1. How to Publish in Quality Journals Professor Hepu Deng School of Business Information Technology and Logistics, RMIT University Melbourne, Australia

2. Outline of the presentation What is a quality paper? Develop an idea or theme for a paper Structure a paper Write the paper Understanding the journals Handle review comments Concluding remarks

3. School of Business IT and Logistics 3 The nature of a paper A peer reviewed academic paper will have to be  Interesting – some degree of originality  Relevant and Rigorous  Scholarly  Parsimonious  Error free And it will have to comply with the requirements (style) of the journal

4. School of Business IT and Logistics 4 The different type of papers Research findings – empirical research Literature Overviews Theoretical or speculative discussion Case Studies and Action Research Methodological discussions Comments, communications and reviews Solely authored and multiple-authored papers Paper and electronic journals Funded and unfunded research Papers needs to be double blind refereed

5. School of Business IT and Logistics 5 Various views of papers…. A view of the publisher A review of a reviewer A view of an author A view of a librarian A view of a reader

6. School of Business IT and Logistics 6 Planning an academic paper Does the proposed paper answer a specific research question? Which researchers and which parts of their work have influenced your thinking? What is your main message? How did you come to have this message? Why is this important to perspective readers?

7. A simplified body structure of papers INTRODUCTION What I want to do LITERATURE What others say about it DESIGN My plan for doing it RESULTS What happened when I did it DISCUSSION What this means CONCLUSIONS What I found out

8. School of Business IT and Logistics 8 The Title Ideally, the title should reflect the main contribution of the paper. The reader should be able to work out what the paper is about from the title alone. Focus on the key message that the paper wants to get across Cute, cryptic titles are fun, but unhelpful.

9. School of Business IT and Logistics 9 Abstract An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. An abstract always appears at the beginning of a manuscript or typescript, acting as the point-of-entry for any given academic paper or patent application. Abstracting and indexing services for various academic disciplines are aimed at compiling a body of literature for that particular subject.

10. School of Business IT and Logistics 10 Types of abstract Informative  a compendious summary of a paper's substance including its background, purpose, methodology, results, and conclusion.  Usually between 100 and 200 words, the informative abstract summarizes the paper's structure, its major topics and key points. Descriptive  a description of what the paper covers without delving into its substance. Graphical abstracts

11. School of Business IT and Logistics 11 An academic abstract typically outlines The research focus  i.e. statement of the problem(s)/research issue(s) addressed The research methods used  experimental research, case studies, questionnaires, etc. The results/findings of the research The main conclusion and recommendations

12. School of Business IT and Logistics 12 Writing an abstract Used by reviewers to select the papers they want to review Write it when the rest of the paper is written (or you have a clear structure) Must be self-contained and “closed”  No citations  No references into parts of the paper For instance in 4 sentences  State the problem  Why is this an interesting problem  What is your solution achieving  What follows from your solution

13. School of Business IT and Logistics 13 Emerald’s 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/ImplicationsExclusions/next steps Practical implications - Applications to practice/’So what?’ Originality/value - Who would benefit from this and what is new about it

14. School of Business IT and Logistics 14 The Introduction Brief context of your work Brief problem description  Maybe use an example to describe the problem (if adequate) A proposed solution  Write your contributions early to structure your paper  The later parts of the paper should substantiate your claims  Make it very explicit, for instance as bulleted list Use the proposed solution to introduce theoretical bases you may need Introduce structure of your paper  either in text, for instance along with the contributions, or as an explicit text At most 1 or 1.5 page

15. School of Business IT and Logistics 15 Main points of an introduction Background to the topic of your paper to set your work in its broad context A clear statement of the purpose of the paper, usually to present the results of your research, investigation, or design A clear statement of the aims of the paper Technical background necessary to understand the paper; e.g. theory or assumptions A brief outline of the structure of the report if appropriate

16. School of Business IT and Logistics 16 Writing introduction Define the key terms Provide basic background information Justify the study State what the paper is about Describe the layout of the paper

17. Literature Review Review research in your chosen areas to clarify conceptual issues and empirical contexts for your project If there is no previous published research, look for empirical work from related areas Use literature review to learn about research design for your project – build on work of previous scholars Consider how your project will contribute to the literature in your chosen subject area Your opportunity to persuade your reader that your work is relevant and that it was worth doing!

