How to Select a Journal

Journal Impact Factor

Research Ethics: Plagiarism

Hinari, Agora and online search

Sources for this resentation

Science Paper Writing Workshop Chris Beadle, Peter Willadsen (designed by Peter Hairsine), CSIRO

How to choose a journal Kim E. Barrett http://www.apsarchive.org/download.cfm?submissionID=6214

Journal Impact Factors and the Author h-index Katie Newmanhttp://www.library.illinois.edu/biotech/docs/ImpactFactors.pdf

On Being a Scientist: A Guide to Responsible Conduct in Research: Third Edition (2009) http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12192&page=15

How to select a journal

• More than 21,000 peer-reviewed academic journals

• New journals published every year

• Where do you start?

Why does it matter?• Online access, enhanced search capabilities and

indexing vastly expand immediate access to articles of interest

• However, the journal you choose still has major implications

• Must consider– Audience– Type of paper– Impact factor– Journal scope– Cost

How to start?

• Ask yourself “Who would be interested in reading my paper?”– Basic scientists vs. policy makers– Specialists vs. generalists

• Assess perceived impact– Earth-shattering; of broad importance– Important contribution to the discipline– Solid work but of limited interest– LPU (least publishable unit)

National or international audience?

• Relevant to a national audience (local researchers, farmers, extension workers or policymakers)?

• Does it present data that is primarily of local interest? o If so, consider a journal whose audience is national or

regional in scope

OR

• Does the article deal with universal themes that are relevant to audiences all over the world? o If so, consider an international, well-indexed journal

• For international audience: English is the language of choice

AudienceSelecting your journal: what audience do you want to reach?

An example:

Core result: The exotic tick R. (Boophilus) microplus has displaced the endemic tick R. (Boophilus) decoloratus over much of East Africa over the last two decades. It is likely to bring increased threats of disease transmission and pesticide resistance.

International ecology / disease journalAn example of the displacement of an

endemic by an exotic species with implications for disease control.

A journal on African livestock productionAn emerging disease threat that farmers

need to know about.

An (African) public policy journalA new and possibly very damaging threat

that will require policy action..

For each of these options both the writing and supporting information will be different. Your success depends on recognising this.

Aim

What is your aim? To get your readers to use the contents of your paper for:

• Decision making• Designing their own experiments• Citation in their own research

Type of paperWhat type of paper is it?• Original article• Review paper• Commentary• Short communication or ‘Technical Note’

When to choose the journal?

• As soon as possible!• Definitely before you start to write– Format issues– Style issues– Scope of you paper

Strategy for choosing

• Are your ‘competitors’ publishing in these journals?– Papers cited in your manuscript– Online search http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

• Past papers from the research group/lab?• Journal scope statements

– Any limitations? See Scope on journal site http://www.plosntds.org/static/scope.action

• Enquiry to editor– In writing - with brief details– Does not imply any obligation to publish

Additional considerations

• Length restrictions– Many journals restrict the number of words and/or figures

• Color figures– Costs vary widely

• Requirements of donor– e.g., NIH regulations require publication in a journal that

provides free access within 12 months

Additional considerations

• Cost of publication– Submission fees/author fees (Open Access model)– Page charges– Reprint costs– Fee Waiver

• Availability of journal– Print vs. online vs. both– Available through Hinari or Agora?– Is it in your library? If not, may want to reconsider.

Once selected get the style guide and template from the journal’s homepage and use it in this workshop

e.g. Euphytica (International Journal of Plant Breeding) http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/plant+sciences/journal/10681

• Instructions to authors, style guide• Recent examples of papers• Scope• Impact factor

• IF is used as a proxy for the relative importance of a journal within its field.

• IF is the number of current citations a journal receives divided by the number of articles published in the two preceding years

• See:

http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/academic/impact_factor/

Impact factor (IF)

Journal impact factor (IF)• Discipline-dependent• Medicine has high level of networking, so high impact (e.g.

New England Journal of Medicine = 45)• Social Science has low level of networking, so low impact • Work out impact threshold you want to achieve

• Euphytica (International Journal of Plant Breeding) IF = 1.597

How is IF calculated?

E.g., the 2009 Impact factor for the journal Cell =

# of times articles or other items published in Cell in 2007 & 2008 were cited in indexed journals in 2009

–––––––––-––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––# of “citable” articles published in Cell in 2007 & 2008

Indexation of a journal is considered a reflection of its quality. Indexed journals are considered to be of higher scientific quality as compared to non-indexed journals.

How is IF calculated?

2009 Impact factor for the journal Cell =

Cites in 2009 to items published in 2008 + 2007 = 9533 + 12554 = 22087

Number of items published in 2008 + 2007 = 343 + 366 = 709

Impact Factor is 22087 ÷ 709 = 31.152

Where next if your paper is rejected?

• Decide on two to three journals at the time of initial submission, ranked by desirability

• Reformat for the new journal – very important– Reference format– Re-writing may be needed

Closing thoughts

• Your goal should be to publish in the best journal for your work and for your audience– Not necessarily the same as the “best journal”

• Picking the right journal….– Increases your chance of getting accepted the first time– Increases your chance of having your work read/cited– Increases chances that your research will have impact– Advances your career

Research Ethics: Respect for Intellectual Property

• Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission.

• Give proper acknowledgement or credit for all contributions to research.

• Never plagiarize– “Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes,

results, or words without giving appropriate credit.”

Plagiarism“If you copy any words without citing a source, then it's plagiarism. You can paraphrase a source (rewrite it with your own words), or you can quote directly (correctly using quotation marks), but you always have to cite the source. When you're paraphrasing, if two or three words are the same, you're probably not going to be cited for plagiarism…

Here's a site that may help you understand better what constitutes plagiarism: http://www.plagiarism.org/ “

Source: rockdahouse85, http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100708084442AAhTzUA

Plagiarism search

etblasthttp://etest.vbi.vt.edu/etblast3/

Test: “Trypanosomiasis, a disease of humans and animals caused by several species of trypanosomes and spread by tsetse flies is a major constraint to livestock production in 37 countries within the Sub-Saharan region.”

• http://www.who.int/hinari/en/ • Set up by WHO with major publishers• Enables developing countries to gain access to one of

the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature

• More than 8,000 digital information resources (in 30 different languages)

• http://www.aginternetwork.org/en/ • Set up by FAO with major publishers• Enables developing countries to access a digital

library collection (1900 journals) – Food– Agriculture– Environmental science– Related social sciences

• Institutions in 107 countries

Online search

• Google (All disciplines)• Google Scholar scholar.google.com (All)• Pubmed www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed (Life

sciences)• Scirus www.scirus.com (All)• National Agricultural Library (AGRICOLA)

agricola.nal.usda.gov (Agriculture)

Thank you

Definitions

• a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source

• Science Citation Index is a list of scientific texts from all over the world. For each scientific paper, it has information about the author, the title, the subject, etc. All this information is taken from thousands of scientific journals. Science Citation Index is made by the Institute for Scientific Information.

Outline of presentation

• Importance of journal selection• Timing of choice• Strategies for selecting a journal– Where to start– Nuts and bolts– Other considerations

• A word about impact factors• What to do if your paper is rejected from your

first (or second…) choice journal