This document provides guidance on conducting impactful research and publishing in ISI journals for graduation. It defines impactful research as making a substantial and novel contribution to advancing a field. Tips are provided for developing impactful research ideas by critically evaluating literature, addressing real-world issues, and collaborating. The document also reviews ISI journal selection, manuscript preparation, and overcoming challenges like meeting publication requirements and avoiding misconduct. Overall, it emphasizes conducting high-quality original research and learning publishing skills to produce work that advances knowledge.

1. Conducting impactful research and
surmounting publication requirement for
graduation in University of Malaya
NISCUM Orientation Programme, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
27th March, 2019
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya,
Malaysia.
oke.ma@um.edu.my
Dr. Mushafau Adebayo Oke

2. Outline
1. Understanding impactful research
2. Understanding ISI journals
3. Acquiring skills for publishing in ISI journals
4. Preparing manuscripts for publication in ISI journals
5. Tips for meeting up with the required number of papers before
graduation
6. Pitfalls to avoid
2

3. Understanding impactful research
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4. What is research?
• ‘the systematic study of materials and sources in order to establish
facts and reach new conclusions’ (Oxford English Dictionary)
• systematic investigation of a particular problem, involving the use of
standard methods to generate data, and the analysis, interpretation
and derivation of facts from such data to draw suitable conclusions
problem data factsstandard methods analysis, interpretation
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5. Research process
Source: Kothari (2004)
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6. What is an impactful research?
• An impactful research is one that makes substantial contribution to
the field, and sometimes beyond.
• ‘Good’ research vs. impactful research?
6
Good research Impactful researchGood research
• follows the research process perfectly
• but may...
• lack novelty
• be obsolete
• have no meaningful contribution
• replicate previous work
• not up-to-date with the field
Impactful research
• follows the research process perfectly
• addresses an original problem
• novelty
• significant scientific value
• addresses a research/knowledge gap

7. What is an impactful research…?
• A ‘good’ research may not necessarily be impactful but an impactful
research naturally originates from a good research
• To graduate in UM, your research must be good and impactful
• Most high ranking (ISI) journals publish only impactful research
papers
• few exceptions e.g. Plos One
• Low quality journals mostly publish non-impactful research
• People often focus on publishing but fail to conduct meaningful
research
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8. What makes a research meaningful?
Addresses real world problem Impacts literature/knowledge
Transcends academics Fills significant gap/advances
theory
Has potential to significantly
impact practice and thought
Produces salient, novel/new or
unexpected results
Addresses hard-to-solve research
issues
Introduces new procedures
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Chow and Harrison (2002)

9. How to identify/develop ideas for impactful
research
1. Following and critically evaluating the literature
2. Being up-to-date with real word issues
3. Collaboration
4. Unwavering persistence on a cogent topic of interest
5. Following up with events/progress in industry
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(Chow and Harrison, 2002)

10. How to find gaps in literature/knowledge
• One must have an in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of the field to
be able to identify significant gaps
• The gaps may be in any of the following forms:
• untested assumptions
• unusual results
• confusion or uncertainty about effects and relationships
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11. Measures of research impact
• Research impact is the contribution of your research beyond
academics
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theoretical • new ideas, theory, framework, etc
practical • industry, new applications
social,
economic,
etc
• policy, societal impacts
citations • most important to your career

12. Understanding ISI journals
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13. ISI journals
They are journals that are indexed in the Web of Knowledge/Web of Science
database popularly known as ISI.
Web of Science/ ISI database
• originally owned by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) of Thomsen
Reuters
• sold to Clarivate Analytics in 2016
• most prestigious and reputable
• strict inclusion criteria for journals
• fewer journals compared to Scopus (Elsevier)
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14. Publication requirement for graduation in UM
• Refer to your admission offer letter or check with IPS or your faculty.
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15. How to identify ISI journals
• Check indexing info on journal website (not reliable!)
• WoS website (www.webofknowledge.com/)
• Journal Citation Reports (https://jcr.incites.thomsonreuters.com/)
• provides journal metrics (ranking (Q1 – Q4), etc.)
• Master Journal List (mjl.clarivate.com/)
• includes all journal titles covered in Web of Science
• includes un-ranked ISI journals
• no ranking or journal/article metrics
• free (no subscription required)
• Beware of fake ISI journals!
• use fake impact factors, not indexed in WoS
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16. Selecting journals for publication
FREE
1. Elsevier Journal Finder
(https://journalfinder.elsevier.com/)
2. Springer Journal Suggester
(https://journalsuggester.springer.co
m/)
3. Wiley Journal Finder
(https://journalfinder.wiley.com/sear
ch?type=match)
4. Journal Guide
(https://www.journalguide.com/)
5. Endnote Manuscript Matcher
(https://endnote.com/product-
details/manuscript-matcher)
COMMERCIAL
1. Enago (https://www.enago.com/)
2. Editage
(https://www.editage.com/)
3. Wiley Editing Services
(www.wileyeditingservices.com/)
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consult with the library before submitting to journal

