Early Career Researcher Workshop1 October 2013

The pitfalls of publishing

Professor Kim Langfield-SmithPVC Academic Performance

Cathrine Harboe-ReeUniversity Librarian

Workshop outline

1. Scholarly communication2. Monash’s aspirations3. Quality versus quantity4. Research impact5. The national context6. Open access7. Monash infrastructure8. Focussing on you

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1. Scholarly communication

• “The process by which scholars conduct their research and make the results of their work known…

• ... It is critical to the advancement of knowledge and a scholar’s career.”

Mary M. Case, ‘Igniting Change in Scholarly Communication: SPARC, Its Past,

Present and Future’, Advances in Librarianship, 26, 2002. [online] http://www.arl.org/sparc/SPARC_Advances.pdf

.

• … and to Monash University’s success.

Journal articles Chapters Books Conference papers Working papers Presentations Artworks/performances Patents Research data?

87% of Monash’s submitted evidence for

the ERA is scholarly communication by

publication

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Scholarly communication options

Publish often

Publish well

Publish early

?Publish

open access

Publish innovatively

Publish for impact

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2. Monash’s aspirations for 2022

1. The best University within the Asia

Pacific region

2. A truly global university, both physically

and intellectually

3. Among the strongest research

universities in the world

Monash University: The next ten years sets out three key goals for Monash to achieve, namely, that by 2022 Monash will be:

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Some of our recent achievements

4-Digit Ratings

UMelb 2010

UMelb 2012

Monash 2010

Monash 2012

5 42 30 16 22

4 40 46 35 38

3 20 21 27 29

2 1 1 10 1

1 0 0 1 0

Ranking 5 1 3 6 6

Ranking 5/4 1 1 5 4

University of Melbourne vs Monash University ERA results: Closing the gap

Monash Go70%5%

10%15%20%25%30%

2009 to 2011 Research Income Growth

Times Higher Education Rankings: 2010/11 to 2012/13

200

150

100

50

10/11 11/12 12/13

Monash

Go7 average

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International rankings

2013 QS World University Rankings• International ranking: 69• Australian ranking: 6

2013 Times Higher Education Reputational Rankings• International ranking: 99• Australian ranking: 6

2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities: • International ranking: 134• Australian ranking: 7

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Monash Research Strategy

Six Pillars

Talent Enhancement

Building Interdisciplinary

Teams

Research Training

Translating Research to

Deliver Impact

Professional Research

management

World Class Infrastructure Six Pillars to

support

GOAL:

Generating impact through excellent and

relevant research

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3. Quality vs quantity

•Quality– ERA– NOT vanity publishing

•Quantity– HERDC– Career development

• Where should I publish? How much should I publish?

• Why is it important to publish in a “quality” journal or book?

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The importance of Quality• Why is it important to publish in a “quality”

journal or book?– More rigorous reviewing process– More likely to be read – and cited– More likely to add to your reputation and profile– More likely to contribute to the literature– Good for your career!!

• How do you identify a quality journal or book publisher?– Discipline-based journal lists– Journal impact factors– Acceptance rates– Ask your colleagues

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Vanity and predatory publishing

• No or diminished quality controls• Not always honest about advisory boards, etc• Always make the author pay all or most of the costs• http://monash.edu/library/about/ul-vanity-publishing.pdf• http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/06/bealls-list-of-predatory-p

ublishers-2013/

• Don’t fall for their trap!!

