1. HOW TO WRITE RESEARCH PAPERS FOR ACADEMIC JOURNALS
Dr. Abdelaziz TERCHI

2. Definition of Research
Hunting for facts or truth about a subject
Organized scientific investigation to solve problems, test hypotheses, develop or invent new products

3. What is research? Identify a problem Find out what others have done
Develop a solution
Show your solution:
Works
Better
Sound & complete

4. What is Research?
Research must be systematic - It follows certain steps that are logical in order. These steps are:
Understanding the nature of problem to be studied and identifying the related area of knowledge.
Reviewing literature to understand how others have approached or dealt with the problem.
Collecting data in an organized and controlled manner so as to arrive at valid decisions.
Analyzing data appropriate to the problem.
Drawing conclusions and making generalizations.

5. High Quality Research! It is based on the work of others.
It can be replicated (duplicated).
It is generalizable to other settings.
It is based on some logical rationale and tied to theory.
It is doable!
It generates new questions or is cyclical in nature.
It is incremental.
It is apolitical activity that should be undertaken for the betterment of society.

6. What is bad research? The opposites of what have been discussed.
Looking for something when it simply is not to be found.
Plagiarizing other people’s work.
Falsifying data to prove a point.
Misrepresenting information and misleading participants.

7. Why do we need research? To get PhDs, Masters and Bachelors??
To provide solutions to complex problems
To investigate laws of nature
To make new discoveries
To develop new products
To save costs
To improve our life
Human desires

8. Why publish research papers?
Ideally
to share research findings and discoveries with the hope of improving healthcare
Practically
To get funding
to get promoted
to get a job
to keep your job!

9. Why write research papers?
Every research needs good and proper documentation.
To attend conferences.
To share research results with other researchers.
To get views for improvement of your research.
To obtain some form of degree.
To get recognition and promotion (“Publish or Perish” Dilemma)

10. Types of Publications Theses: MSc. MPhil /PhD Conference Publications
Focus on a piece of work with limited discussion
Journal Publications
More complete (extensive) discussion
Monographs / Book chapters / Text books
Literature review
Book review
Research note (work in progress)
Working paper
Book

11. Where to publish your work
Journals
Ranking
Review process
Publication cycle
Conferences
N.B. A good journal / conference usually to have rigorous review process and long review time

12. Where to send? Conference: Workshop Journal 3 kinds Quick PASTE IWPC
Accept “everything?”
IEEE (accept less than 50%)
Accept less than 20%
Quick
Workshop
PASTE
IWPC
ICSE Workshops
Journal
Archival
Respectable
Experience
Magazine

13. Select an outlet Level Subject: Narrow, Medium,Broad
Workshop: 30 – 50 submissions with 50% acceptance rate
Conference: 100 – 500 submissions with a 10-25% acceptance rate
Journal: 30% acceptance rate with long lead times
Subject: Narrow, Medium,Broad
Region: National,European, Americas, Asia, Australia, Nordic, Worldwide
The higher the level the more competitive
For students it is most successful to focus on a narrow focused workshop

14. Conferences Fast publication Usually need a smaller idea
Smaller trick can be acceptable
Depends on conference
Just accept or reject; no rewrite
It may be incomplete
It may lack key references
Good for networking and Q&A

15. Journal publication Academic reputation Gives a “quality stamp”
Journals have ~4x more status than conferences
Gives a “quality stamp”
Reviewers demand corrections & clarifications
Archive your work
Wider scope
More theory and technical information
More references
Highly competitive
Accept 36%
Reject 58%
Refer to other Journal 3%
Withdrawn 3%

16. What makes a good research paper?
Good science
Good writing
Publication in good journals

17. What constitutes good science?
Novel: new and not resembling something formerly known or used
Mechanistic: testing a hypothesis - determining the fundamental processes involved in or responsible for an action, reaction, or other natural phenomenon
Descriptive: describes how things are but does not test how things work – hypotheses are not tested.
What is a descriptive study?

18. What constitutes a good journal?
Impact factor: average number of times published papers are cited up to two years after publication.
Immediacy Index : average number of times published papers are cited during year of publication.
Immediacy Index – number of times articles published in 2003 (by a journal) that were cited in 2003 divided by number of articles that were published in 2003 (by the journal)

19. Journal Citation Report, 2003
Journal Impact Factor Immediacy Index
Nature
Science
Hypertens
AJ P Heart
Physiol Rev
Am J Math
Ann Math
Published by Thomas Scientific (formally Institute for Scientific Information)
Lots of debate on impact factor –
Review journals have very high impact factor because they are often quoted instead of original paper
Number of citations to a journal does not necessarily reflect the quality of the journal. Journals with low circulation will never have high impact factor regardless of the quality of its publications.
Window for citation is too short. Many classic papers are cited frequently several decades after publication
More researchers in a particular field lead to high impact journals in the field.
Example, medical journals have higher impact factors compared to mathematical journals and engineering journals
5907 journals

20. Things to consider before writing
1. Time to write the paper?
- has a significant advancement been made?
- is the hypothesis straightforward?
- did the experiments test the hypothesis?
- are the controls appropriate and sufficient?
- can you describe the study in 1 or 2 minutes?
- can the key message be written in 1 or 2 sentences?
2. Tables and figures
- must be clear and concise
- should be self-explanatory
3. Read references
- will help in choosing journal
- better insight into possible reviewers

21. Things to consider before writing
4. Choose journal
- study “instructions to authors”
- think about possible reviewers
- quality of journal “impact factor”
5. Tentative title and summary
6. Choose authors

22. Getting a paper published
Competition for space in journals is intense
Cost of publication is high, $360/page for APS
Rejection rates vary
AJP = 50%
JBC = 65%
Nature = 90%

23. Reasons for rejection Confirmatory (not novel)
Poor experimental design
- Poor controls
- Hypothesis not adequately tested
Inappropriate for journal
Poorly written

24. Reasons for rejection The topic does not relate to the journal’s aims
The paper does not appear to have engaged with the work of others in the same area and may therefore be repetitious
The paper’s purpose is unclear
The argument in the paper is under-developed
The claims made by the paper are not justified
The style/length/format is not what’s requested by the journal
The paper is poorly presented with missing references, typos, poor grammar etc.

25. Publication Process Completion of research Preparation of manuscript
Submission of manuscript
Assignment and review
Decision
Rejection
Revision
Resubmission
Re-review
Acceptance
Rejection
Publication