1. GETTING PUBLISHED Open University ‘Developing as a Researcher – the next steps’ conference, 19 March 2014

2. Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk How papers get published How scientific publishing is changing Choosing a journal Writing the abstract Writing papers

3. About me

4. Scientist  PhD  Postdoc

5. Journal editor

6. Freelance editor

7. Consultant Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

8. Journals expert Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

9. Entrepreneur Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Cofactor Smoothing the path from research to publication  Paper editing  Paper quick check  Journal selector tool  Consultancy  Workshops

10. How papers get published Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

11. hing Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Submission Presubmission enquiry Manuscript preparation Experiments Copyediting Print/online publication Typesetting Checking by author Proofreading Subscription/access Reading Initial filter Peer review Decision Rejection Revision Acceptance Authors Editors Production Others Journal publishing

12. Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Submission Initial filter Peer review Decision Copyediting Print/online publication Rejection Revision Acceptance Typesetting Checking by author Proofreading Presubmission enquiry Subscription/access Reading Manuscript preparation Experiments

13. Presubmission enquiries Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Cover letter and abstract  Send to editor instead of submitting whole manuscript  Check if journal encourages them

14. Advantages of presubs Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Useful for testing out selective journals  Can get a quick answer  Can send in parallel

15. Is your submission complete? 1 Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Title  Abstract  Introduction  Results  Discussion  Conclusions  Methods  References

16. Is your submission complete? 2 Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Author names and addresses  Funding  Acknowledgements  Competing interests  Author contributions  Data availability  Details of supplementary files  Ethical approval  Patient consent

17. Cover letter Anna Sharman CC:BY 2013 sharmanedit.co.uk Editors have little time for each paper So…  Make the advance clear  Be brief  Get journal name right!

18. Statements to include Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk “The manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere” “All authors have approved the manuscript”

19. Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Submission Initial filter Peer review Decision Copyediting Print/online publication Rejection Revision Acceptance Typesetting Checking by author Proofreading Presubmission enquiry Subscription/access Reading Manuscript preparation Experiments

20. Peer review Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Editor selects suitable reviewers  Editor or admin invites  Reviewers say yes/no  Admin sends paper to 2/3  Reviewers do review  Editor makes decision

21. Standard single-blind review Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Reviewers know author names  Reviewers anonymous except to editor  Reports seen by editor and authors, no-one else

22. Decision Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Simple rejection  Rejection, but might reconsider  Revisions invited (more analyses)  Minor revisions invited  Accept as is

23. Response to reviews Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Be polite and reasonable  Concise to editor, full details for reviewers  Quote each point, then respond  Editor makes final decision

24. Submission Initial filter Peer review Decision Copyediting Print/online publication Rejection Revision Acceptance Typesetting Checking by author Proofreading Presubmission enquiry Subscription/access Reading Manuscript preparation Experiments Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

25. The proofs Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Make sure you’re available to check  Watch out for:  corrupted symbols  misaligned tables  colour changes in figures

26. Copyright and licences Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Copyright transfer or  Non-exclusive licence  Creative Commons

27. Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Your copyright is valuable So… Don’t give it away (at least without careful thought)

28. Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Submission Initial filter Peer review Decision Copyediting Print/online publication Rejection Revision Acceptance Typesetting Checking by author Proofreading Presubmission enquiry Subscription/access Reading Manuscript preparation Experiments

29. Access Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Personal subscription  Library subscription  Open access

30. After publication Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Email pdf  Profiles  Lab website  Blog  Social media

31. How scientific publishing is changing Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

32. Open access leads to… Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Competition for authors  Innovative pricing  ‘Predatory’ journals

33. ‘Predatory’ journals Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Beall’s list  OASPA  Spam calls for papers  Check out journal before submitting

34. Journal-independent peer review Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Peer review outside journal  Journals can take papers with reports  Saves time  Like submitting to many journals at once

35. Post-publication peer review Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  On journal website  On independent website  On PubMed  On social media Your paper will get talked about – be prepared

36. Post-publication review sites Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  F1000 Prime  PubPeer  PubMed Commons  PLOS Open Evaluation

37. Conclusion Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Things will keep changing  You have more choice than ever  Author has more power…  … and more responsibility for quality  Getting into the right journal isn’t everything

38. Choosing a journal Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

39. Why are you in science? Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  To find out cool things  To change the world  To get a good career  To be famous

40. Why do you want to publish? Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Career  To be built on  For the world  Waste not to  To get feedback  To prevent wasted work by others

41. So you want a journal that will… Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Give a stamp of approval  Show how exciting your work is  Get your results out there for many to read and share  Not restrict reuse  Encourage comments  … and do all this quickly and cheaply

42. What is a journal for? Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Registration: establishing precedence  Dissemination: communicating the findings  Peer review: ensuring quality control  Archiving: preserving  Navigation: filtering and signposting

43. Choosing a journal 1 Impact Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

44. Journal impact metrics

45. Impact factor calculation Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk A = no of times articles published in journal in 2011 and 2012 were cited during 2013 B = total "citable items" that were published by journal in 2011 and 2012 2013 impact factor = A/B (released June 2014)

46. Problems with Impact Factor 1.Citations ≠ impact 2.2 years after publication 3.Average (mean) -> can be skewed 4.Can be gamed 5.Proprietary methods 6.Errors unknown 7.New journals omitted Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

47. Journal metrics are useful for Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Comparing journals for submission  Choosing whether to subscribe to a journal  Seeing how a journal has changed over time  … that’s it.