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4. What is research impact? The impact that research has had more widely on society … on the

academic discipline, but also on policy, awareness, institutional and

artistic practice, and commercial, economic, social and cultural benefit …

(CHASS, 2005, p. 10)

an effect on, change or benefit to the economy, society, culture, public

policy or services, health, the environment or quality of life, beyond

academia … impacts can be manifest in a wide variety of ways, may take

many forms and occur in a wide range of spheres, in any geographic

location (REF 2014)

Academic impact

- on other researchers

- contribution to discipline knowledge

Social, economic etc. impact

- on business, government, society

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Monash Research Strategy

Six Pillars

Talent Enhancement

Building Interdisciplinary

Teams

Research Training

Translating Research to

Deliver Impact

Professional Research

management

World Class Infrastructure Six Pillars to

support

GOAL:

Generating impact through excellent and

relevant research

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An increasing global focus on assessing research impact

PBRF14

Examples of economic and social impactImproved health or welfare outcomes

Improved quality, accessibility or efficiency

of a public service

Changes to the design or delivery of the school curriculum

Policy debate or decisions have been influenced or

shaped by research

Enhanced corporate social responsibility

policies

A new product has been commercialised

Enhanced professional standards, ethics,

guidelines or training

Improved risk management

Public debate has been shaped or

informed by research

More effective management or

workplace practices

Improved business performance

A social enterprise initiative has been

created

Production costs have reduced

Improved access to justice, employment

or education

Enhanced preservation, conservation or presentation

of cultural heritage

Jobs have been created or protected

Levels of waste have reduced

New forms of artistic expressions or changes to

creative practiceEnhanced teaching

standards or protocols

Changes in professional

practice

Changes to legislation or regulations

Research has informed public understanding, values, attitudes or behaviours

Improved management or conservation of natural resources

Improved forensic methods or expert

systems

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Academic impact Managing citation performance

• Citations as an indicator of impact/quality

• Web of Knowledge (TR) vs Scopus vs Google scholar

• Tracking your citations and citation performance

• Bibliometric indicators – h-index, normalised citations, etc

• Author citation alerts

• Increasing the visibility of your citation performance– ResearcherId (Thomson Reuters)

– Google scholar profiles http://

scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=kUqSskcAAAAJ&hl=en

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Thomson Reuters Citation Report

Why is impact important?

• Underlying rationale for doing research – to make a difference

• Accountability to research funders• Assist you in gaining increased research funding• Increase your reputation in the research community and beyond• Progress your career!

Research is central to what we do at Monash University.Since our establishment just over 50 years ago, we have become known for producing research that has an influence well beyond the academic community.

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Improving your research impact

Academic impact

• International collaborations, multiple authors, multi-disciplinary teams

• Article title, abstract, key words• On-line research sites and profiling

Economic and social

impact

• Demand driven vs supply driven approaches vs partnerships

• The big issues - multi-disciplinary teams

• Social networking, blogs, media• Govt panels, consultancies, public

presentations

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5. National context

• Quantity (HERDC)• Quality (ERA)• Open scholarship (Code for the Responsible

Conduct of Research, NHMRC and ARC guidelines)• Impact (under consideration)• Quandary:

– Does the Government want quality, which encourages conservatism and delays in publishing, or openness, which they do not reward, or impact, which is not yet defined?

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Code for the responsible conduct of research

• http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/r39.pdf

• “Researchers have a responsibility to their colleagues and the wider community to disseminate a full account of their research as broadly as possible.”

• “There are many ways of disseminating research findings. Formal publication of the results of research will usually take place in academic journals or books, but this is not always the case. The Code applies to all forms of dissemination, including, including non-refereed publications … web pages … exhibitions … films … repositories.”

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Code for the responsible conduct of research – cont

• Responsibilities of researchers– Disseminate all research findings– Ensure accuracy– Cite the work of other authors fully and accurately– Don’t publish findings multiple times– Obtain permission for republishing– Disclose research support accurately– Register clinical trials– Manage confidentiality– Responsibly communicate research in the public arena

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6. Open access

• Desire to share research outputs– To improve research– To provide a public good

• Attack on traditional publishing models– Cost– Time to publish

• Now being mandated by NHMRC, ARC and overseas funding agencies

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Desire to share research outputs• arXiv (http://arxiv.org

– Established 1991– Hosted by Cornell University– Nearly 800,000 physics, etc papers

