Art of writing research papers

1. Art of writing scientific papers in National and
International journal : A complete guide
In science, no matter how spectacular the results are, the work is not
completed until the results are published.
Let’s explore the main steps from raw data to published paper.
Dr. Vivek Prakash Malviya

2. The objective of research is to extend human
knowledge beyond what is already known.
But an individual’s knowledge enters the domain of Science only after it is
presented to others in such a fashion that they can independently judge its
validity
(NAP,” On being a Scientist” 1995)
“A research paper is an organized description of hypotheses, data, and conclusion,
intended to instruct the reader” “If your research does not generates papers, it
might just well not have been done”
(G. Whitesides Adv. Mater.,2004,16,1375)

3.  Essential ingredient of good article: a good idea.
 To be published in a good journal, an article needs: good research
design, be technically sound and its contribution must be clearly
positioned in the literature.
 Only include what is relevant to your research question.
Everything else is irrelevant at best.
 Appearance matters: Poor formatting, poor written English, etc.
is highly correlated with poor quality paper and may lead to
rejection.
Publishing good research at right place
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited,
Imagination encircles the world
Albert Einstein

4. •Conduct literature review
• Start the paper
• Conduct study/analyze data
• Organize/summarize results succinctly
• Get early, frequent feedback (in "chunks")
• Formulate your key message
• Apply the "new/useful" test
• Choose your target audience
• Choose your target journal
• Read journal instructions for authors
•Write the first draft
STEPS
Thanks for your detailed and lengthy criticism of
my manuscript. I’ll be sure to incorporate your
suggestions into my next draft.
If a man can group his ideas, then he is a good writer.
Robert Louis Stevenson

5. Getting impressive/ Good idea
Writing the First Draft
Revising, Revising, Revising
Finishing
Steps of scientific writing
STEPS

6. 1. Types of scientific writings.
2. What are Bililometric Indicator ?
3. Why it is important to publish in high impact factor journals?
4. Which manuscripts are published in which journals?
5. Attributes of a balanced manuscripts
6. From good research to good reporting-Technical details of manuscript writing
7. Ethics in scientific writings
“Creativity is fundamental attribute of science,
which is driven by curiosity.“
Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary,
Dawn, Sunday December 6, 2009.

7. Types of Scientific Writings
• Research Articles or Research Papers
• Review Articles
• Research Reports
• Research Projects for Funding
• Patents
• Dissertation of Thesis

8. Bililometric Indicator
Peer reviewing
SCI index
SJR index
Scopus index
Impact factor
Eigen factor
H index

9. The Science Citation Index (SCI) is a citation index originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)
and created by Eugene Garfield. It was officially launched in 1964. It is now owned by Clarivate Analytics
The larger version (Science Citation Index Expanded) covers more than 8,500 notable and significant journals,
across 150 disciplines, from 1900 to the present.
Science Citation Index (SCI)
https://mjl.clarivate.com/home

10. https://www.scimagojr.com/index.php
There are four quartiles:
Q1 is occupied by the top 25% of journals in the list
Q2 is occupied by journals in the 25 to 50% group;
Q3 is occupied by journals in the 50 to 75% group
Q4 is occupied by journals in the 75 to 100% group.
.

11. Scimago Journal & Country Rank
Rank Country Documents Citable documents Citations Self-citations Citations per document H index
1 United States 119892 115097 3245375 1711876 27.07 401
2 China 69354 68376 614876 434640 8.87 195
3 United Kingdom 34477 32936 897236 262429 26.02 260
4 Germany 32546 31293 713790 206998 21.93 229
5 France 27006 26277 691320 194556 25.6 234
6 Russian Federation 22073 21865 153741 57726 6.97 126
7 Canada 21829 20945 473547 122565 21.69 203
8 Japan 20672 20296 379076 110882 18.34 181
9 Italy 18775 18205 366759 128857 19.53 182
10 India 16090 15719 150859 75491 9.38 116
11 Australia 15337 14694 353124 99372 23.02 191
12 Spain 9908 9627 187921 53859 18.97 147
13 Netherlands 9542 9116 257194 43923 26.95 178
14 Switzerland 8458 8139 248127 47492 29.34 173
15 Poland 7757 7448 41277 15627 5.32 75
16 Brazil 6974 6848 80210 28191 11.5 108
17 Indonesia 6869 6826 16530 4379 2.41 59
18 Norway 6556 6375 147527 33698 22.5 135
19 Sweden 5854 5659 130598 26172 22.31 127
20 South Africa 5410 5106 70916 23623 13.11 97

14. https://www.scimagojr.com/index.php

15. Scimago rank of National journals in Earth Sciences

16. https://www.scopus.com/sources

17. What is an Impact Factor of a Journal
• Reflecting the average number of citations of an article in a journal
• Appears in Journal Citation Reports - Science Citation Index
• Journals with high impact factors considered to be more scientifically
important and more prestigious.
Impact Factor (2012) = Citations in 2012 to articles published in 2011 and 2010
Articles published in 2011 and 2010

18. • Impact factor of journal is the frequency of its citations.
• High impact factor journals are the ones which have high
frequency of citations by others
• It is a superficial, but internationally accepted, measure of
quality of journals
• A good high impact journal may publish a paper which have low
to zero citations.
What are High Impact Factor Journals?

