Publication in scientific journals. Impact factors

Publication in scientific
journals
IMPACT FACTORS
Grupo de investigación EC3
Evaluación de la Ciencia y de la
Comunicación Científica
Course: Current problems of modern philology
Date: June 23-July 3, 2014
Evaristo Jiménez-Contreras & Nicolás Robinson-García

Introduction
Why do we need to publish?

Introduction
Why do we need to publish?
 To disseminate our work to our
community
 To gain prestige and recognition from
our peers
 To show our research perfomance to our
funding bodies
 To validate our findings

Introduction
Why should we publish in journals?
 Journals are currently the main vehicle for scholarly
communication
 Journals ensure peer review and quality control
 Journals are one of the main evaluation measures for
funding bodies
 Journals represent a fast way to communicate our findings
¿?

Objectives of this course
1. Understand the way researchers
communicate and the different cultures
among disciplines
2. Learn the meaning of peer review, how it
works and its relevance
3. Know which are and how to use the main
scientific databases
4. Learn the publication process and the
‘ways’ for publishing in a scientific journal

Week planning (I)
1. Brief introduction to scholarly
communication
 The role of scientific papers
 The role of journals
 The role of citations/references
2. Defining impact and impact journals
 What is scientific impact and why does it matter?
 Introducing bibliometrics and research evaluation
 What is the Journal Impact Factor and why does it matter?

Week planning (II)
3. Selecting journals in our specialty
 Searching for scientific literature
 Searching for journals in our specialty
 Searching for impact journals
4. Getting published: The How-to guide
 Tips and hints on scientific writing
 Establishing a publication strategy
 The peer review process

Brief introduction to scholarly
communication

1637
1660
Evolution of the
scientific method
Timeline of the scholarly
communication channels
1620
Francis Bacon’ eliminative
induction
Discourse on the method by
René Descartes
Foundation of the Royal
Society in the UK
1665 The first two scientific
journals are published
1675
Peer review begins

1950s
Evolution of scientific
method and writing
Timeline of the scholarly
communication channels
End of the 19th Century
The IMRAD structure is
introduced in the scientific
discourse
Exponential increment
of scientific journals
1967 Nature institutes formal
peer review
1991
The launch of ArXiv and
the rise of e-journals
2014
Questioning peer review
and the need for
reproducibility

The scientific method
A method or procedure that has characterized natural science
since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation,
measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and
modification of hypotheses.
Oxford English Dictionary
STEPS TO FOLLOW
1. Define a question
2. Gather information
3. Form an explanatory hypothesis
4. Test the hypothesis
5. Analyze the data
6. Interpret the data
7. Publish the results through the right channel

DEFINE A QUESTION
What do we want to know?
-> Defining the problem
Why is it important?
-> Justifying the study
Why do we want to know it?
-> Set the aims

GATHER INFORMATION
Has is been already studied?
If it has, let’s review the state-of-the-art
This will allow us to:
 Learn about its novelty
 Define the problem
 Establish the theoretical framework
 Compare results

FORM AN EXPLANATORY HYPOTHESIS
-Define the topic (time period, unit of analysis,
geographical limits, theoretical framework)
- Set the objectives
-Formulate the hypothesis
- Value the importance (novelty, viability,
relevance)

TEST THE HYPOTHESIS
 Establish a methodology:
o What are we going to do? How? With which
tools? When? Where?
o Unit of analysis? Which is the sample?
 Gather and process the data
o Systematic data retrieval
o Statistical techniques

ANALYZE AND INTERPRET THE DATA
Write a manuscript following the IMRAD structure
(or a variant depending on the discipline and nature
of the study)
This manuscript is the one that will be later on
submitted to a journal in order to…
PUBLISH THE RESULTS

