is worth keeping in mind, particularly in regard to the title and keywords you assign – but I’ll say more on this later. Because of electronic dissemination more of our papers are spotted by leading newspapers and media. For example, papers on GM foods, changing clothes sizing, and benchmarking the performance of universities, have featured in papers such as The Economist and The Guardian and The Times Higher Education Supplement. Most recently, research published in Leadership & Organization Development Journal, a leading source of research on leadership styles and management, has found that regular swearing at work can help boost morale and motivation. The article, entitled "Swearing at work and permissive leadership culture: When anti-social becomes social and incivility is acceptable" was written by Yehuda Baruch, Professor of Management at the University of East Anglia and graduate Stuart Jenkins has hit the headlines in the press, radio, television and leading news websites around the world! Emerald Backfiles (see Coverage back to Volume 1 Issue 1 with some articles dating back as far as 1899. Over 120 journal titles will complete the Emerald Digital Backfiles, providing users with more than 50,000 articles on key management disciplines. Each backfile has been transformed into a fully searchable PDF. Emerald Backfiles contain early articles from seminal publications such as British Food Journal, European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Documentation. EarlyCite What is EarlyCite? EarlyCite is Emerald’s online, pre-publication service that enables customers to access journal articles prior to official publication. Papers will be made available at least three months and, in some cases, as much as one year before they appear in the hard copy and final online journal issue. A phenomenon of academic journal publishing is that articles can often be held in a queue, awaiting publication for many months until an issue becomes available. Benefits for authors and users Through EarlyCite, authors’ research will be disseminated, read and potentially cited earlier. Similarly, users have earlier access to the up-to-date research. EarlyCite articles are fully peer-reviewed and are made available online before they undergo the full sub-editing and page-proofing stages. Once the final copy of the article is ready for publication, it replaces the EarlyCite version. Every EarlyCite paper is assigned to an issue, which enables correct referencing. How many journals have their papers published through EarlyCite? Currently, 55 journals are expected to publish articles from forthcoming issues through EarlyCite. The rest of the 200-strong Emerald journal collection will be rolled out over the coming months. Articles will be added as they are assigned to an issue.

Online usage and dissemination of authors’ work: books
At present, approx. 500 titles in e-book format on sale via e-book aggregators 3 Book Series Collections Business, Management and Economics Collection – 55 titles; 324 volumes Social Sciences Collection – 35 titles; 185 volumes Psychology Collection – 16 titles; 99 volumes Further 42 volumes to be added during 2008 Books: electronic content Self-explanatory I think.

Being published means…
Your paper is permanent – published material enters a permanent and accessible knowledge archive – the ‘body of knowledge’ Your paper is improved – through the interventions of editors, reviewers, sub-editors and proof-readers Your paper is actively promoted – it becomes available to a far greater audience Your writing is trustworthy – material which has been published carries a QA stamp. Someone apart from the author thinks it’s good Being published means … I now move on to the part of the workshop in which I expect you are most interested – the things you need to consider for publishing success. Before I do though, I have to stress that nothing I am about to say will come as a surprise. It is all very simple and really just common sense. However, just because it’s all so simple may mean that you overlook something that then causes your paper to be rejected. I hope that you will be able to take away at least one or two new ideas that will help you improve your writing and submissions for publication. But why go through a publisher in the first place? What does it mean to be published? Your material is permanent, once published - and will have a place within the “body of knowledge”. It will always be there for future research. This is particularly important when you bear in mind the fact that many of the articles that are downloaded from the Emerald Fulltext database are not from current volumes, but from previous ones. In fact, our most downloaded article was published in 1994 [a marketing paper by Christian Grönroos] and that has been downloaded over 20,000 times (From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Marketing Shift, Christian Grönroos, Management Decision, Vol 32, No 2, 1994) Emerald is also part of the LOCKSS programme (Lots Of Copy Keep Stuff Safe). Even if we go bust tomorrow, or all our own databases and back-ups fail completely, all our content will still be available to libraries worldwide via LOCKSS. Your paper is improved through the interventions of the reviewers, especially if revision is required, and the careful checking and corrections by the sub-editors and proof-readers. And, finally, your paper is promoted through the journal’s name and the databases to a much wider audience. Being published means that your material is trustworthy – someone apart from you thinks that it is good. Other influential people, such as the editor and the reviewers in your field, think that it is worthy of publication. Reviewers are subject specialists, with whom you normally may not have the opportunity to share your research and findings. Their comments should be viewed not as criticism but as constructive feedback on how to improve and refine your work, and so contribute more effectively to the body of knowledge.

