One thing about Writing for Publication

“ One thing” about writing for publication A workshop for library staff supporting researchers Pat Gannon-Leary Moira Bent NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

Plan for the day
Researchers
who they are
what they do
Publication
Processes
Motivations
Barriers
“ One thing” research
The LIS role
NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

Introductions
Who we all are
One thing we want from the day

What is research NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

What is research? Researchers said ..
Research is
Theory-led; Data-led; Scholarship
Grounded in disciplines; multi / inter disciplinary
Investigation; interpretation; gathering evidence
A holistic activity; a set of transferable skills
Collaborative / solo activity
Related to self
Validated by peer group
Made meaningful by an external audience

Who are our researchers? NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

Who are “researchers?”
“ a researcher is someone with
“ enthusiasm, an almost insane desire to know more about what you are interested in”

The 7 Ages of research
Masters students
Doctoral students
Contract researchers
Early career researchers
Established academic staff
Senior researchers
Experts
New Review of Information Networking (2007) 13 (2) : 81-99

Early
Apprenticeship - influenced by supervisors / tutors / mentors
Skills and competences are defined (also funded and monitored)
Different levels of control
Transition from structured learning to self-organization
Managing different roles e.g. other jobs, developing teaching skills
Information consumer, objective is production

Mid
Moving field / moving role / learning a different landscape
Balancing teaching and research
support / info guiding work management in different circumstances
situating yourself / making your name / establishing credentials
locally (e.g. in department)
wider research community
Need to be adaptable / avoiding isolation
Starting to supervise other researchers
Starting role in management / administration
Information production and consumption
Shift from systematic to pragmatic information retrieval

Late / Senior
Developing into/ having a significant role in research leadership and administration
Leading research teams / research centres / research projects / mainstream management
Supervising and examining theses
Teaching research methods
Plenary conference speaker
Editorial board of journals etc.
Refereeing / peer reviewer / specialist assessor
Disseminating research practice or defining their field
Different IL skillsets for range of activities

Researcher needs- where do we fit in? NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

coffee NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

What is publication? NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

What is “publication”
a copy of a printed work offered for distribution
the communication of something to the public
making information generally known wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
To publish is to make content publicly known. The term is most frequently applied to the distribution of text or images on paper, or to the placing of content on a website. en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Publication
Publication is the action or process of publishing something.
Publish : prepare and issue (a book, journal, or piece of music) for public sale.
print in a book or journal so as to make generally known.
(From The Concise Oxford English Dictionary in English Dictionaries & Thesauruses )

Types of publication
Book
Book chapter/section
Conference paper/proceedings
E-article
E- book
Book review
Journal article
Magazine article
Newspaper article
Wiki
Report
Thesis
Webpage
Presentation
Handout
Personal communication (letter, blog, email, discussion list, chat room…)

Publication examples
Music thesis:
http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?osu991314575
Thesis as web site with updates, feedback form etc:
http:// www.rgu.ac.uk/nursing/research/page.cfm?pge =43921

Links to award-winning e-theses (includes film clips, animations, software etc)
http:// www.rgu.ac.uk/etd/awards /
How about this one - turn your thesis into a dance?
http:// gonzolabs.org /dance/contestants/


Drivers and barriers to publication
Drivers
What motivates people to publish?
Is it the same for all?
What issues make it complex?
Barriers
What hinders people?
Is it the same for all?
What issues make it complex?

Drivers
Expectation of the job
Condition of the funding
Pressure to publish
Contributing to debate/ body of knowledge/ networking
Passion
Research informed teaching
Intellectual challenge
Personal profile
Sense of achievement/ enjoyable
Advance career
Income generation
Develop skills
Clarify thinking

Barriers
RAE/REF can skew priorities
Lack of motivation
Don’t have to do it
Other (work) commitments
Too busy to get started
Lack of support
Confidence in own ability
No ideas to write about
Fear of rejection
Fear of open criticism
Lack of knowledge of how to start
Language skills
Information Literacy ability

So publication can be:
Subject based
Peer reviewed paper
Philosophical
Opinion piece
Letter to editor
Pedagogical
Audit of practice
Reflective piece
Whimsical
Laurie Taylor in THE

Lunch NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

“ One thing” The Editor’s Perspective
Be relevant to the readership
“ The paper has to be interesting to the readership of the journal. I receive far too many papers from potential contributors who have not read the aims or scope of the journal and I return the papers without sending them out for review.”
Answer the ‘so what?’ question
“ Make sure that you stress what is original or what the work contributes to what we already know. Emphasise why it matters!”

Quality/style of writing
“ Most Editors will cheerfully (!) correct a reasonable level of poor spelling and grammar… - but shoddy writing and semi-illiteracy, coupled with switching the spell-checker off, is a guarantee of rapid rejection.”
Structure
“ For us it's important that the article is easy to read (not too complex or technical in its nature) and has a clear, logical structure. “

Instructions to authors/revisions
“ If an Editor asks for some revisions, he is not (usually) doing this out of some perverse ego-trip. It means that there is probably something wrong.”
Citations
“ Read it through before submitting it, & make sure all sources are acknowledged appropriately.”
Support
Get support

“ One thing” The Researcher’s Perspective
Be concise, clear and convincing
Quote from Pulitzer
“ Put it before then briefly so they will read it,
Clearly so they will appreciate it,
Picturesquely, so they will remember it
And, above all, accurately
So they will be guided by its light.”

Being pressurised to publish
“ It can often appear to be a sort of 'game' and involves a degree of pressure: it's not necessarily about quality rather the pressure is often on quantity and aiming for journals which perhaps are not top rated but will publish an article - this is simply to ensure you have a publications list”

Co-authoring papers
“ Lots of 'politics' involved in publishing - as a researcher you often do a lot of the work but you may not be named as first author…”
Learning to say ‘no’
“ I published in things that were not great …because I was asked to. But probably could have got publications that would have done better for my CV if I'd taken more initiative.”

Turnaround times of journal
“ I would find it useful to have access to information about the expected time between submission and publication, as this seems to vary widely between different journals…”
Finding ‘reputable’ journals
“ I would like to know more about how to identify journals which would enable my work to reach as wide a readership as possible, or which are particularly 'reputable' in the field”

“ One thing” The Research Student’s Perspective
Where to start – and why would I do it?
Publication procedures
Practicalities
The ‘best’ journals
Matching your work to a journal
Content/quality of info
Referencing
Ethical concerns

Publication stages
Decide you have something worth saying
Choose your target journal
Check out instructions to authors/style guides & adhere to them
Use colleagues
Be prepared for rejection
Be prepared to make changes

How can LIS get involved in the publication process?
What do we do now?
Personal examples?
Do we do it well?
What else might we do?
Ideas/ inspirations
What is stopping us
Barriers to effective support
What do we need to help us?
Apart from more money….

“ One thing” The Librarian’s perspective
Advice & support, mentoring
Resources/collection development
Services
Training opportunities
Promote yourself
Use of other services
Use of other academic staff
Networking
Lead by example

Case studies
NUI Maynooth www.anltc.ie
MMU
Northampton Open Access Journals
Newcastle Research Training programmes
JISCiPAS IL researcher leaflet

Some more ideas
Community of Writers (COW)
WfP booklet

“ One thing” to take away NOWAL: March 2009 Writing for publication

Some further thoughts
Who else is writing?
Who else is supporting?
Who else do we need to talk to?

Thank you!
Pat Gannon-Leary
[email_address]
Moira Bent
[email_address]

One thing about Writing for Publication

by nmjb on Mar 17, 2009

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One thing about Writing for Publication — Presentation Transcript