Scientific paper
[Peer Review, Final and Public,
Specialized]
Books and
monographs
Reference books
Congress
[Peer Review,
interpersonal, public]
Web 2.0: blogs,
facebook, twitter.
[without Peer Review,
University cafeteria, e-mail,
telephone
[interpersonal, private]
How do researchers communicate?
Data Sharing
Data Banks
Repositories
preprints
Data papers
Proceedings papers

Data Sharing
Data Banks
Repositories
preprints
Data papers
Proceedings papers
Scientific paper
Specialized]
Books and
monographs
Reference books
Congress
[Peer Review,
Web 2.0: blogs,
facebook, twitter.
telephone
From an uncontrolled environment…
… to transparent and controlled channels

Data Sharing
Data Banks
Scientific paper
Specialized]
Books and
monographs
Repositories
preprints
Reference books
Congress
[Peer Review,
Web 2.0: blogs,
facebook, twitter.
telephone
Data papers
Proceedings papers

85%
10%
5%
30%
60%
10%
Experimental Sciences
50%40%
10%
Journals Books Others
Social Sciences Humanities
Is it the same everywhere?

Is it the same everywhere?

The role of the scientific journal
A scientific journal aims to disseminate original, valid
and novel scientific knowledge in order to progress
on the advancement of science.
Journals are a part of the scientific method as they
play an essential role in the last phase of
dissemination and communication of the research
findings.

Types of publications (I)
Letters Communications and short descriptions of
current research findings which are considered as
urgent
Notes Short descriptions of current research findings
which are not considered as urgent
Reviews Description of previous literature written in a
narrative way about the state of the art in a field

Types of publications (II)
Research articles
First acceptable, publicly-available manuscript
containing sufficient information to make it the object
of evaluation (peer review), to show reproducible
results, and to evaluate the intellectual processes
undertaken during the research study in order to
justify the conclusions reached.
Day, 2005

The IMRAD structure
What question was studied? Introduction
How was the problem studied? Methods
What where the results? Results
And
What do the findings mean? Discussion

The peer review process
Day, 2005
What question was studied? Introduction
How was the problem studied? Methods
What where the results? Results
And
What do the findings mean? Discussion
Why must we follow this structure ?
“Peer review is the principal mechanism for quality
control in most scientific disciplines. By assessing the
quality of research, peer review determines what [..]
research results get published.”
Bornmann, 2011
PEER REVIEW ENSURES CREDIBILITY

Blind review The authors ignore who are the
reviewers of their manuscript, but the reviewers do
know the authors identity
Double-blind review None, authors or reviewers
know which the identity of the other
Open peer review Both, authors and reviewers
know which the identity of the other

How are published papers evaluated?

The role of citations/references
1. Support the authors’ arguments
2. Demonstrate to the reviewers that you are
knowledgeable of the field of study
3. Refute, compare or validate the work of
authors
4. Pay tribute and acknowledge the
contributions of their peers

The role of citations/references

Scientific paper
Specialized]
Why scientific papers?
Scientific journal
[Impact Factor, Journal Rankings,
Visibility]
Journal-level Metrics
Article-level Metrics
“The bibliographies contained in most scientific papers
represent a brief history of the subjects they treat and
lead to earlier related events.”
CITATIONS TRACK “IMPORTANT” PAPERS
http://scimaps.org/maps/map/histcite_visualizati_52/detail/
Garfield, Sher &
Torpie, 1964

What do we mean by Scientific Impact?
Campanario, González & Rodríguez, 2006

What do we mean by Scientific Impact?
• Conversation
• Citations
• Quality
Article
• Visibility
• Competition
• Prestige
Journal
• Funding
• Tenure
• Success
Recognition

Wrapping up
1. The scientific paper as the main publication
type is characterized by following the
scientific method and being structured
following the Introduction – Methods –
Results – And – Discussion structure
2. Journals are the main communication
channel among the research community as
they ensure credibility through the peer
review process.

Wrapping up
3. Citations/References reflect the importance
or impact research contributions have
among the scientific community
4. Citations are used as a measure of visibility
and impact for journals and of recognition
for researchers.

