Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Workshop on
Journal Paper
Writing
10 Feb 09, FTSI, KUIS
Syahrul Nizam Junaini
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Issues
• Writing motivation/habit/time.
• What to write/research group.
• Writing resources.
• Journal/proceedings types.
• How to start?
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Why writing?
• To share your expertise.
• To know more and more.
• To influence others/to change.
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Academic Career in the US
Teaching /
Mentoring
Grants
Community
Service
Good
Good Talks/Networking
Papers
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Why have I not published?
• Don’t know why.
• Don’t know how.
• Don’t know enough.
• Consider it too difficult
• Have not thought about it.
• Lacking confidence.
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Publish or perish
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Inspector Gadget…
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Where to find the idea?
• Discuss with your friends
• Do literature survey
• Read articles published earlier
• Listen to presentation/seminar
• Find an idea that excites others
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TIC
• Thinking: Try to understand what others say.
• Imaginative: Think differently.
• Creative: make your own logic.
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Be the another winner!
• In a different environment?
• Extending other’s idea?
• Supporting the published paper?
• Is there an audience for your idea?
• Is your idea high-quality?
• Has your idea already been published
by someone else?
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Other ‘sources’ for papers
• Initial/pilot studies and findings
– E.g. a (short) conference paper
• Implications for practice
– E.g. a paper in a practician’s journal
• Accidental interesting findings
– to suit the journal theme/focus
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See it differently
1. Analysis of the same dataset using other techniques
2. Analysis the same dataset from another perspective
3. Other spin-offs from the dissertation
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Eager to write/publish
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Publication cycle
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Fuel for research
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Old vs New idea
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Once you have an idea
• Draw a big picture.
• Think of existing literature.
• Discuss with the others.
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Good Research
• Be concerned logical methodology.
• Simplify analysis.
• Do not devalue other papers to sell you paper.
• Show difference, Not devalue others.
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Research Ranking
1. Making a significant Question
Best 2. Find significant answers to the Question
3. Find other significant answers
4. Modify the answers
5. Find other ways to the answers
worst 6. Find if the answers are right or not
7. Apply the answers to other cases
8. Apply the answers to other cases without
Not
consideration
acceptable
9. Copy others
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What to research?
 Problem description and documentation.
 Recommendations for future researchers.
 Solution strategy.
 Analysis of results.
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Types of Research Results
• New better Algorithm.
• Software, and protocol.
• Simulated and measured performance evaluation.
• Theoretical framework.
• New system/model/object.
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Finding concrete answer
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Avoid writing distractions
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Avoid writing distractions
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Have a discussion…
• Desirable and very important
• Prepare material and data for communication
• Discuss the draft of the paper
• Focus on the improvement of ideas
• Explain what you have done and will do
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Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Prewriting
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Ingredients of a Good Paper
• Novelty – figure it out for yourself
• Good coverage of the literature
• Good data
• Strong statistical support
• Clarity of presentation
• Thought provoking discussion
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How to Write a Good Paper
• Start writing the day you start the research
• Maintain a good bibliographic database
• Think about which journals early
• Be aware of the obvious flaws of writing
• If you do not write well take classes – the earlier the
better
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Consider before writing
• Time to write the paper?
– has a significant advancement been made?
– 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?
• Read references
– will help in choosing journal
– better insight into possible reviewers
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Compose paper outline
• Cover Page
• Introduction
• Literature Review
• Main Body
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendix
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Effective literature review
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SAP
• SCHOLARLY - Learned and academic, evidence of
educated research, instructive and clearly
explained, formal in language
• AUTHORITATIVE - Honest, accurate and true,
respected, convincing
• PROFESSIONAL – proficient, practiced, consistent,
oozing quality.
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Avoid typo errurs…
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Avoid jargon
• Use technical terms only when necessary.
• Say it simply and in plain language.
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Avoid…
Jargon Preferred use
a considerable amount of much
on account of because
a number of several
Referred to as called
In a number of cases some
Has the capacity to can
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Revise, revise and revise
 All authors should participate.
 Review order of data presentation.
 Polish the writing style.
 Double check spelling and references.
 Look for typos.
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Consistent writing habit
• Learning from other people’s writing.
• Standard and consistent formatting.
• Reader-oriented writing.
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Some more do’s
• Do lots of referencing.
