Writing an Article for Publication David Taylor WISER Lunchtime Seminar, February 2009 “A theory is something nobody believes, except the person who made it. An experiment is something everybody believes, except the person who made it” Albert Einstein

Why Write? List three reasons why you want to write an article. List three reasons why you want to write an article.

Why Read List three reasons why you read published articles List three reasons why you read published articles

Science Works Through Publication The way we do science has developed over the last 300 years The way we do science has developed over the last 300 years Publication in widely-available form is a crucial element Publication in widely-available form is a crucial element New scientific ideas can be openly discussed, criticised, tested, accepted or rejected New scientific ideas can be openly discussed, criticised, tested, accepted or rejected Until you publish, you are not doing science Until you publish, you are not doing science

The Journal of the Mechanical Behaviour of Biomedical Materials

What Happens to Your Article? Submitted to Editor Submitted to Editor Editor’s “assessment” (reject; revise) Editor’s “assessment” (reject; revise) Sent to Reviewers Sent to Reviewers Reviewers reply to Editor Reviewers reply to Editor Editor’s decision (accept; reject; revise) Editor’s decision (accept; reject; revise) Back to you: revised version and letter Back to you: revised version and letter Editor may revert to Reviewers Editor may revert to Reviewers Note: It’s always the Editor who decides

What Do I Look For as an Editor? What do you think is the most important feature of an article?

What Do I Look For as an Editor? Originality Originality What’s new? What’s new? Content Content Is there enough? Is there enough? Simplicity Simplicity Can it be clearer, shorter? Can it be clearer, shorter?

A Perfect Article Brings together the two key scientific elements of THEORY and EXPERIMENT Brings together the two key scientific elements of THEORY and EXPERIMENT Shows how a variety of disparate data/results/observations can be understood through a single, elegant, hypothesis. Shows how a variety of disparate data/results/observations can be understood through a single, elegant, hypothesis.

It’s Your Work There’s no fixed formula for writing a paper There’s no fixed formula for writing a paper You need to develop your own style You need to develop your own style But…there are some useful guidelines… But…there are some useful guidelines… (…once you know them, you can decide when to break them…) (…once you know them, you can decide when to break them…)

Elements of an Article Abstract (Summary) Abstract (Summary) Keywords Keywords Introduction Introduction Methods (Experimental Details) Methods (Experimental Details) Results Results Discussion Discussion Conclusions Conclusions Acknowledgements Acknowledgements

What’s wrong with this abstract? “In this paper, we will describe some experiments that were conducted to measure the creep strain rate in a stainless steel, and we will discuss the significance of the results.”

This one is better, but could still be improved – how? “We conducted a series of experiments to measure the creep strain rate in the stainless steel alloy SUS678F. We showed that the creep strain rate is proportional to the applied stress.”

“Creep strain rate is an important measure of a material’s high-temperature performance. Creep has been measured in various materials but not in the stainless steel alloy SUS678F. We conducted a series of experiments which showed that the creep strain rate is proportional to the applied stress in this alloy. This strongly suggests that the mechanism of creep in this material is grain boundary diffusion.”

The Objectives The end of the Intro is a good place to state: The end of the Intro is a good place to state: Objectives, or Objectives, or Hypothesis, or Hypothesis, or Research Question Research Question

Discussion Discussion Most often done badly Most often done badly Most feared by young researchers Most feared by young researchers Say what’s good about your work Say what’s good about your work Say what’s bad (limitations) Say what’s bad (limitations) Compare to other published work Compare to other published work Speculate Speculate Criticise other work Criticise other work

Style Do you say… Do you say… “We did this…” or “We did this…” or “This was done…” or “This was done…” or “The present authors did this…” “The present authors did this…”

Feedback How to handle rejection! How to handle rejection! Increasing rejection rates, editorial policy Increasing rejection rates, editorial policy Revising your article: responding to reviewers’ comments Revising your article: responding to reviewers’ comments Point by point Point by point Explain what you changed Explain what you changed OR explain why you didn’t OR explain why you didn’t

Some Other Points for Discussion How do you choose which journal to submit to? How do you choose which journal to submit to? Impact factors Impact factors Reviewers Reviewers Readership Readership Turnaround time Turnaround time

Some Other Points for Discussion “Open Access” journals versus traditional journals “Open Access” journals versus traditional journals Here’s what Bentham Open publishers say… Here’s what Bentham Open publishers say… WHY PUBLISH IN OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS? WHY PUBLISH IN OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS? Your article will obtain more citations. Your article will obtain more citations. You own the copyright to your article. You own the copyright to your article. Your article will be peer-reviewed and published very fast. Your article will be peer-reviewed and published very fast. All interested readers can read, download, and/or print open access articles at no cost! All interested readers can read, download, and/or print open access articles at no cost! Your article can be read by potentially millions of readers, which is incomparable to publishing in a traditional subscription journal. Your article can be read by potentially millions of readers, which is incomparable to publishing in a traditional subscription journal. Open Access journals are FREE to view! Open Access journals are FREE to view! Elsevier’s monopoly Elsevier’s monopoly