Ideas: where to start As well as ‘traditional’ research…
Are you working on a Doctoral or Master’s thesis? Have you completed a project which concluded successfully? Are you wrestling with a problem with no clear solution? Do you have an opinion or observation on a subject? Have you given a presentation or conference paper? If so, you have the basis for a publishable paper Ideas: where to start What are you going to write? Authors are people like you! Authors can be at the beginning of their academic careers like many of you in this room who are undertaking research degrees. Authors may be more senior and experienced and may have been published many times. However, what all authors have in common is that they all have a very particular story to tell, be it from a Doctoral or a Master’s thesis, a project or a research problem. Emerald also encourages authors from the world of business – perhaps they’ve been working as an advisor, research collaborator or consultant. Whatever the stimulus you have the basis for a publishable paper.

Target! “Many papers are rejected simply because they don’t fulfil journal requirements. They don’t even go into the review process.” Identify a few possible target journals/series but be realistic Follow the Author Guidelines – scope, type of paper, word length, references style, etc Find where to send your paper (editor, regional editor, subject area editor). Check a copy of the journal/series or the publisher’s web site Send an outline or abstract and ask if this looks suitable and interesting (or how it could be made so) Confirm how an editor would like a submission, e.g. ; hard copy Read at least one issue of the publication – visit your library for access Target! This is about targeting the paper and finding the right journal. The single most common cause of failure in getting published is not selecting the right journal! Having done all the hard work in writing up the research and getting the paper as close to publication as possible many authors fail at this point. When selecting a journal, do your homework. You have spent all this time getting your paper as near to perfection as possible – do not rush this part. Do not just look at a journal title, dig a little deeper. For example, you may have a 1,500-word case study on information systems in a major company that looks ideal for a journal, only to find that it does not accept short, practitioner-oriented papers. Journals usually have very tight requirements for the papers they publish. The more highly thought of the journal, the more strict the editor can afford to be. Be realistic – the journal that everyone wants to publish in may have a very high rejection rate simply because they cannot possibly publish all comers, the quality of paper notwithstanding. For example, the British Medical Journal has a rejection rate of about 95%.

Example of author guidelines
Every journal published will have detailed notes and guidelines Author guidelines Author guidelines are your best guide and you must read them. They can usually be found on a publisher’s web site or in a copy of the journal and will give you the journal’s subject scope, its aims, desired length of paper and the sort of papers for which it is looking. Also, do not forget to read the submission process – this may sound obvious but I can promise you that many hundreds of submissions each year do not follow submission guidance. If the Editor wants electronic submissions, do not send hard copy. If they want two copies of the paper, do not send just one. Although it is highly unlikely that your paper will be rejected on such grounds, you want to make the process as smooth as possible for all parties, as this will certainly increase your chances. It will certainly speed up the process. If you are still unsure about whether your paper will be right for a particular journal, then send an abstract of the paper to the Editor to see if the article is of interest. Their contact details will be published in the journal and on the website. Visit your library, read an issue of the journal. These particular author guidelines are included in full at the end of the handouts. You will see just how pernickety a publisher and editor can be.