18. School of Business IT and Logistics 18 Academic reading Read selectively  Why have you chose a particular paper?  Title, Author/s, Journal, expectation of content Look out for the following issues  What are the intentions of authors in writing the paper?  Why do the authors believe that this issue is important?  What are the primary findings or claims made by the author/s?  Are these claimed supported by appropriate evidence?  Do you agree with the author/s definitions of the key terms and issues?  Can you identify the underpinning values which is driving the argument in the paper?  Do you largely agree with the author/s conclusions?  Is the list of references largely complete?  Would you recommend this papers to colleagues and students?

19. What skills do I need? Information seeking  scanning the literature efficiently  identifying a set of useful articles and books Critical reading  analysing texts to identify relevant, unbiased and valid studies Synthesising  putting ideas from various sources together to build your argument

20. What do I do? Start broad then focus Be prepared to go outside your subject Mind map key ideas / themes Records references and quotes carefully!

21. Where do I find information? Books – library catalogue E-books E-journals Databases Library Focus Supervisor suggestions Websites?

22. Organizing the literature review A general organization looks like a funnel  Broader topics  Subtopics  Studies like yours 22

23. Critical reading: Key questions Who is the author? Can you see bias or a vested interest? How detailed is the information? Does it say where the information is from? Is it out of date? How does it compare to other sources?

24. Purposes of the critical reading We do not expect academic authors to be lying or trying to swindle us But there may be hidden layers... Academia is rarely about finding absolute truths... But is more often a case of discussing  Viewpoints  Interpretation  significance

25. Critical reading: Authors mean to be... Logical – but have made a mistake Impartial – but have made assumptions Honest – but have been mislead New – but haven’t seen my evidence

26. What should I be writing about? What has already been written on the topic What has not been written on that topic and problems with existing literature How your research addresses the 'gap', or ‘weakness’ in the existing knowledge base Don’t just reproduce/summarise! Show how the literature relates to the research project.

27. What is meant by critical writing? A clear and confident refusal to accept the conclusions of other writers without evaluating the arguments and evidence that they provide A balanced presentation of reasons why the conclusions of other writers may be accepted or may need to be treated with caution A clear presentation of your own evidence and argument, leading to your conclusion A recognition of the limitations in your own evidence, argument, and conclusion.

28. Useful questions to guide you What is already known in the area? Where are the inconsistencies or shortcomings in present knowledge? Why study (further) the research problem? What contribution can the present study be expected to make?

29. Structuring the literature review (1) When you have mapped out the contents, you need to decide the order in which you are going to write about them: general to specific chronologically according to different schools of thought argument and counterargument

30. Structure of the literature review (2) Chronological  By publication date  By trend Thematic  A structure which considers different themes Methodological  Focuses on the methods of the researcher, e.g., qualitative versus quantitative approaches

31. Making links between studies Agreements  Similarly, author B points to…  Likewise, author C makes the case that…  Author D also makes this point…  Again, it is possible to see how author E agrees with author D… Disagreements  However, author B points to…  On the other hand, author C makes the case that…  Conversely, Author D argues…  Nevertheless, what author E suggests…

32. Using summary tables It is useful to prepare Such a table provides a quick overview that allows the reviewer to make sense of a large mass of information. The tables could include columns with headings such as  Author  type of study  Sample  Design  data collection approach  key findings

