Journal Communication - Part I

Journal Communication

Part: I

P. R. Naren

School of Chemical & Biotechnology

SASTRA University

Thanjavur, Tamilnadu 613 401 INDIA

E-mail: [email protected]

Progress Through Quality Education

2 22-Feb-15

Outline

• Communication– Objectives

– Forms

• What you mean by journal?

• Elements of journal paper

• Best practices– What to read in journal paper ?

– Which journal to select?

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Objective of Communication

• Purpose or message

• Clarity

• Sequential arrangement or information flow

• Reader should be able to decipher the information

Communicating Science, Engineering & Technology

• Translating principles, theories and mathematical

connotations into prose

• Documentation

– The story of

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Focus

Consistency is the key

One can offer to be wrong but not inconsistent

Standards and Conventions

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Manifestations

• Written

– Reports

– Thesis

– Dissertation

– Abstracts

– Journal paper

– Manuscripts

– Progress reports

– Proposals

– Posters

– Presentations

Anything we write and wish

someone to read

• Oral

– Lectures

– Talks

– Speech

– Oration

and so forth

Anything we write with an

objective and wish

someone to read and

understand

Comprehend

So do

Answer

Scripts

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Attributes of Written Communication

• Reader should be able to comprehend the purpose

• Reproducibility

– Give all necessary and sufficient details to the minute

detail to be able to reproduce results !

– All information required for reproduction of data should be

available with the author !

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Typical Format for Written Communication

• Title

• Table of contents

• List of Figures

• List of Tables

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Motivation !

• Objective !

• Methodology

• Literature survey / Previous

study

• Experimental setup

• Materials and Methods

• Mathematical Model

• Operating procedure

• Results and discussion

• Conclusion

• Nomenclature

• References

• Annexure / Supplementary

material

• Acknowledgements

Journal

• A journal refers to a serious, scholarly publication that is

peer-reviewed– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal (26-Dec-14)

• An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which

scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is

published. Academic journals serve as forums for the

introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research,

and the critique of existing research. Content typically takes

the form of articles presenting original research, review

articles, and book reviews.– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_journal (26-Dec-14)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_journal

Journal …

• Scholarly communication

– New findings

– Critical analysis of existing information

– Improvisation of existing knowledge

• Discipline specific

• Modes

– Invited / Solicited

– Unsolicited

• Peer review

– Evaluation by competent members of same community

Quality of content

Appropriateness

Credibility of presented information

22-Feb-15 Title of the presentation 9

Journals of Chemical Engineering Domain


Publishers

Elsevier American Chemical Society Springer

Journal Databases

Bibliographic databases - search engines – Publisher portals

• http://www.cas.org/

• http://doaj.org/

• http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/home.jsp

• http://journals.cambridge.org/action/login?

• http://journalseek.net/

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

• http://pubs.acs.org/

• www.scopus.com

• www.sciencedirect.com

22-Feb-15 11

http://www.cas.org/

http://doaj.org/

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/home.jsp

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/login

http://journalseek.net/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

http://pubs.acs.org/

http://www.scopus.com/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/

Types of Journal Communications

• Full paper

– Full research paper

• Short communication

• Review paper

• Editorial

• Comments on published paper

• Response to comments on published paper


Elements of Full Research Paper

• Abstract

• Introduction

• Methods / Models

• Results and Discussion

• Further work

• Conclusion / Summary

• Acknowledgement

• Nomenclature

• References


Elements …

Abstract

• Brief outline of work/ idea of

the paper

• Techniques / models in

nutshell

• Salient outcome of the work

Introduction

• Background of the topic/

board area of problem

• Motivation for the work

– To validate / test model

hypothesis

– To generate data

• Outline of available

information

– What is lacunae?

– Why this work?

• Strategy / methodology

adopted

1422-Feb-15 Title of the presentation

Elements .. Main Body

Experimental Work

• Experimental setup

• Standard operating

procedures / experimental

protocol

• Measurement techniques

– Least count

– Sensitivity of technique

• Assay / Analysis protocol

• Data acquisition – analysis

• Reference standards

• Operating conditions

Theoretical Work

• Mathematical model

– Genesis / Fundamentals

• Equations

• Degree of Freedom

• Boundary conditions

• Solution methodology

• Input conditions / operating

conditions

1522-Feb-15 Title of the presentation

Elements …

Results

• Output

– Focus on what is available?

• Variables investigated

• Record of observations

• Processed data –

Information

– Table, Parity plots, Surface

plots

• Follow logical sequence in

presentation of data

• Raw data to be made

available, if requested

Discussion

• Focus on outcome of the work

– Why?

– Reasoning

• Inference made from

observations

– What is understood from what is

presented / recorded / obtained /

simulated / solved

• Explicitly emphasis on outcome

of present work

– Compare & contrast with available

data / information

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Elements …

Further Work

• Gist of what is not covered/

not under the purview of

present work

• What more needs to be

investigated

– Give supportive reasons why?

– Any ambiguity in present

work?

Conclusion / Summary

• Highlight the outcome of

present work

• List specific inferences of

work

• How present work

improvises/helps to expand

the existing know-how ?

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Elements …

Acknowledgements

• Sense of gratitude and

thanks specifically

– Financial grant

Quote grant order no.

– Personal consultations

– Data obtained from peers

– Experimental facility

Nomenclature

• List all notations used in

manuscript

– Even if it is as simple as “g”

• Follow alphabetical order

• Latin lowercase, uppercase

• Greek symbols listed

separately

• Abbreviations listed

separately

• Superscripts and subscripts

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Writing Style

• Different sections are written in different styles– Literature survey / Previous studies Past tense

– Global facts Present tense

– Experimental, materials, methods, Results and discussion Past tense

Note we are writing after we have done the work !