Recommended readings
Day, R.A. How to write and publish a
scientific paper. Oryx Press, 1998.

Defining impact and impact
journals

How do we define an Impact Journal?
Science Citation Index
Social Science Citation Index
Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Ke, Börner & Viswanath, 2004

Boyack, Klavans & Börner, 2005

Leydesdorff & Rafols, 2009

Where can I look for citations?

How do we define Impact? The Impact
Factor
The Impact Factor is a bibliometric indicator which
measures the relevance, importance or visibility in terms
of citations of scientific journals
The Impact Factor is updated every year and it is
officially published in the Journal Citation Reports from
Thomson Reuters

How do we define Impact? The Impact
Factor
Lozano, Larivière & Gingras, 2012 arXiv:1205.4328v1

Due to low citation rates, journals in Humanities do not
have an Impact Factor. In this field we consider as impact
journals all indexed in the Arts & Humanities Citation Index

How do we calculate the Impac Factor
IMPACT FACTOR 2006 =
CITATIONS 2004-2005
PUBS 2004-2005

How do we calculate the Impac Factor
0
5
10
15
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
ImpactFactor
Rank
INFORMATION SCIENCE &
LIBRARY SCIENCE
LINGUISTICS
PSYCHOLOGY

JCRAllergyin2009.RankingIF–21journals
1º Q
2º Q
3º Q
4º Q

What does the Impact Factor measure?
Seglen, 1999

Article’s Impact
≠
Journal’s Impact

Limitations of the Impact Factor
 It does not represent the actual number of
citations of the paper
 It varies among disciplines
 It is dependent on the number of papers
and of document types the journal publishes
 There is a problem with self-citations
 Sometimes two years are not enough

There are no Impact Factors in the HUMANITIES
Here we consider as impact journals
those included in the Arts & Humanities
Citation Index

PREMISES
 All researchers want to publish their research in
impact journals
 These are international journals where authors all
over the world try to publish
They receive lots of manuscripts and, hence, they
reject most of them
 The peer review process is tough as it is done by the
best experts in each field
What does the Impact Factor really
measure?

THE IMPACT FACTOR IS AN INDICATOR OF
COMPETITIVENESS
As journals receive more manuscripts they have more
where to choose and therefore, more possibilities of
publishing better papers. These papers will get cited will
be well received by the community, improving their
Journal Impact Factor.
What does the Impact Factor really
measure?

Selecting journals in our
specialty

Most of the research policy guidelines and
research evaluation exercises consider them
as key factor
You will develop a
successful research career
Why publish in a Impact Journals?
You will gain a wider audience of readers and
hence, your contribution will get more
visibility

Evaluation agencies

You will improve your university’s status

You will increase your budget

Become active in the international community
Zuccala, 2005

Excuses for not publishing in impact
journals
My research line and my articles are of national interest
International reviewers are uncapable of understanding the wide
scope of my research papers
I do not publish in English, we must defend our language!!
International journals usually take a long time to publish my papers
In my research area books and book chapters are more important
There are no international journals covering my research interests

journals
http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/globalwos-essay.pdf

journals
Bornmann & Daniel, 2010CHEMISTRY

journals
Torres-Salinas et al., 2014

• CHANGE THE PERSPECTIVE
Adapt to international standards
• CHANGE THE STRATEGY
Less papers but better
• CHANGE THE TOPICS
Search for relevant research questions
in your area
I may have to change some things

Where to publish?
Identify the audience to which you are targeting
Professional Academic

Always publish in peer-reviewed journals
That is, your papers will be anonimously
evaluated by two or more experts
Where to publish?

Where are those journals?
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASES
International
National

It belongs to Elsevier, the biggest scientific
publisher in the world
It includes around 16500 journals from all
research fields.
They have their own ‘impact indicator’ called
SJR.