33. 33 CitationSampleEnvironmentMethodConclusions Colour Bellizzi, Crowley and Hasty (1983) 125 AdultsFurniture storeLaboratory experiment Photographic slide simulations Warm and cool colours created different emotional responses. Customers view red retail environments as more negative and unpleasant than blue. Bellizzi, & Hite (1992) 70 Adult women 107 Students Televisions shown with different colour backgrounds Furniture stores Laboratory experiments Photographic slide simulations Study based on PAD affect measures and approach- avoidance behaviours. More positive retail outcomes occurred in blue environments than red. Music Smith and Curnow (1966) 1100 Supermarket shoppers Retail store Field experiment Time in store reduced with loud music but level of sales did not. Milliman (1982)216 ShoppersSupermarketField experiment The tempo of background music influenced the pace at which customers shopped. Slow tempo music slowed customers down but resulted in increased volume of sales. Hui, Dubé and Chebat (1997) 116 StudentsBank branch - waiting for service. Laboratory experiment Video simulation The positive impact of music on approach behaviours is mediated by an emotional evaluation of the environment and the emotional response to waiting. Pleasurable music produced longer perceived waiting times. Lighting Areni and Kim (1994)171 ShoppersWine storeField experiment The investigation found that brighter in-store lighting influenced shoppers to examine and handle more of the merchandise in the store Summers and Hebert (2001) 2367 CustomersHardware store Apparel store Field experiment Confirmed Areni and Kims (1994) results. Increased levels of lighting will produce arousal and pleasure and increase the approach behaviours of customers. Summary table of literature Atmospherics in service environments

34. Citation styles Information prominent citation  For viscoelastic fluids, the behaviour of the time-dependent stresses in the transient shear flows is also very important (Boger et al., 1974). Author prominent citation  Close (1983) developed a simplified theory using an analogy between heat and mass transfer and the equivalent heat transfer only case.  Several authors have suggested that automated testing should be more readily accepted (Balcer, 1989; Stahl, 1989; Carver & Tai, 1991).

35. Verb tenses – Present (1) A statement about what the thesis, chapter or section does Examples:  This thesis presents a report of an investigation into …….  This chapter thus provides a basis for the next.  In this section, the results from the first set of experiments are reported. A statement of a generally accepted scientific fact Examples:  There are three factors that control the concentration of aluminum in seawater.  The finite rate coefficients have an effect on heat transfer through a horizontal porous layer.

36. Verb tenses – Present (2) A review of current research work, or research work of immediate relevance to your study. Example:  Schulze (2002) concludes that hydraulic rate has a significant effect on future performance. Comments, explanations and evaluative statements made by you when you are reviewing previous studies. Examples:  Therefore, this sequential approach is impractical in the real world where projects are typically large and the activities from one stage may be carried out in parallel with the activities of another stage.  The reason for this anomalous result is that the tests were done at low hydraulic rates at which the plastic packing was not completely wetted.

37. A good literature review is…. Focused - The topic should be narrow. You should only present ideas and only report on studies that are closely related to topic. Concise - Ideas should be presented economically. Don’t take any more space than you need to present your ideas. Logical - The flow within and among paragraphs should be a smooth, logical progression from one idea to the next Developed - Don’t leave the story half told. Integrative - Your paper should stress how the ideas in the studies are related. Focus on the big picture. What commonality do all the studies share? How are some studies different than others? Your paper should stress how all the studies reviewed contribute to your topic. Current - Your review should focus on work being done on the cutting edge of your topic.

38. Issues in writing a literature review Vagueness due to too much or inappropriate generalizations Limited range Insufficient information Irrelevant material Omission of contrasting view Omission of recent work

39. School of Business IT and Logistics 39 Be careful…. To make my work look good I have to make other peoples work bad is a fallacy!

40. Determining the research methodology Sampling Secondary data Observation Interviews Questionnaires Positivism Phenomenology Case study Inductive Experiment Survey Deductive Grounded theory Ethnography Action research Cross sectional Longitudinal Research philosophyResearch approachesResearch strategiesTime horizons Data collection methods

41. Positivism versus phenomenology Positivism  objective and independent analysts without affecting or being affected by the subject of the research  widely used by natural scientists Phenomenology  the complexity of the world  needs to understand all the details to understand the complexity

42. Quantitative research vs qualitative research Quantitative Research Deductive Testing of theory Natural science model, in particular positivism Objectivism Qualitative Research Inductive Generation of a theory Interpretivism Constructionism

43. Writing about your research methodology Decide the theoretic framework  what is the main theory for your research  how can the theory be viewed in your research  how can you establish a connection/relationship? Determine your research methodology  state the philosophy for your selection of the methodology  select your research methodology  describe the rationale for your selection Describe the methods for your research  define each method for your selection  justify for your selection  show how it will be used

44. Theoretical perspectives The research problem most of you will be exploring will be about professionals/ students negotiating their world. You probably will adopt from within the interpretivist theoretical perspective, symbolic interactionism. You need to make explicit that your research problem has an interpretative stance in general and a symbolic interactionist lens in particular. Make clear links from constructionism to interpretivism to symbolic interactionism and always that within the context of your research problem.