• Various for profit and not for profit efforts since then

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Attack on traditional publishing

• Traditional STM publishing yields outrageous profit margins– Elsevier: 38%– Springer: 34%– Wiley-Blackwell: 42.5%

• Researchers provide content free, and also review other people’s content and edit journals for little or no recompense

• The publishing process can take years25

Publisher activity

• Publishers have been vehemently opposed, but are now offering “green” and “gold” options– Green = author can self-archive– Gold = author pays the publisher for open access,

either in repository or in a journal– Hybrid Gold = author pays for open access in a closed

access journal• Increasing number of open access journals, of

varying quality– Eg BioMed Central

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Open access: NHMRC and ARC• Policies that require publications arising from funded research

to be made open access within 12 months of acceptance (NHMRC) or publication (ARC), or …

• … explain why not• Not expected to breach contractual arrangements or pay for

open access• The University (Research Office and Library) are preparing

information about this• You do not have to pay to comply

– Do not pay for open access unless that is where you want to publish anyway

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Monash’s approach to OA• Very supportive of the principle of open

access– Monash University Publishing– Monash University Research Repository– Research data– ANDS

• Philosophy: concentrate on making otherwise inaccessible research outputs available

• More concerned about quality publishing than open access of journal articles

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7. Monash infrastructure

• Faculty Research Office• Monash Research Office• Library

– Advice about publishers– Intellectual property advice– Monash University Publishing– Monash University Research

Repository– Research data management

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© www.australianscaffolds.com.au

Intellectual property

Copyright Advisor based in Library

Available on the Library website:Information for staff researchers

Using third-party contentMoral rightsRepublishing your own workThe Monash University Research RepositoryWill my publisher allow me to republish?Research collections for ERA and HERDCUsing music in your researchUsing images in your research

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Monash University Publishing• Open access + traditional press• University commitment to disseminating

research output– Statement of the University’s role– Global reach: open access, print on demand– Local conversation: short print runs and

promotion• Nurturing a culture of publishing

– Faculty based editorial boards– Student publishing

• Publishing as part of research life cycle– Subsidised– Taking into account grant funding and deemed

value of positive media attention 31

Monash University Research Repository

• Nearly 100,000 records• Administrative function

– HERDC and ERA reporting– ARC and NHMRC open access

policy compliance• Stewardship of research

activity– 55,322 journal articles– 7,662 photographs– 2,171 theses– 759 issues of Lot’s Wife– 282 patents

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Data management• Moves to make data, especially evidence, available, citable• Early days, currently few incentives• ARC is moving to encourage open data• Monash an early leader in recognising the important of

managing and disseminating data• Lead agency of Australian National Data Service• http://monash.edu/library/researchdata/index.html

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8. Focusing on you: Do you have a plan?

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Know your discipline• Be familiar with the literature in your

discipline– Read the journals and books– Identify hot topics, research methods,

unresolved problems– Get to know your journals, book publishers– Understand how citations happen

• Understand what is valued in your discipline?

• What are the expectations of your school/faculty?

• What research goals do I need to achieve to get promoted?

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Publishing in the right place

• Understand the preferences of your journals and book publishers

• Target your papers at the right journal or publisher• What about conference papers?• Dealing with enticing publication offers!

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Submitting your publication

• Never submit a publication without someone reading it first!

• Learn to accept criticism, including rejection

• Learn how to respond to reviewers and understand how to improve a publication – get advice from colleagues

• Don’t give up!

Remember to acknowledge your Monash affiliation on publications

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In conclusion …

• Develop your publication strategy– Focus on highest status journals/publishers …

• … but be mindful of the need to publish

– Convert reports and publications into higher quality, citable publications

– Co-author with high performing overseas authors– Avoid vanity publishing– Seek advice about where to publish– Do not pay to comply with ARC and NHMRC open

access policies 38

Questions? Ideas?