• Be concise and to the point.
• Only include relevant information.
• Use appendices for extra information.
• Ask people to proof read you manual.
• Do some self critique.
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Tables and figures
• Each journal/conference has different ways.
• Check instructions and recent issues.
• should have enough detail to stand alone
• Present only important data.
• Use as many tables/figures as necessary
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Improve your writing…
• Read well written articles
• Try to get good writers to review
• Learn from editing changes
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Tense?
• Introduction, Materials & Methods, and Results:
paste tense
• Literature Review: mixed tense
• Discussion: present tense
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Paragraph structure
• Discuss only one subject in a paragraph.
• Start with a good topic sentence
• Use appropriate sentence structure
• Use consistent style
• Use the same pattern for successive sentences
• Use parallel structure
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AAF
ACCURATE (say what you mean)
APPROPRIATE (fit well with the other words)
FAMILIAR (easy to read and understand)
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Your paper – KISS it!
• It costs money to publish.
• are absorbed as page charges by the writer
• KISS
– K?
– I?
– S?
– S?
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Which section firsts?
1. Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Literature Review
5. Methodology
6. Result and Discussion
7. Conclusion
8. References
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How much to write?
Literature Review Result and Discussion
Conclusion
Introduction Methodology
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Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Writing Process
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Writing process
• Getting ideas on paper
• Build points
• Develop ideas
• Support main claim
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Just follow what they want
• Know the target, its editors, and why you
submitted the paper there.
• Pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and
punctuation.
• Make sure references are comprehensive and
accurate.
• Avoid careless mistakes.
• Read and conform to “Instructions for Authors.”
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“The seven deadly sins”
1. Data manipulation, falsification
2. Duplicate manuscripts
3. Redundant publication
4. Plagiarism
5. Author conflicts of interest
6. Animal use concerns
7. Humans use concerns
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Organize your paper
• Top-down writing method
• Planning sections and subsections
• Use figures/flow charts
• Sketching each subsections
• Expend a sentence in the sketch into a paragraph
• Adjustment
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Master the basics of writing
• Paragraph = ordered set of topically-related
sentences.
• Sentences in paragraph should have logical narrative
flow, relating to theme/topic.
• Don’t mix tenses in descriptive text.
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Put yourself in place of the reader
• less is more.
• readers shouldn’t have to work.
• what does reader not know/not want?
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Tips
• Spelling and Grammar MATTER – get them right!
• Technical accuracy MATTERS – get it right!
• Be concise, precise - don’t waffle.
• Back up ALL opinions with references.
• Choose references carefully – accessible, current.
• Have FUN writing your paper.
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Your life as an academician
• Don’t be afraid to “kill your darlings”
• Minimize distractions when writing.
• Don’t play music (or games) when writing !!!
• Be organized (with everything else)
• Work with someone else (esp. a successful person!)
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Submission
• Read instructions carefully
• Fill out all necessary forms
• Copyright transfer
• Conflict of interest
• Write cover letter (suggest reviewers)
• Confirm receipt after 6 weeks
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Getting a paper published
 Competition for space in journals is intense
 Cost of publication
 Rejection rates vary (50%, 65%, 90%)
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If at first you don’t succeed…
• Some papers never make it past the drafting stage
– Research just not sufficient/new enough/quality
enough
– Unfocused
– Distractions/lack of time
• Many papers don’t make it at the first attempt
– e.g. about 30% of my own get rejected
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Major reasons for rejection
 Positively not novel
 Poor experimental design
 Inappropriate for journal
 Poorly written
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Know your audience
• Who are the target readers of the paper?
• Where is it going to be
published/presented/used?
• Can you get hold of and understand
refereeing/marking guidelines?
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Plan your writing
• Emphasize on the originality and significance
• Organize your thinking and decide the structure
• Stick on your central points throughout the paper
• Remove all unnecessary discussions
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Reader-oriented writing
• Disseminate your research results
• Write in a way that would lead readers to follow you
• Use simple/plain English
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Ethics in publishing
• Never fabricate data.
• Never falsify data.
• Do not plagiarize.
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Paraphrasing
• Be careful about rewriting someone else’s words.
• If your sentences use many of the same words and
grammatical structure as the
original source, it could be
understood as plagiarism.
• So put the text in your own words.