– Proposals/ Further work Present / future tense

– Active voice and Passive voice conflicts

Past tense is easy to handle

If in doubt, maintain same tense in all sections (consistency !)

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Citations

• Cite whatever is not YOUR own !

– Practitioners of science invariably practice honesty !

– We are not honoring the author – It is our DUTY to cite the author !

• Standards

– Author-date format Author followed by year of publication

– Numbered format Serial number of the quoted publication in the reference list

• Author – Date format

– For single author publication

Last name (family name) followed by year

– For two authors

Last name (family name) of both the authors followed by year

– More than two authors

Last name (family name) of the first author, followed by “et al.” and then year

– Never include initials, first name (given name)

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Examples for Citations

• Sharma (1978) investigated the effect of surfactants on gas holdup.

• The increase in interfacial area was found to be 10% (Carberry and Varma, 1982).

• Kinetics of agglomeration in sugar solution was reported by Shah et al. (1990).

• Effect of surfactant on viscosity is widely reported (Sharma, 1978; Carberry and Varma, 1982; Shah et al. 1990)

• Effect of surfactant on viscosity is widely reported (Shah et al. 1990; Carberry and Varma, 1982; Sharma, 1978)

– Follow the timeline while quoting multiple references !!

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References

• All works/publications cited in the text/report should be included in the

reference list

• The purpose of reference list is to make the reader LOCATE the cited

work

• All required and sufficient information to locate the cited work should be

provided

– Author name, title of work/paper, source of publication or journal, volume no,

issue no, page no

• Follow the standard

– Author – date, arranged in alphabetical order

– Serial no

• Journal abbreviations

– Use standard abbreviations for journals

Journal Title Abbreviations

• Abbreviations for Journal Titles

– Chem. Eng. Sci. Chemical Engineering Science

– AIChE J. AIChE Journal

– http://images.webofknowledge.com/WOK46/help/WOS/A_

abrvjt.html

– http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/re

s/journal_abbrevs.xhtml#C

– http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/caplus/corejourna

ls.html


http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/res/journal_abbrevs.xhtml#C

http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/res/journal_abbrevs.xhtml#C

http://www.cas.org/expertise/cascontent/caplus/corejournals.html

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Examples for Reference List

• Chilton, T. H. and Colburn, A. P. (1931). Pressure drop in packed tubes.

Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 23, 913 – 919.

• Treybal, R. E. (1957). Liquid extraction. Industrial and Engineering

Chemistry, 49, 514 – 526.

• Liu, Z., Shi,S. and Li, Y. (2010). Coal liquefaction technologies –

Development in China and challenges in chemical reaction engineering.

Chemical Engineering Science, 65, 12 – 17.

• Froment G. F. and Bischoff, K. B. (1979). Chemical reactor analysis and

design. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

Something is wrong here !!!

Alphabetical arrangement

Indent from second line

25 22-Feb-15

Revised Reference List

• Chilton, T. H. and Colburn, A. P. (1931). Pressure drop in packed tubes.

Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 23, 913 – 919.

• Froment G. F. and Bischoff, K. B. (1979). Chemical reactor analysis and

design. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

• Liu, Z., Shi,S. and Li, Y. (2010). Coal liquefaction technologies –

Development in China and challenges in chemical reaction

engineering. Chemical Engineering Science, 65, 12 – 17.

• Treybal, R. E. (1957). Liquid extraction. Industrial and Engineering

Chemistry, 49, 514 – 526.

What the purpose ???

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For Web References

• Provide complete URL and specify the date

– Web content is dynamic !!!

• URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_flow_reactor_model, 26 August

2011

• Web references are not primary references

– They can supportive but cannot stand alone !!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug_flow_reactor_model

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The Golden Principle

• Cite only those references which you can trace !

• You should have access to every cited text/work/journal

publication in at least one way

– Hard copy

Library

In your personal repository

– Soft copy

– Bare minimum, should know in which library it is available and you

should have at least “seen” it before you “cite it”

If NOT then please DON’T CITE

What to look first in Journal Paper

• Abstract

– Find out

What is investigated / studied? Problem statement

How it is investigated? Methodology

What are outputs/ outcomes Information gained

• Scan through figures and tables

– Understand / Correlate with abstract

How far presented results makes sense to problem statement

• Conclusion

– Is outcome justifiable / rational from presented results?

• If convinced,

– Read the paper thoroughly- It’s worth possibly !

– Else, Introspect before you invest your time !


Difficult question: Which journal?

• Experience and Guidance of peers

• Search and sort the available information

– Learn from own experience and reverse engineer

If identified, good paper

– Note the source

– Research group/ school/ research group URL

– Look out for journals specific to sub-area / sub-domain

– Look out for reviews in your topic of interest and identify

most cited

Papers

Research groups


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Acknowledgements

• Dr. Vivek V. Ranade, NCL, Pune

• iFMg Members (My friends and colleagues)

• ICT (formerly UDCT) Mumbai, fraternity

• Colleagues and Faculty friends at SASTRA

THANKS and GRATITUDE

And many others who enriched my science communication skills

THANK YOU

A person who never made a mistake never tried

anything new.

- Albert Einstein

- 1879 -1955


• Peer and non-peer reviewed journals

• Design project which papers

• Frequency of publication