Editors and reviewers look for …
Originality – what’s new about subject, treatment or results? Relevance to and extension of existing knowledge Research methodology – are conclusions valid and objective? Clarity, structure and quality of writing – does it communicate well? Sound, logical progression of argument Theoretical and practical implications (the ‘so what?’ factors!) Recency and relevance of references Adherence to the editorial scope and objectives of the journal What do editors and their reviewers look for? I think perhaps this is the most important slide I’ve prepared for today. I have listed 8 points on this slide – many of which can make or break your chances of having your paper accepted. Editors will supply their reviewers with clear instructions as to what to look out for in any paper they are asked to review. These criteria will normally comprise some or all of these factors. Usually a reviewer will complete a document ticking off the requirements and listing the missing factors or problems for the editor. Your paper should have something new to say. It should refer to and relate to what has gone before, correctly citing and acknowledging others’ work. If a research paper, the methodology should be clear so that any conclusions can be assessed and validated. The paper has to communicate well – employ a clear structure, use sensible headings to break up the text, avoid undue repetition, use short rather than long involved sentences, spell out acronyms in the first instance and don’t include illustrations and appendices, etc. unless they are essential for meaning. A reviewer’s time is given freely and is precious – they don’t want to waste time trying to understand what someone is nearly but not quite saying. They also don’t want to read something that is twice as long as it need be. You don’t get extra brownie points for spinning it out!! Everyone already has too much to read. Be logical in your discussion. Let it be clear how you are building up your case. Try to include the “so what” factors. For example, what might your work mean to the systems engineer? What are the implications for future research? References should be complete, accurate, recent and relevant. You need to demonstrate that you have taken on board all the recent work in the field. And last but by no means least (and repeating what I have already said) you must be absolutely sure your paper fits within the journal’s editorial scope and objectives.

Thomson Scientific (ISI)
Thomson Scientific is a subsidiary of the Thomson Group and is based in Philadelphia, USA Thomson Scientific’s ‘ISI Web of Science’ database scores 9,000 selected journals with ‘Impact Factors’ based on journal citations The latest Thomson Scientific statistics were published in June 2007 for the year 2006 Emerald currently has 39 journals ranked on what is till commonly known as ‘ISI’ Thomson Reuters (ISI) These are the basics of ISI. Thomson Reuters is based in North America and is a huge publishing conglomerate, and following the merger with media company Reuters is now known as Thomson Reuters. A subsidiary of this company was formally named Thomson ISI before several renamings (such as Thomson Scientific), and currently is simply, if confusingly, named ‘Scientific’, although most people still call it ISI. What people term ISI is primarily the ISI database called ‘Web of Science’, which has 9,000 selected journals that subscribing institutions can access. The journals have been accepted onto the database due to their high citation scores, or ‘Impact Factors’. These are published for each journal annually in June for the preceding year, and currently Emerald has 39 journals on the ISI database. NB The majority of Emerald’s Management and Engineering journals increased their Impact Factor in 2007 More info at and (including impact factors)

Thomson Scientific (ISI) What does ISI do?
What is commonly referred to by academics as ‘ISI’, ‘SSCI’ or ‘Impact Factors’ is actually Thomson Reuters now, and more specifically, it’s ‘Journal Citation Reports’ (JCR) These reports index and rank the journals it has on its ‘ISI Web of Knowledge’ and is a collection of bibliographic information of over 9,000 evaluated scholarly journals Currently, Emerald has 39 journals ‘on ISI’, i.e. they can be accessed through the ISI Web of Science and are/will be included in the Journal Citation Reports Thomson Reuters (ISI) What is commonly referred to by academics as ‘ISI’ (Institute for Scientific Information), ‘SSCI’ (Social Science Citation Index) or ‘Impact Factors’ is actually Thomson Reuters now, and more specifically, its ‘Journal Citation Reports’ (JCR). These reports index and rank the journals it has on its ‘ISI Web of Knowledge’ and is a collection of bibliographic information of nearly 9,000 evaluated scholarly journals. When people refer to a journal being ‘n ISI’, what they mean is that the journal is accessible through and has been selected by the ISI Web of Science database, and has been given (or is about to be given) and Impact Factor on Journal Citation Reports. Currently, Emerald has 39 journals ‘on ISI’, i.e. they can be accessed through the ISI Web of Science and are/will be included in the Journal Citation Reports