45. Collecting and analysing data How are data collected, from whom? when? why?  Methods – survey vs. case studies (Intrinsic vs. Instrumental)  Sources of Data :  Primary ( asking, examining, observing, intervention ) vs. Secondary  Analysis  Quantitative vs. Qualitative Pulling out Data from the Real World In the Real World Conclusions bearing on research hypotheses

46. Writing research findings Set up the context for writing the findings Writing the research findings explicitly Use the available statistics to help you present your findings Always connect back to your hypotheses or research questions made earlier in the paper

47. Your discussion and reflection This is where you present your critical analysis of your research findings Link your discussion with your literature review State the theoretical contributions State the practical implication and significance

48. School of Business IT and Logistics 48 Conclusion & future work More than a summary The conclusion should both summarise the research and discuss its significance Try to derive  what your solution shows  what can be learned from it  reassess the state of the field in the light of your contribution Future work  Some unexplored avenues of the research  Identify and briefly develop new directions that have been suggested by your research

49. School of Business IT and Logistics 49 Understanding academic journals Not all academic journals were created equal “But I proved the old academic saying of publish or perish wrong because I published and perished at the tenure and promotion stage” Impact Factor and Citations Index Country based ranking: ERA

50. Investigating the journals Investigate the key journals in your domain  Through your readings  Through your discussion with your supervisors  Through peers Understand the journals  Journal mission and aims  Targeted audiences  General requirements in contents, formats, and others  A profile of articles for a few years in your specific domains Understanding the Editor or Editor-in-Chief  Reading their publications  Analysing the style of the journals edited by him/her

51. Requirements and Expectations Contribution to the domain (Something new)  A new approach, algorithm, …  A new conceptual model  A new way for formulating existing problems  New insights from analysis existing phenomena Justified contribution  Systematic review of the literature  Relevant review with a focus on the proposed research  Evidence based results and discussion Well presented contribution

52. School of Business IT and Logistics 52 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

53. School of Business IT and Logistics 53 Some key questions Readability - Does it communicate effectively? 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?

54. Your own peer review Slide 54 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. Whoops: Leads [Leeds] Metropolitan University

55. School of Business IT and Logistics 55 Comments from reviewers LOSER! Your choice of career was regretful. I hope the author doesn’t resubmit this because you’d have to beat me to make me read it again. When I was a high school English teacher my 10th graders wrote better papers than this one. If ignorance was water this paper would be a sea. Academics don’t want papers that they can apply. In the future you should have someone for whom English is their first language read your work before you submit.

56. School of Business IT and Logistics 56 Responding to reviews Expect to be asked to do a material amount of work Resist the temptation to try to prove the reviewers wrong It is necessary to address all the points made in the view But you don’t have to agree with everything the reviews have said Be as courteous as possible in refuting points with which you disagree The editor is normally the final arbitrator

57. School of Business IT and Logistics 57 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.

58. How to revise your paper School of Business IT and Logistics 58 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)

59. School of Business IT and Logistics 59 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 per cent of papers in business and management don’t get published. Everybody has been rejected at least once. Keep trying!

60. Co-authorship as a possibility School of Business IT and Logistics 60 With supervisor, across departments, someone from a different institution Ensure paper is checked and edited so that it reads as one voice Exploit your individual strengths Specially useful for cross-disciplinary research Demonstrates the authority and rigour of the research Agree & clarify order of appearance of authors & the person taking on role of corresponding author

61. Co-authorship from collaboration School of Business IT and Logistics 61

62. Concluding Comments Define the key message in terms of the contribution Organise the paper focusing on this key message from the beginning of the paper to the end Write, write and rewrite the paper for ensuring the readability of the paper Get someone else to read your paper before submission

63. School of Business IT and Logistics 63 Thank you and any questions? For any answers you didn’t get today (or were too shy to ask) ………. please email: Professor Hepu Deng Hepu.deng@rmit.edu.au