Developed by the European Science Foundation
It includes 6459 journals in Humanities
published in any European language.
Journals are classified according to their impact
(International1, International2 and National) and
15 thematic categories.

 It is a subject index for books and articles
published on modern languages, literatures,
folklore, and linguistics.
It dates back to 1925 and includes records from
more than 4000 journals and 1000 books.
It includes the JSTOR Language and Literature
Collection.

Hands-on exercises
Web of Science
1. Access to the database
2. Citation indexes
3. Types of search
4. Boleean operators -> AND – OR – NOT
5. Search fields
6. Filtering and analyzing the results page

Hands-on exercises
Journal Citation Reports
2. Search options
3. Journal information -> Citation frame – Self-citations –
Citing and cited journals
4. Other bibliometric indicators

Hands-on exercises
Scopus
2. Citation indexes
3. Types of search
4. Boleean operators -> AND – OR – NOT
5. Search fields
6. Filtering and analyzing the results page

Getting published: The How-to
guide

• It is better to articulate a good research question and look out for
the necessary tools in order to answer it than to pose a research
question according to the tools you already have.
• You must try to be original. A curious thing I’ve found out from
papers authored by Spanish-speaking people is that, the more
evidences they find in the literature supporting their results, the
more assertive they feel over the importance of the contribution
they are making.
• We must address the difficult issues. Unfortunately, that is the
interesting one and the one which will be getting published in
Nature or any other of our journals. That is the main difference
between famous researchers and the rest of us.
First comes first…

• Focus on innovative aspects
• Be clear in your mind about the structure of the
paper
• Make it comprehensible and interesting
• Select carefully which is the best place to get it
published
• Be honest and upstanding
• Focus on quality rather than quantity
• Be patient when writing the article
Things you must take in mind

Look out for partners when publishing
Effects of no collaboration, national
collaboration and international collaboration
Katz & Hicks, 1997

Collaboration is not so common in the
Humanities
Larivière, Gingras & Archambault, 2006

WHY IS IT A GOOD A IDEA TO COLLABORATE?
 Teamwork allows researchers to confront and fulfill
large research projects:
Little science -> Big science
 The more people involved on the writing of a paper the
more polished the final version it will be theoretically
 Collaborating involves strengthening social networks
and fostering creativity
 Collaboration allows developing interdisciplinary
research
i.e., Digital Humanities

Be honest with authorship
 Authorship is a recurrent source of
controversy among collaborators
 The position in authorship reflects the
contribution of each author
 It is advisable to agree on authorship
position before conducting the research
 Restrain from including too many authors

BEWARE: The authors’ position reflect their
contribution to the paper
AUTHOR 1; AUTHOR 2; AUTHOR 3
Authorship: Criteria and Policy
Authorship implies accountability. Listed authors must have contributed
directly to the intellectual content of the paper... Authors should meet all of
the following criteria:
• Conceived and planned the work that led to the article or played an
important role in interpreting the results, or both.
• Wrote the paper and/or made substantive suggestions for revision.
• Approved the final version

Contributing to a
paper is not the
same as authoring
a paper

Who should author a paper?
AN AUTHOR SHOULD
HAVE…
AN AUTHOR IS NOT
SOMEONE WHO HAS…
… Contributed substantially on
the
o Design
o Conception
o Data retrieval
o Analysis
o Interpretation
…. Written or critically revised
the manuscript
… Approved the final version of
the manuscript
… Helped with technical
assistance
… Revised the style of the writing
… Supervisors and directors of
research teams or departments
who have not contributed
… Assure the funding

Allen et al., 2014

BEWARE: The authors’ position reflect their
contribution to the paper

Who are the main authors?
FIRST AUTHOR LAST AUTHOR
Has conceived the
paper.
Has played a leading
role on its conception,
design and
development.
Has revised and
analyzed the paper
critically and has
consented and given the
final approval before
submitting the final
version of the
manuscript to a journal

Make a good literature review
Be honest when citing, do not omit competitors
Cite the most recent literature
Cite international papers, use scientific databases
Make sure to cite all papers on the topic published in
the journal to which you are submitting your
manuscript

Make a good literature review
DON’T BE CHEEKY!