Thomson Scientific (ISI) What is an Impact Factor?
Journals are ranked in the JCR depending on how many times the articles included in that journal are cited in other ISI-ranked journals. The ranking is published every June and corresponds to the previous year’s data. ISI uses a calculation of citation data over a three year period to produce an Impact Factor for a given year. For example, the Impact Factor for the Journal of Documentation (Emerald’s highest ranked journal) is and relates to 2006. Thomson Scientific (ISI) Journals are ranked in the JCR depending on how many times the articles included in that journal are cited in other ISI-ranked journals. The ranking is published every June and corresponds to the previous year’s data. ISI uses a calculation of citation data over a three year period to produce an Impact Factor for a given year. Therefore, the statistics published in June 2008 refer to a journal’s performance in 2007, which is how many times in 2007 the journal’s articles published in were cited in other ISI journals. For example, the Impact Factor for the Journal of Documentation (Emerald’s highest ranked journal) is and relates to 2007.

Thomson Scientific (ISI) How are Impact Factor calculations made?
ISI uses the following equation to work out the impact factor of a particular journal: A = 2006 cites to articles published only in in a given journal B = number of articles published in in a given journal A/B = 2006 impact factor for the journal Using the Journal of Management Genius as an example, there were 20 citations in 2006 in other ISI journals from its issues (A). In this two-year period there were 60 articles published (B), which meant that the impact factor for Journal of Management Genius in 2006 was 20/60 = A = 2006 cites (20) B = articles published (60) A/B = 2006 impact factor (0.333) Thomson Scientific (ISI) (NOTE: Firstly, read through the first formula; secondly use the fictitious example with round numbers to better explain how the Impact Factor is created.) For interest, the highest ranked journal is ‘CA-A CANCER JOURNAL FOR CLINICIANS’ with an Impact Factor of for 2007!

What rankings are used here?
Journal rankings ISI is the most well known ranking, BUT… It is heavily biased towards North America Citations are a good, but not complete, guide to quality Usage is a better measure of utility Other factors to consider are recent articles, most communicative, societies and internationality Be political (e.g. national vs international) and strategic (e.g. five articles in ‘low ranked’ journals vs one in ‘top ranked’ journal) Journal rankings Emerald recognises the importance of ISI and tries to get as many of its journals as possible ranked, however there are caveats for people using the Web of Science database and Impact Factors: It is heavily biased towards North America – it started in N America in 1950s with mostly N American journals, and the system uses cites in Journals already on ISI, ie N American journals, thus creating a cycle that is hard to break into for European etc journals Citations are a good, but not complete, guide to quality – many journals do not get cited in N America due to language barriers, style of research, parochial content etc, but are very high quality journals Usage is a better measure of utility – as a researcher, do you want to get cited or do you want to provide useful, relevant research? Other factors to consider are recent articles, most communicative, societies and internationality – researchers have a plethora of other resources they can use, and which may provide better foundations for their studies Be political (e.g. national vs international) and strategic (e.g. five articles in ‘low ranked’ journals vs one in ‘top ranked’ journal) – Emerald cannot tell students where to publish, but they need to be aware of the political and strategic implications of their decision. Political in that it could determine where they pursue their academic career, and strategic in terms of what sort of career they can have depending on what their CV looks like. What rankings are used here (insert institution)? What rankings are used here?

