The next couple of topics will
relate to publishing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) articles
(though it will also apply to most other forms of research publishing). So, I
thought I would give some brief info about publishing research articles in
general. Here are some things to consider for disseminating research.
The publishing process actually
begins well before the project itself, especially if you have any co-authors
(if you’re doing everything yourself and have nobody else in your research
team, then you can skip this paragraph). Determining authorship order and who
will contribute in which way (and how much each will contribute) to the writing
is an important step. Why does the order of the authors matter? In most fields,
the author in the first position is the one who made the most substantial
contribution to the project (though not necessarily to the writing, but often
that is also the case). Additionally, the first author won’t get truncated when
being cited. In APA, for example, a paper published by Author1, Author2, and
Author 3 in 2021 would be cited as (Author 1 et al, 2021), so if you aren’t the
first author, you don’t exist 😉
After well over a decade of publishing my research, I can tell you that it’s a
good idea to determine this order up front because it sets out expectations for
the whole project (in addition to the writing). Of course, it can change over
the course of the project for various reasons, but when everyone is on the same
page from the start, the research team seems to work better and people seem to
have a better sense of how much they are expected to contribute and who is
taking the lead. That makes the writing process much more straightforward (as
well as the actual research project/data collection).
Once you’ve determined the
authorship order, you should consider the type of dissemination for your
research project before you begin preparing your dissemination output. For
example, are you planning to share your findings by publishing an article in a
journal, or presenting a talk or poster at a conference? Or perhaps you’d
prefer to present what you’ve found at a Divisional or program meeting or in a
community presentation (public library, elementary school PTA meeting, etc).
Some journals are now offering video abstracts to accompany their traditional
print articles, but you can also disseminate your findings entirely via video
like these dance
your PhD or 2-minute
thesis.
When choosing a journal or
conference (or considering other avenues for dissemination) you should give
careful consideration to whether your topic/focus/results fit with the journal
(or conference) and its audience because you will have a much better chance of
acceptance if there is a good fit. And regardless of which type of
dissemination you’re preparing, the process will take some time, so you can ask
for time on your SWF for this research activity (form
on ICE).
Did you know that you can present
your findings at a conference and then also publish it in the form of an
article but that you can’t submit your article to more than one journal at a
time? Well, now you do! 😊
In all your dissemination
activities, make sure that you acknowledge any funders for your research; you
may also wish to thank or acknowledge members of your research team who
participated but not enough to warrant authorship (e.g., student research
assistant) or other entities which supported your research in non-financial
ways (e.g., CTL). You may also be required to share your findings with your research
participants if that was part of your Research Ethics Board (REB) application.
A final word on how to identify
predatory journals. Predatory journals are exploitative journals which take
advantage of authors who need to “publish or perish”. The journals do not
follow academic standards for publishing such as a robust peer-review process
with experts in the field. These journals publish everything that comes across
their desks and do not concern themselves with quality or scientific rigor. How
can you identify these journals from legitimate academic journals? First, any
journal that emails you to solicit your manuscript is likely to be predatory.
Of course, your previous publication is amazing, but legitimate journals
receive so many submissions that they don’t need to solicit articles. Also, all
predatory journals require a fee for publishing your article (that’s their
business model). Sometimes a fee is required even just for submitting an
article and then a larger fee is due once accepted. Legitimate journals will
usually explicitly state that there is no fee to submit or publish in the
journal. (Note: some legitimate
journals do require authors pay if they want their article to be open access or
for their tables or figures to appear in colour.) Predatory journals also have
a very quick turn-around time because they aren’t sending your paper out to be
reviewed (even if they advertise that they do) and/or the review is not done by
experts in the field. These journals also have a very high acceptance rate
(sometimes even a guaranteed acceptance policy). For more information on
predatory journals, check out the DC Library
Guide or Think Check Submit.
During the next two newsletters,
I will provide some detailed information and tips for disseminating research
and explain why doing so is so important. If there is anything I can do to
support your research or if you have suggestions for me in my role as Research
Coordinator, please reach out via email.
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