When writing the manuscript
1. Many papers are rejected or loose their value because they
are not well written, presented or structured.
2. If we do not pay attention to the details, probably the main
message and good ideas expressed in our paper will be
missed out and go unnoticed.
3. Just taking care of a series of basic details our paper may
improve substantially.
4. Work out which are the main conclusions of your work and
write and present the paper always keeping them on mind.
5. Give some thought to the introduction, in it we must
present what has been previously done and what will we
contribute with.

“[…]However, the paper does its utmost best to present itself
as a contribution to just Spanish national matters. Then, non-
Spanish readers may not be very interested, and that includes
most of Research Evaluation readers. Thus, unfortunately, the
paper as it stands now is only of marginal interest to RE and is
much more suitable for a Spanish national journal. Now, the
paper could certainly be improved: focus on what is
interesting for an international public, present the study as
dealing with a general issue[…]”.
Because if you don’t, this will be the answer you
will receive
Approach the topic from an international
perspective
FINAL PUBLICATION:
Cabezas-Clavijo A, Robinson-Garcia N, Escabias M & Jimenez-Contreras E
(2013). Reviewers' ratings and bibliometric indicators: Hand in hand when
assessing over research proposals? PLOS One. 8(6): e68258

“[…]Considering target audience of the article, present the
methodology in terms of spectral decomposition makes no
sense. This was introduced by Gabriel in the journal
Biometrika that is aimed to mathematicians. If one observes
the article of Odoroff and Gabriel (1990), which was aimed at
doctors, presentation omitted any algebraic development.
Should be limited to providing clear rules of interpretation and
limit the method to his original quote (properly cited, of
course)[…]”.
Because if you don’t, this will be the answer you
will receive
Address your research topic according to the
audience to which you address

Respect authors’ guidelines
Pay a special attention to the
journals’ instructions for authors
• Abstract, keywords
• Structure, tables and figures
• Length
• Referencing
IF WE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS WE WILL
AVOID HAVING THE EDITOR AND REVIEWERS CALLING OUR
ATTENTION. THESE ERRORS MAY BE CRUCIAL ON THE FATE OF
OUR PAPER
Check some papers previously
published by the journal

Look out for your English
http://www.ease.org.uk/guidelines/index.shtml
• Journals hate badly written manuscripts
• Check the terminology you use
• If you are hiring a translator
• Choose someone specialized in your field of
endeavour
• If you have written the text
• Have a native English-speaker to check it
• Beware the type of English you use
• American or British

Aspects that must be taken into account
Some aspects journals take into account when
reviewing manuscripts
Revista Española de Documentación Científica

Look out for tables and figures
Sometimes tables and figures are the most important part of our work
or even the only one our readers will pay attention to.
Include only the neccessary ones, only those that reinforce our
results. Do not transform your paper into a list of tables, try to
comprise results in just a few tables always preserving their quality.
More tables and figures do not neccessarily mean more results!
Avoid redundancy. Avoid overlapping tables and figures.
Use explicative titles avoiding acronyms if possible. Make sure the
tables and figures can be interpreted without reading the text.
Make attractive figures, take your time, they summarize part of the
message you are sending

FIGURES AND TABLES
ARE PRETTY…

… AND INFORMATIVE

Select the right journal
Audience
• Academic
• Professional
Scope
• Readership
• Research
community
Visibility
• Impact
journals
• Publishers
Publish
• Continue the
conversation

BEWARE: Read the journal’s scope carefully

You can even point out the target audience in the paper

“Dear Mr Daniel Torres-Salinas,
Thank you for your submission for Journal of Informetrics
entitled "State of the Library and Information Science
blogosphere after social networks boom: a metric approach".
The editorial office has, however, decided that this paper is
outside the scope of this journal.
Yours sincerely”
If you get it wrong, this will be the answer you will receive

Double check which type of papers they publish

Phil.Science-in2009.Ranking–35journals
1º Q
2º Q
3º Q
Alwayscontemplateseveraljournalsinwhich
yourpapercouldbepublished

Writing a research paper
Writing a research paperBefore submitting a manuscript
You may as well send it to some colleagues to check
some aspects. Don’t forget to thank them!