Some essentials of a research paper
Purpose of the paper/Introduction Research methodology used – the ‘whys and hows’ Literature review – critical examination of what has gone before References should be: complete consistent with the style used in the journal included in the list (anything not cited can be listed as further reading) Argument and findings Conclusion should – restate the purpose, encapsulate the main findings and include the most interesting bits Some essentials of a research paper We categorise papers by type. For example we talk about case studies, research papers, view points, theoretical or discursive papers, etc. but today I am concentrating on research papers – those that arise from original research. To ensure that a research paper meets most of the editors’ and reviewers’ requirements listed in the last slide it’s important that all this information is clearly spelled out: tell them why you wrote the paper, what is new about it. Tell them what you set out to do. Outline the methodology used for collecting the data – why you chose that method and how it worked. Include questionnaires, detailed data collection, etc. as Appendices so that it’s there if needed but isn’t part of the main text. It’s important to identify any research limitations. The fact that something didn’t work out quite as expected, didn’t give the anticipated result or was based on a limited sample is very important. Double check that you have read all the pertinent literature and have referred to it correctly. Be careful not to use someone else’s words as your own. Plagiarism is a growing concern for both academia and the publishing industry. We all use, or are considering using, plagiarism detection software now (in fact Emerald was the first international publisher to make all its content freely available to an anti-Plagiarism company – i-Thenticate, who run turnitin.com in the UK). From 25 September 2006, the Turnitin service will be expanded to include Emerald content. This innovative move reinforces Emerald’s proactive stance on plagiarism, and ensures that Emerald content continues to maintain its high standard of integrity. Additionally, Emerald now has five iThenticate licenses to allow its editors to verify that articles submitted for publication are free from plagiarism and do not duplicate previously published work. More details at: Take great pains with your referencing – ensure you have provided all the detail so that a source can be located, use a recognized style and do include all of them. The findings and discussion should clearly lead to sound conclusions.

Emerald has introduced structured abstracts
A structured abstract – in 250 words or less (no more than 100 in any one section) Purpose – Reasons/aims of paper Design – Methodology/’how it was done’/scope of study Findings – Discussion/results Research limitations/Implications – Exclusions/next steps Practical implications – Applications to practice/’So what?’ Originality/value – Who would benefit from this and what is new about it? Emerald has introduced structured abstracts One of the most common problems that Editors and reviewers have is quickly ascertaining what an article is about. From experience, it is not unusual to have to read through the whole thing to get to what the paper is about. This is where an honest well-written abstract comes in to its own. What you need to remember is that not everyone who sees this article is going to be as knowledgeable about the subject as you are. A busy Editor is not going to want to read an entire article when deciding whether it is suitable for the journal and it is the editor who usually makes that initial decision as to whether to proceed with review or reject outright. Submissions are absolutely vital to journals and we do not want to turn any potential author away – but we need the author’s help! Therefore take the time to prepare a proper abstract. A good abstract will help all concerned. At Emerald we recognise the need for clear, concise abstracts and have recently copied the practice of medical and clinical researchers and have introduced our own form of structured abstracts. Using no more than 250 words and using these six sub-headings all authors are required to write an abstract. (1) Purpose – aims of the research? Why write the paper? (2) Design – or methodology or approach (3) Findings – what were the main results? (4) Research limitations/implications – where should the research go after this or what needs to change in the method (5) Practical implications – of what value is this in practice? Do the “so what?” test. (6) Originality/value – this is critical. How does your research add to the body of knowledge? What is its value in this context? You could use these headings to create an extremely useful abstract for any journal. Writing one forces you to pick out the key issues that matter. Once published, a clear and informative abstract makes a user want to click through to the Fulltext article. In an electronic environment the abstract is often all a reader or researcher will see until they pay their money. They may go no further if the abstract doesn’t tell them clearly what is in the paper. The abstract sells your article to the Editor or the reader. This will be the first, and sometimes the only, thing they see, so make sure that you are clear, honest, concise and have covered all the major points.