17. Acquiring skills for publishing in ISI
journals
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18. Learn…
• be ready to un-learn and re-learn
• attend workshops and seminars on writing and publishing
• read books and articles on writing and publishing
• learn critical thinking, critical reading and critical writing
• learn from seniors in your lab/group/department
• learn necessary tools: referencing software, statistical software, research-
specific tools, plagiarism checker, etc.
• study how ISI papers in your field are written
• be up-to-date with your field of research (Google Scholar Alerts, publisher
alerts, database alerts)
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19. Practise…
• practise reviewing journal articles (Publons Academy)
• practise writing – attempt publishing any previous unpublished work
• assist your supervisor in grant writing and editing manuscripts
• be bold to submit manuscripts to highly ranked journals (the feedback
could help)
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20. Preparing manuscripts for
publication in ISI journals
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21. General advice
• remember: quality of the research determines acceptability of the
paper!
• the work must be novel (new) and original (your effort, not copied)
• confirm that your work aligns with the journal’s scope
• adhere strictly to ‘instruction to authors’
• language editing
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22. Title
• grab attention
• identifies the main issue of the paper
• accurately describes the paper’s
content with the fewest possible
words
• convey main topics of the study
• accurate, specific, unambiguous
Abstract
• describes the work concisely
• gives general introduction to the topic
• states what has been done
• outlines major results
• summarizes the major
conclusions/contributions
• not present too detailed quantitative
results
• no citations
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23. Keywords
• follow journal guidelines
• single words or phrases
• should accurately reflect the content of the
main text
• avoid abbreviations that are unusual, have
multiple meanings
• include the full forms of acronyms and
abbreviations
• avoid very general keywords
• use variant words others are likely to use
Introduction
• establish the general context for the work
• outline the state of the art/knowledge
• introduce a gap in knowledge
• include a general statement of the problem
• include optional supporting/specifying
statements
• justify the novelty of the article’s
contribution
• outline the specific contribution of the
article and present the overall organization
• cite relevant and up-to-date references
• not too lengthy
• follow pyramidal structure (broad to
specific)
• don't overuse flashy expressions – novel,
first time, first ever, paradigm shift, etc.
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24. Methods
• describe the methods used in an
objectively
• no introduction of interpretation or
opinion
• state clearly how the results were
obtained
• should be specific
• make adequate reference to accepted
methods
• identify differences
• statement of ethical approval should
be provided
Results
• present data/findings/results from
experiments described in the
Methods section
• pure, unbiased and presented without
interpretation
• present clear and appropriate
illustrations (figures, tables, etc.)
• describe the figures in the text
• no duplication of results already
described
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25. Discussion
• interprets the results to reach the
major conclusions
• present an argument for your
opinion based on your results
• separate fact from opinion
• compare results with previous
work
• identify what is new and significant
• highlight implications from the
work
• avoid baseless assertions
Conclusion
• summarize the article and
identify important conclusions
• don’t present any new
information
• longer than the abstract and has
more specific conclusions
• citations not necessary
• identify future research
directions
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26. Acknowledgements
• name the source(s) of funding
• recognize people who
contributed in some way to the
work but not enough to be a co-
author
• may acknowledge reviewers if
their review improved the paper
substantially
References
• list all reference works cited in-
text
• do not list un-cited references
• follow journal requirements
strictly
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27. Tips for meeting up with the
required number of papers before
graduation
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28. How to achieve required number of papers
• have an early plan
• write a review paper
• write as you work
• submit articles early
• collaborate with others: colleagues, lab mates, friends
• assist your supervisor in undergrad and MSc supervision
• write up any unpublished previous research
• avoid extremely slow journals
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29. Pitfalls to avoid
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30. Beware!
• plagiarism
• predatory journals
• misconduct (cheating, fabrication, falsification of data)
• imposter syndrome (be confident)
• distractions
• excessive perfectionism
• procrastination
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31. References
• Kothari, C.K. (2004). Research Methodology Methods & Techniques. New
Age International (P) Limited Publishers, New delhi.
• Chow, C. W. & Harrison, P. D. (2002). Identifying meaningful and significant
topics for research and publication: a sharing of experiences and insights
by ‘influential’ accounting authors. Journal of Accounting Education, 20(3):
183-203.
• Podsakoff, P. M., Podsakoff, N. P., Mishra, P. & Escue, C. (2018). Can Early-
Career Scholars Conduct Impactful Research? Playing “Small Ball” Versus
“Swinging for the Fences”. Academy of Management Learning & Education,
17(4): 496-531.
• Socolofsky, S. A. (2004). How to write a research journal article in
engineering and science. Refereed Journal Article, 1-17.
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32. Thank you
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