• Include a “Cover Letter” underlining the paper’s
originality and novelty, also pointing out its potential
interest to the journal’s readers
• List the main results of your research and emphasize its
importance How are you contributing to the field?
• Sometimes it may be interesting to suggest some
possible reviewers, especially if the paper is of great
novelty
Writing a research paperSending the manuscript

Authors should include a cover letter detailing
the key findings of their manuscript. The cover
letter should highlight the novel aspects of
their data and briefly describe how the
authors feel their results will generate
progress in their field. ….Furthermore, if the
authors feel their work merits publication as a
breakthrough paper, they should indicate this
in the cover letter...
Not all journals ask for a “cover letter” but it is
advisable to always send it
Example extracted from the “authors guidelines” of:
Sending the manuscript

Writing a research paperThe peer review process

ACCEPTED √
MINOR CHANGES √
MAJOR REVISIONS ¿?
REJECTED X

1) Answer to all the commentaries, even if you don’t agree or are
minor issues.
2) Be well-mannered when answering and use solid scientific
arguments when you disagree with the reviewer.
3) If necessary, get ready, you may have to retrieve more data,
undertake more observations or perform new experiments.
4) If the changes suggested do not require an excessive effort and do
not alter the paper excessively, make them, don’t waste your time
arguing with the reviewer.
This may be one of the hardest moments, we must study the
reviewers comments and respond to them in a letter.

“Reviewer: I do not think that computer science is the
appropriate field for the method to be tested. In computer
science there is heavy reliance on proceedings… It would be
good to test the method on additional fields as well”
Coments implying retrieving new data, processing it and
redoing the paper
“You say that CS is well represented in JCR. I strongly disagree with this”
Comments which do not imply changing the paper but
responding to the reviewer
“TOPCIT - you should provide a more detailed definition”
Comments which involve minor changes
“Page 8, first line "proving" I suggest to replace this by "indicating"
Comments which imply modifying the text without further
discussion
What can we have in a review?

TITLE
Example of a structured response to a review

Be prepared for the unexpected

Always be polite but firm…
… and present proofs that justify your answer

• NEVER take it as something personal
• Be honest and try to understand why the paper was rejected
• Make the most of reviewers’ comments to improve your work
• Rewrite a new paper but don’t send it to another journal
without correcting the facts why it was rejected on the first place
Accept rejected papers with good nature

“Undeniably, the most common way to communicate a given
finding, theory or discovery is through its publication in articles
submitted to learned journals. It may happen that the editors
and referees who read articles reporting a novel discovery are
not able to assess the value of innovative work”
Campanario, JM. Rejecting and resisting Nobel class discoveries... Scientometrics, 2009
Maybe your paper was not that bad after all!

• Good and well-focused research lines
• Good knowledge of research methodologies in our
specialty
• Ambition for publishing internationally
• Patience with the research, writing and reviewing
• Neatness, clarity and conciseness when presenting
results
• Persistence against failure
Final tips

Publication in scientific journals
IMPACT FACTORS
Questions?
Evaristo Jiménez-Contreras
evaristo@ugr.es
http://www.ugr.es/~evaristo
This is an adapted version of:
- Torres-Salinas, D. Cómo publicar en revistas de impacto. Unidad de Bibliometría,
Universidad de Granada.
Nicolás Robinson-García
elrobin@ugr.es
http://www.ugr.es/~elrobin

Publication in scientific journals. Impact factors

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