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Authorship
Guidelines on authorshop, International committee of Medical Journal Editors,
Reprinted by kind permission of the Editor of the British Medical Journal of Sept
14, 1985. J Clin Pathol 39: 110, 1986
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Who gets to be an author?
• May not seem directly related to writing
• Authorship dilemmas at every stage of writing
• Not clearly defined by many journals
• Needs mutual agreement among authors
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Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Journal Paper
submission
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Things to consider
• Choose journal
– study “instructions to authors”
– think about possible reviewers
– quality of journal “impact factor”
• Tentative title and summary
• Choose authors
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Learning from other papers
• What was the research question?
• What are the main contributions or findings?
• How did the authors contextualize their work?
• Are the arguments valid?
• Is the analysis deep enough?
• How credible are the sources?
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Think about which journals
• Read the guides to authors very carefully with
particular emphasis on the scope
• Think about the intended readership
• Consider impact factors carefully
• Be aware of any pre-submission options
• If you don’t read papers in the journal then it is most
likely not the right journal
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High-impact journals
• well-respected
• quality of the articles
• a system that ranks the impact
• Before begin, read the author guidelines
• follow the guidelines and formatting exactly.
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General tips
 Find an appropriate journal
 Select the journal before/during writing a paper
(not after)
 Invest some time into finding an appropriate
journal(s)
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Choosing a Journal
Look for
 appropriate audience
 good referees
 publication delay?
 nice production
 prestige vs. wide readership
 diversity
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Finding an appropriate journal
• Scholarly peer-reviewed journals
• Relevant research focus:
• Your own area (Computer Science/ IT journals)
• Subject-related journals (e.g. IT in education, language
computing)
• IT applications research (general)
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Selecting the journal
• Read
– aims of the journal
– ALL instructions for authors
• Browse previous 2-5 issues
• Read/skim 2-5 papers
• Follow required style of the journal
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Worth checking
• Review process/time (~3 months - OK)
• Publishing process/time (~9 months)
• Number of issues/papers per year
• Acceptance ratio (~20% - Go for Quality)
• Paper Specs/requirements
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Good opportunities
• Special thematic issues
– Look for ‘call for papers’
• National journal of other countries
– Brunei Journal of ____
– Turkish Journal of ____
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Types journal papers
• Notes (at most 3 pages)
• Short papers (at most 8 pages)
• Research papers (up to 12 pages)
• Survey papers (up to 25 pages)
• Annotated bibliographies (up to 30 pages)
• Strategic papers (up to 25 pages)
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CS journals
• Database
IEEE Trans on Knowledge and Data Engineering
ACM Trans on Database Systems
Int’l Conf on VLDB
• Software Engineering
IEEE Trans on Software Engineering
ACM Trans on Software Eng. and Methodology
IEEE Int’l Conf on Software Engineering
• Distributed Systems
IEEE Trans on Parallel and Distributed Systems
ACM Trans on Computer Systems
IEEE Int’l Conf on Distributed Computing Systems
• Computer Networks
IEEE/ACM Trans on Networking
IEEE INFOCOM
ACM Mobicom, etc.
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Journal review form
Section I. Overview
A. Reader Interest
1. Which category describes this manuscript?
___Practice/Application/Case Study/Experience Report
_X_Research/Technology
___Survey/Tutorial/How-To
2. How relevant is this manuscript to the readers of this periodical?
Please explain your rating.
___Very Relevant
_X_Relevant
___Interesting - but not very relevant
___Irrelevant
B. Content
1. Please explain how this manuscript advances this field of research
and/or contributes something new to the literature.
………….
2. Is the manuscript technically sound? Please explain your answer.
___Yes
___Appears to be - but didn't check completely
_X_Partially
___No
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Find information for authors
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Sample papers
Check!
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Not every story ends well…
• Wrong audience
• wrong focus
• key areas of research poorly described
• not enough polishing
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If you get rejected…
• Do not despair
• Read what the reviewers wrote and Fix the problems
• Reformat according to the journal’s instructions
• Resubmit
• Research other “lower impact” journals
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Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
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Rules of the game
• To be counted as a scientific publication, your
contribution has to undergo peer review.
• To get you much formal reputation it has to appear
in a high-impact journal.
• To get you much actual reputation is has to be good,
has to be read, and has to be cited by others.
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Faculty of Computer Science and
Information Technology
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Thank You
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