Some key questions Readability – Does it communicate? Is it clear? Is there a logical progression without unnecessary duplication? Originality – Why was it written? What’s new? Credibility – Are the conclusions valid? Is the methodology robust? Can it be replicated? Is it honest – don’t hide any limitations of the research? You’ll be found out. Applicability – How do findings apply to the world of practice? Does it pinpoint the way forward for future research? Internationality – Does it take an international, global perspective? Some key questions Now before you submit the final paper, there are five key questions you should ask yourself. Whilst self-critical review is probably one of the hardest things to do, once you have mastered the art, it can be one of the most beneficial steps. Ask yourself these questions? Answer as honestly as possible: (1) Is the article readable? Does it communicate with the audience? Don’t forget that not all readers will be subject experts. Try to minimise jargon. Do not over-simplify your article but try to keep it as straightforward as possible. (2) Is it original? This is another common failure – being original is of course what you are all searching for. Finding that angle and exposing it will give you the advantage. (3) Credibility – Is the methodology robust? Is it clear? Could it be replicated? (4) Applicability – How can your new research be used? What are the practical applications? This is another shortcoming of many papers – great, but what does it mean? How will it change the way we work? What does it do for us? Where should future avenues of research go? (5) Internationality – In a global economy domestic papers are less appealing. Most publishers are international ... most authors and EABs are international. If your work is local, think how it could be applied or adapted for an international audience.

Leads Metropolitan University
Your own peer review Let someone else see it – show a draft to one or more friends or colleagues and ask for their comments, advice and honest criticism We are always too close to our own work to see its failings Always proof-check thoroughly – no incorrect spellings, no incomplete references. Spell checkers are not fool-proof Your own peer review Another useful step prior to publication is to conduct your own peer review. Let others see your work or give it to someone who is not a subject expert and see how it reads. Ask for honest criticism and try to accept what is said, even if it is not what you want to hear. After all, the end result will be a far superior paper. We are always TOO close to our own work to see its failings. Our sub-editors and proof-readers NEVER receive a perfect paper. You will look at your paper over and over again but there will be an error that will elude you. Yet the guy in the next desk will spot it straight away. Check your figures – do they add up, include a note if you have rounded them up. Read and re-read your paper for typos – at the very least run your paper through a computer spell-checker but don’t rely on it. Shamefacedly, I admit that we published a book review a few years ago which contained the author’s affiliation as “Leads Metropolitan University”. The author used a spell checker and so do we! Spot the error: Leads Metropolitan University

Co-authorship as a possibility
With supervisor, across departments, someone from a different institution Demonstrates the authority and rigour of the research Especially useful for cross-disciplinary research Ensure paper is checked and edited so that it reads as one voice Exploit your individual strengths Agree and clarify order of appearance of authors and the person taking on the role of corresponding author Co-authorship as a possibility Don’t discount writing a paper with someone else. Some work benefits greatly from the joint input of more than one mind. We often publish papers jointly authored by the student and supervisor or by people across departments or institutions. There are one or two extra things to keep in mind if doing this. Be careful when joining together sections of the paper written by different people. The paper will need reading and editing to ensure consistency of language and avoidance of duplication and conflicting statements. Also be careful to agree with your co-authors who is going to be the corresponding author and in what order the names should appear on the published paper. On the plus side, writing with another lets the authors concentrate on their own strengths – one might be better at the data analysis or a far better writer. This kind of collaboration is especially useful when writing and publishing cross-disciplinary research. The authors are able to demonstrate that the different disciplines have been represented properly which all adds to the authority of the writing.

Improve electronic dissemination by…
Using short descriptive title containing main keyword – don’t mislead Writing a clear and descriptive abstract containing the main keywords and following any instructions as to content and length Providing relevant and known keywords – not obscure new jargon Making your references complete and correct – vital for reference linking and citation indices Ensuring your paper is word-perfect Improve electronic dissemination I mentioned before how the electronic environment and dissemination impacts on an author but I cannot stress how important this is! I offer the following tips: (1) Use short but descriptive titles containing the main keywords/topics. Less is definitely more in this respect! We have seen some of words which often won’t fit in the fields provided for them in databases. Be descriptive – remember, people are more likely to find your paper if the title accurately describes its content. Amusing titles can backfire e.g. a paper on scheduling but entitled “The cart before the horse” may only ever be accessed by students at an agricultural college! See also (From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Marketing Shift Christian Grönroos, Management Decision, Vol 32, No ), our most downloaded paper ever. Yes, it is a seminal paper, but it also contains “marketing” in the title three times and numerous times in the abstract and keywords. It comes up first in most searches for articles about marketing!!! (2) The better the title and the abstract, the greater the chance of your article being read online. This is very important, as more people will see your article via electronic databases than via any other medium. When confronted with a list of 300 relevant article abstracts which are they going to pick? Just remember your own “Google behaviour”. (3) Choose five to six broad but relevant keywords that accurately describe your paper – the better the keywords, the more likely it is that your paper will be found by users searching the database. Don’t make up new terms for the ideas in your paper – if you do your paper may well disappear down a proverbial black hole. (4) Complete and correct references will aid reference linking. It just doesn’t do to make errors in citing others’ work. The electronic environment has made it both easier to commit plagiarism and to detect it so it’s even more important to make correct attributions.

