These
tips will help researchers for whom English is a second language, and
who work at universities and research institutes where the international
publishing culture is still young. The tips cover content, selecting a journal, writing, proofing and editing, and dealing with reviewer comments.
I imagine that you are under pressure to publish in prestigious journals. Perhaps you have sent papers to the journal I edit, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, which
is an SSCI-indexed journal with an impact factor of more than 2.0, and
thus attractive in the eyes of your dean or director. Let’s look under
the bonnet to see what goes on at TF&SC.
Ten
years ago, TF&SC received 200-some manuscript submissions each
year. We enjoyed taking time to help authors improve their work and make
their papers publishable. This year we will receive more than 1000
submissions. We publish the same number of pages per year, so this means
our rejection rate must be much higher than in the past. Instead of
finding ways to help authors, we must find ways to reject papers. A sad
development, but of course it has further increased the prestige and
quality of the journal.
This means indexing and impact factor should not be your only criteria for targeting a journal.
- Ask how many manuscripts arrive per year, and what the acceptance rate is. This is an indication of how much attention and interaction you can expect from the editor.
- Choose a journal that has a policy of mentoring authors (Systemic Practice and Action Research is one such), or
- Submit your work to a special issue of a high-prestige journal when the guest editor promises such mentoring.
- Alternatively, “practice” by submitting your first papers to a newer or un-indexed journal. (But NOT a predatory, author-pays, open-access journal.)
As
TF&SC’s submission rate has skyrocketed, we must favor papers that
are not just correct, but important. I am now based in Asia, and I
meet many scholars here who, under publication pressure, submit work
that is correct but very incremental in its contribution to knowledge.
Few prestigious journals will publish such work.
Your
choice of analytic methodology makes a difference too. Some techniques
are popular in their country of origin (for example, grey forecasting in
China) but of little interest to international audiences. When research
communities were smaller and more local, editors and reviewers knew
everyone active in a field, and would trust authors who use
methodologies that heavily depend on researcher judgment (like
structural equation modeling, in which the factors are not chosen
objectively). In today’s globalized research arena, when editors see a
manuscript from an unknown author from an unfamiliar country, that trust
is not necessarily present. Use techniques that are internationally well-known and as objective as possible.
When
writing in English, observe a simple rule about semicolons; don’t use
them. Ever. Be cautious about homonyms and sound-alike words. Give
careful attention to subject-verb agreement, and try not to dangle or
misplace adjectival phrases. These are among the most common errors I
see in manuscripts. If you do not know what I’m talking about – or even
if you do – have your paper looked at by a native English speaker who is familiar with scientific writing.
Self-styled
“professional editors” may not meet these criteria. I see much truly
awful English, submitted by authors who claim to have engaged a
professional English editor. To be blunt, these authors have been ripped
off. Check out independent editors most carefully before hiring them.
The
global research community values cultural diversity and the new
insights international researchers bring to scientific investigation.
However, it takes a strictly mono-cultural view of plagiarism. Plagiarism
is stealing. It is intellectually dishonest, it can lead to an author
being blackballed from journals, and it can end academic careers.
An author from one country, who did not attribute certain passages in
her paper, told me, “I am dishonoring my teacher if I do not use his
exact words.” One from another country pleaded, “Here, what we say to
each other is far more important that what we write on paper.” If you
share their sentiments, you must put them aside before submitting work
to international journals.
Some
cultures place surnames before given names; other cultures (like mine)
do the reverse. This can confuse you when you build your paper’s
reference list. But that list must be correct, and in your target
journal’s prescribed format! If in doubt about the name of the author
you wish to cite, ask someone who is familiar with that author’s
culture.
Did you know there are 185 active researchers named Wei Wang?* To ensure you get the credit when your work is cited, especially if you have a fairly common name like Mr. Wang, get a unique researcher identifier at www.orcid.org, and use it when you submit papers. Then too, looking up a researcher on ORCID can help you determine which is his/her family name and which the given name.
Finally,
you have persuaded an editor to send your paper to reviewers, and you
have received their critiques. A new inter-cultural obstacle rears its
head: Your national culture values criticism that is gentle and
indirect. The reviewer comes from a nation prone to bluntness. To avoid
conflict, people in your country always channel criticism through a
third person. In the journal world, the reviewer writes directly to you. You feel like you’ve been assaulted.
Remember,
the reviewer is not attacking you. She or he may be attacking the way
you expressed your research results. Perhaps attacking the results
themselves. But not attacking you as a person. Don’t reply immediately.
Let the review sit on your desk for a week or two. After that, try to
discern how the reviewers’ comments could improve your paper, and revise
the paper accordingly.
Science is equal parts investigation and communication.
Communication involves strategically choosing audience and channel
(journal), and being wise to inter-cultural matters. Pay attention to
the quality of your communication just as you do to the quality of your
lab work and fieldwork. And remember, the best way to learn to write journal articles is to read journal articles.
About the author:
Fred Phillips (ORCID I.D. O-8311-201) is currently a Professor at University of New Mexico and Visiting Scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s international journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change.
He is Distinguished Professor at Yuan Ze University in Taiwan, and also
holds academic appointments at SUNY Stony Brook, the University of
Texas at Austin, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Lima. His consulting firm’s (www.generalinformatics.com) practice areas are high-tech regional economic development, higher education, and research policy.
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