19. Journal Impact Factor 2022
Journal Impact Factor
Nature 49.962
Science 63.714
Gondwana Research 6.051
Earth and Planetary 5.255
Science Letters
Precambrian Research 4.725
Lithos 4.004
5907 journals

20. How Important Citations are???

21. http://www.eigenfactor.org/index.php

22. • It measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a
researcher.
• The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the
number of citations.
• The index can also be applied to the productivity and impact of a group
of scientists, such as a department or university or country.
H-Index or Hirsch Index or Hirsch Number

23. • The h-index is based on a list of publications ranked in
descending order by the Times Cited. The value of h is equal to
the number of papers (N) in the list that have N or more
citations.
H-index or Hirsch index or Hirsch number
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index

25. Publishing in High Impact Journals-It’s the idea which
matters

26. Attributes of a good manuscripts
Components of a Paper
Section Purpose
Title Clearly describes contents
Authors Ensures recognition for the writer(s)
Abstract Describes what was done
Key Words (some journals)
Ensures the article is correctly identified
in abstracting and indexing services
Introduction Explains the problem
Methods Explains how the data were collected
Results Describes what was discovered
Discussion Discusses the implications of the findings
Acknowledgements
Ensures those who helped in the research
are recognised
References
Ensures previously published work is
recognised
Appendices (some journals)
Provides supplemental data for the expert
reader

27. Title
• Describes the paper’s content clearly and precisely including keywords
• Is the advertisement for the article
• Do not use abbreviations and jargon
• Search engines/indexing databases depend on the accuracy of the title -
since they use the keywords to identify relevant articles

28. Authors Listing
• Include all those who have made an intellectual contribution to the
research
• OR those who will publicly defend the data and conclusions
• Order of the names of the authors can vary from discipline to discipline
– In some fields, the corresponding author’s name appears first

29. Abstract
• Briefly summarize (often 150 words) - the problem, the method, the
results, and the conclusions so that
– The reader can decide whether or not to read the whole article
• Together, the title and the abstract should stand on their own
• Many authors write the abstract last so that it accurately reflects the
content of the paper

30. How to write a good abstract
Abstracts of scientific papers are sometimes poorly written, often lack
important information, and occasionally convey a biased picture.
Based on sampling 300 years of research literature, we provide guidance, with
examples, for writing the background, methods, results, and conclusions
sections of a good abstract.
The primary target of this paper is the young researcher; however, researchers
at every career stage may find it useful for presenting their ideas to peers,
funders, or the public.
Your abstract
Writing small, communicating BIG
What (big) problem
are you trying to
solve?
What have you
done?
Why should we
care?
“Write each abstract as though it were for Nature”

31. Graphical abstract

32. Clearly state the:
Problem being investigated
Background that explains the problem
Reasons for conducting the research
Summarize relevant research to provide context
State how your work differs from published work
Identify the questions you are answering
Explain what other findings, if any, you are challenging or extending
Briefly describe the experiment, hypothesis(es), research question(s); general experimental
design or method
Introduction

33. Gerald had begun to think that his methodology was too detailed.

34. Methodology
Provide the reader enough details so they can
understand and replicate your research
Explain how you studied the problem, identify the
procedures you followed, and order these chronologically
where possible
Explain new methodology in detail; otherwise name
the method and cite the previously published work
Include the frequency of observations, what types of
data were recorded, etc.
Be precise in describing measurements and include
errors of measurement or research design limits

35. Result and their
presentation
Objectively present your findings, and explain
what was found
Show that your new results are contributing to
the body of scientific knowledge
Follow a logical sequence based on the tables
and figures presenting the findings to answer the
question or hypothesis
Figures should have a brief description (a
legend), providing the reader sufficient
information to know how the data were
produced

36. Choose a type size that is easy to read
48 point
36 point
24 point
18 point
14 point
12 point
10 point
8 point
Posters
Presentation slides
Titles
Text
Footnotes

37. Discussion and
Conclusion
Describe what your results mean in context of what was already
known about the subject
Indicate how the results relate to expectations and to the literature
previously cited
Explain how the research has moved the body of scientific
knowledge forward
Do not extend your conclusions beyond what is directly supported by
your results - avoid undue speculation
Outline the next steps for further study

38. References
• Whenever you draw upon previously published work, you must
acknowledge the source.
• Any information not from your experiment and not ‘common
knowledge’ should be recognized by a citation.
• How references are presented varies considerably - refer to
notes for authors for the specific journal .
• Avoid references that are difficult to find.
• Avoid listing related references that were not important to the
study.

39. Jane suddenly realised that her reference list had
too many self citations…

40. Factors to Consider When Citing a Related Work.
•Know the scope of the previous publications.
•Get the citation right.
•Manage self-citations
•A balanced approach to citations
•Keep in mind the accessibility of references

41. From good research to good reporting-Technical details of
manuscript writing
Motivation to publish:
– Dissemination (54% 1st choice)
– Career prospects (20% 1st choice)
– Improved funding (13% 1st choice)
– Ego (9% 1st choice)
– Patent protection (4% 1st choice)
– Other (5% 1st choice)
Bryan Coles (ed.) The STM Information System in the UK, BL Report 6123, Royal Society, BL, ALPSP,
1993

42. Author versus Reader Behaviour
• Author behaviour
– Want to publish more
– Peer review essential
– Other journal functions crucial
– Wider dissemination
• Reader behaviour
– Want integrated system
– Browsing is crucial
– Quality information important
– Want to read less
Elsevier study of 36,000 authors (1999-2002) presented by Michael Mabe at ALPSP Seminar on “Learning from
users” 2003; www.alpsp.org

43. Reader’s priorities
• Authoritative quality articles
• Ease of access
• Rapid delivery
• Convenient format
• Linking of information - clustering
• Low or no cost
• Up-to-date information

44. Differences: Authors and Readers
• Authors are journal focused
• Readers are article focused
• Publish more/read less dichotomy

45. Key Elements of Publishing
• Ethical Issues
• Style and language
• Structure of paper
• Article submission/journal selection
• Publisher’s process/peer review

47. THANK YOU