Revising A request for revision is good news! It really is
You are now in the publishing cycle. Nearly every published paper is revised at least once Don’t panic! Even if the comments are sharp or discouraging, they aren’t personal Revising It is understandable that you may not see a request for revision as good news, but rest assured that it really is! You have made it - you are now in the publishing cycle. Editors and reviewers will not request a revision unless they genuinely think that the paper is right for the journal. Do not forget that nearly every published paper is revised at least once. Authors are asked to revise their work right through their careers – honestly, it’s not just the newcomers! And do not be discouraged if reviewer comments are sharp or blunt. Bear in mind that these are very busy people and the comments are not personal, particularly as most journals operate a blind peer-review system.

Process of acceptance for a journal – just one example
This slide shows the acceptance rates of just one of our journals. Approximately 30 per cent of papers received by the editor are published. I think the saddest figure there is the 16% withdrawn by the authors. It’s very likely those papers would have been published if the authors had persevered with the revisions. Very, very few are rejected at the final hurdle.

How to revise your paper
Acknowledge the editor and set a revision deadline Clarify understanding if in doubt – ‘This is what I understand the comments to mean…’ Consult with colleagues or co-authors and tend to the points as requested Meet the revision deadline Attach a covering letter which identifies, point by point, how revision requests have been met (or if not, why not) How to revise your paper This now gives you an opportunity to enter into dialogue with the Editor about your paper. First, acknowledge the Editor and set a revision deadline, which you must then keep. If you are unsure about any of the comments do not be afraid to ask and, if you disagree with any, then say so (although give good reasons why you do not think a change is necessary). Clarify your understanding to avoid wasting any of your time. You should work on the comments, one by one and with the help of colleagues, as this will vastly increase your chances of acceptance. When complete, send the paper back with a covering letter that clearly states what revisions were requested and how you addressed each point (if you can provide specific page numbers, even better!).

If your paper is rejected …
Ask why, and listen carefully! Most editors will give detailed comments about a rejected paper. Take a deep breath, and listen to what is being said Try again! Try to improve the paper, and re-submit elsewhere. Do your homework and target your paper as closely as possible Don’t give up! At least 50% of papers in business and management don’t get published. Everybody has been rejected at least once Keep trying! If your paper is rejected Whilst no one likes rejection, do not see it as the end of the line. The reviewer or Editor comments should give you the information you need to strengthen the weak areas of the paper. Ask for reasons if they are not immediately forthcoming. Do not forget that there are hundreds of other journals out there, so you can always re-submit to another journal. Go back to those author guidelines, re-read your paper and make sure that you really have found the right fit. Most importantly – keep at it!! At least 50 per cent of papers in business and management do not get published and everybody has been rejected once. It is hard, but try not to take it personally or be so discouraged that you don’t try again. Keep trying.