48. But Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Don’t rely on just one metric  Don’t use journal metrics for assessing articles  or for assessing researchers

49. Article-level metrics Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Pdf downloads  Page views  Social bookmarks  Comments  Reader ratings  Tweets etc  Media mentions  Citations

50. Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

52. Choosing a journal 2 Dissemination Anna Sharman CC:BY 2013 sharmanedit.co.uk

53. Indexing Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Web of Science  Scopus  PubMed  GeoRef  AGRICOLA  Chemical Abstracts  DOAJ (if open access)

54. Why indexing matters Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Shows journal is reputable (not predatory)  Means people can find your paper  Web of Science indexing is necessary for impact factor NB Google Scholar indexes everything!

55. Open access Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Read by anyone:  Doctors, patients, independent scholars…  Journalists can cover it easily  Readers mean impact  Open means sharable  Anywhere in the world

56. Citation advantage of open access  27 of 31 studies: OA increased citations  OA advantage of:  –5% to 36% (biology)  170% to 580% (physics/astronomy) (Swan, Alma (2010) The Open Access citation advantage: Studies and results to date. http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/268516/ ) Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

57. Publicity Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Minireviews/Editorials  Press releases  Blog  Twitter, Facebook  Awards  Altmetrics

58. Choosing a journal 3 Peer review Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

59. Types of peer review  Standard: single blind, closed  Complete anonymity  Open: no anonymity  Open: comments published  Discussion  Post publication  For soundness only (megajournals) Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

60. Megajournals  Peer review only for soundness of science  Not for potential impact, significance, surprisingness, etc  Broad subject area  Open access  Potential to get very large  eg PLOS ONE Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

61. Cascading peer review Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Review by journal A Not significant enough, but sound science Rejected Offer to pass it to sister journal B Journal B sees reports for journal A Can accept without further review

62. Choosing a journal 4 Speed Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

63. Speed Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Submission Sent for review Reviews back Decision Resubmit Sent for rereview Reviews back Acceptance Publication Submission to 1st decision time Acceptance to publication time With editorWith reviewersWith authorsWith production RevisionFirst review 2nd reviewProduction Time

64. Journal speed Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Example of metrics from Elsevier journal (International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology)

65. Issues and backlogs Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Articles that are ready are compiled into issues  Some articles wait for the rest  Limit on articles per issue = longer wait  Print publication is much slower  Many publish continuously online

66. Discussion Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  In threes  Similar subject areas  10 minutes  What was new to you?  How might this change how you choose a journal?

67. Writing the abstract Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

68. The structure of an abstract 1 Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk European Association of Science Editors (EASE) guidelines:  Background  Objectives  Methods  Results  Conclusions  Implications

69. The structure of an abstract 2 Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Nature’s guideline:  Basic introduction  More detailed background  General problem  ‘Here we show’  Main result  Results into context  (optional) Broader perspective

70. Why is this question interesting? Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk “We discovered that J causes Q…” But why should I care what causes Q?

71. What problem? Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk “Others have done X. We did Y…” But why did you do Y? What was wrong with X?

72. Methodological detail Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk “We added 3.57 ml of Z to a 4.76 l solution of W and stirred for 15 minutes. The resulting precipitate was significantly better than the previous compound (p = 0.0087, CI = 1.45-2.67, Student’s t-test…” Why is all that guff in the abstract?

73. Vague conclusion Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk “These results give insights into how A works…” What insights? How does A work?

74. The structure of a paper Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

75. The structure of a paper Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Usual structure:  Title  Abstract  Introduction  Results  Discussion  Conclusions  Methods  References Results and Discussion

76. The Introduction Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Only necessary background  Not full literature review  End with brief summary of:  questions being addressed  what you did  what you found

77. Figures and legends Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Don’t overload with panels  Check journal guidelines/usual practice  Legends should describe what is shown

78. The Discussion Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Summary of main result(s)  How questions posed in Introduction have been answered  Discuss particular points  Limitations  Future work  Conclusions (or separate)

79. Writing a paper Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk

80. Writing style Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Clarity, clarity, clarity  Say:  what you did  what you found  what it means

81. General principles Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  First person OK  Info where readers expect  No exact repetition  Make your/previous work clear

82. Tenses Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Past:  what you did  what previous papers did  Perfect:  looking back in the paper  generalising about previous work  Present:  what is known  what you present in the paper

83. The three secrets of good writing Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Read lots  Write lots  Revise

84. Read Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Read lots of papers  Note down what makes a paper good or bad  Collect examples of good writing

85. Write Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Write drafts early  of thesis chapters  of parts of papers  Write about anything and everything  Start a science blog?

86. Revise Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk  Everyone’s first draft is terrible  Get feedback and act on it  Expect many revisions per paper

87. If you need extra help Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk … get an editor.  Editing company  Sfep directory  Friends and family

88. Keep in touch Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk anna@sharmanedit.co.uk @sharmanedit Look out for Cofactor launch

90. Megajournals 1 Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Physical and biological sciences: PLOS One Scientific Reports Springer Plus QScience Connect The Scientific World Journal Physical sciences: AIP Advances IEEE Access Elementa Social sciences:SAGE Open

91. Megajournals 2 Anna Sharman CC:BY-NC 2014 sharmanedit.co.uk Biological sciences and medicine: Frontiers journals The BMC series ISRN series PeerJ F1000Research Gigascience Medicine: BMJ Open SAGE Open Medicine CMAJ Open Cureus Biological sciences: Biology Open FEBS Open Bio G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics Ecosphere