The Emerald Literati Network
More than 60,000 authors worldwide are members – a huge ‘expert network’ Authors’ Charter – uniquely provides authors with a range of benefits and sets out levels of service Emerald journals are members of and subscribe to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics Complimentary journal issue and five reprints upon publication Calls for Papers and news of publishing opportunities Editing service Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards Research Fund Awards Annual Awards for Excellence The Emerald Literati Network Obviously I hope that in the months and years to come we will publish some of your work in one of our journals. [NB I can provide you with details of how many papers have been published from the institution you are presenting at if you ask me – Jim Bowden] But why should you choose to publish in an Emerald journal? First and foremost, we genuinely value our authors. It is why we created the Emerald Literati Network, now over 40,000 authors. Authors are our life-blood. We aim for speed to publication and do our best at all times to be helpful and responsive to all authors. We have a liberal copyright policy. We do not restrict or remove your right to use your own work, nor do you have to ask permission, should you wish to re-publish. COPE|. Emerald Group Publishing Limited is pleased to announce its partnership with COPE (the Committee on Publication Ethics) from 01 January COPE is a registered charity in the UK that promotes ethical conduct in scientific research and its publication in science journals. Its main role is to offer advice to editors of academic journals on tackling issues affecting integrity of work, such as suspected research or publication misconduct. This partnership will provide Emerald with additional support to its editors. More at: We donate much of our copyright revenues to the research community through Research Fund Awards and, more recently, Doctoral Research Awards, aimed at helping young researchers at the beginning of their academic careers. [NB Ask me and I can provide leaflets/flyers about these awards and funding opportunities- Jim Bowden]

Emerald Management Xtra – authors’ resources
Comprehensive help and advice every step of the way How to… guides Meet the Editor interviews and editor news Premium help with placing your paper for publication Publishing opportunities and Calls for Papers Emerald Management Xtra – authors’ resources Emerald Management Xtra, which was designed with business schools for business schools. This is a further development of our Fulltext database. Emerald Management Xtra is a well-rounded mix of services and resources for all groups of users at an academic institution. We have: • How to ... Guides, which give practical tips on shaping your paper ready for submission. From how to write a case study, to how to submit your paper. We have advice on how to increase your chances of successful publication. • Editor interviews and news. Get inside the minds of our Editors. Find out what they are looking for in a paper – what emerging topics are getting them excited! - We will help you find the right journal - We provide publishing opportunities with Emerald and Calls for Papers In addition, Emerald Management Xtra also has resources specifically for, among others, researchers, lecturers and faculty, librarians, and managers.

Other useful resources
(ISI ranking lists and impact factors) (Anne-Wil Harzing's site about academic publishing and the assessment of research and journal quality, as well as software to conduct citation analysis) (abstract and citation database of research literature and quality web sources) (addresses, phone, and websites for a large number of journals as well as information on publication guidelines and review information) What do you use?

Beyond authorship Other important journal publishing work that you might wish to get involved in includes: Book reviewing Refereeing/peer review Editorial advisory board membership Contributing editorship Regional editorship Editorship For details of opportunities in this area please do get in touch with us! Beyond authorship As well as writing articles for Emerald there are other opportunities to get involved in the world of scholarly publishing. These can bring all sorts of additional benefits, as well as enhancing your status and allowing you to keep up to date with key developments in your discipline it offers the opportunity to make a contribution to your field of research and build a network of peers around the globe.

Talk to us, use us! Tell us how we can help you – talk to us, give us ideas Register with Emerald Research Connections Register with Emerald InTouch Use the Emerald Literati Network Use Emerald Management Xtra Talk to us, use us! Use Emerald Management Xtra and the Emerald Literati Network. All these resources are on our website. Some further detail is included in the handouts and leaflets. Talk to us. Tell us how we can help you and, above all, write for us! Write for us!

Thank you. Any questions?
For any answers you didn’t get today (or were too shy to ask) … please , write or phone: Presenter’s name at: Presenter’s address Presenter’s address details Tel: Presenter’s phone number Thank you. Any questions? This concludes my presentation. I hope that I have given you an insight into academic publishing and maybe even provided you with some tips and thoughts to help you achieve your publishing goals. Thank you for your time and wishing you all publishing success in the future. Finally, please take the time to fill in the feedback form provided – we need your help to provide the best help possible for new authors.

An insider’s guide to getting published in research journals

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