Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science Professor Philip Marriott School of Applied...

Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science

Professor Philip MarriottSchool of Applied Sciences

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I’ve had good luck….I’ve had bad luck….

Going to NUS, Singapore – basically little research then (Now it is fabulous). Did a few interesting & fun thingsThen coming to RMIT, all thought of research came to a halt.. .. Until I attended my first conference in Europe; patented an idea that has been the perfect fit to my research interests.

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Why do you want to publish? (& what if you do not publish?)

When is the right time to publish? Who is your audience / target market? Where should you publish & how do you choose?

(and is there some possibility of ”scientific chauvinism” in this choice?)

Is there a potential ‘contradiction’ or complication with writing a paper for a Journal Special Issue?

Journal Impact Factors vs. Paper Citations? What is the procedure for submission? Follow the GUIDELINES carefully! Who do you include on your paper?


How do you prepare a good abstract – and is this important?

What is the guideline for an Introduction? Don’t waste Journal space: Concise Exptl; R&D;

Tables/Figs! Use unambiguous English (simple?) Consider the use of Supplementary Data – much

easier in the era of on-line access to Journal How important are references?

- getting them RIGHT!- including all / most relevant citations

Choosing KEYWORDS (search engine criteria) Prepare the MS in the correct format for electronic

uploading (Figs/Tables in the Text copy; or Figs/Text separate uploaded files? ..Guidelines)


Editor letter & Choosing reviewers; Friends? Fair? Avoid competitors? …. Now it is up to the reviewers ….

Rejection? Lukewarm, or positive review is received.. How should you handle your response to reviewers?(How should you handle a rejection?)

.. a considered and precise REVISION…. Now it is up to the Editor (again)……. CONGRATULATIONS …. Now it is accepted

Graphics for the on-line Journal Contents? When can you talk about your research e.g. at a

conference?


Why do you want to publish? (& what if you do not publish?)

PhD success; Promotion; It is the ‘Thing to Do’; Good idea at the Time; If it is worth doing the research, it is worth publishing it – otherwise it stays a secret; ~ 12 Honours projects published.

When is the right time to publish?

ASAP? When the work represents a well considered and completed piece of research. Hold off until a series of papers is ready?

Who is your audience / target market?

Someone to impress? Research colleagues; Industry users; Manufacturers; Grant collaborators;


Where should you publish & how do you choose? And is there some possibility of ”scientific chauvinism” in this choice?)

Where papers of like topic are published. See your references.. A journal where you need to address a new group of users; An industry journal whose readers might not read ‘academic’ journals; (and ‘easy’ journal??)

Is there a potential ‘contradiction’ or complication with writing a paper for a Journal Special Issue?

More frequent invitations are received for Special Issues.. Does this mean Journals are pushing and directing research? What if the research is not quite ready? But you submit it because of the ‘deadline’? Will it be more favourably reviewed?


Journal Impact Factors vs. Paper Citations?

Go for the BEST? what if it is not the correct journal? What if it is high impact, but you get poor citations (because readers are not reading the work, not aware of it?). ERA accounts for both JOURNAL IMPACT and PAPER CITATIONS. Good if it is above the WORLD & AUST ranking.

What is the procedure for submission? Search Journal homepage for current GUIDELINES (e.g if the paper needs to have line numbers..)

Follow the GUIDELINES carefully! No excuse for not doing what the Journal asks (but some reviewers might not be aware of them..)


Editor: Royce W. MurrayUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel HillE-mail: [email protected] Edition ISSN: 0003-2700Web Edition ISSN: 1520-68822007 Impact Factor: 5.2872007 Total Citations: 73,757

(c.f. J Chem Educ. Very troublesome Guidelines…)


Information for AuthorsManuscripts and supporting information must be submitted through the ACS Paragon Plus Environment. .. guidelines and document templates are available, .. information on file preparation, acceptable software, and graphics. .. consult all .. instructions .. before beginning .Information for Authors

Information for ReviewersReviews must be submitted through the ACS Paragon Plus Environment. ... Reviewers must be registered in ACS Paragon Plus in order to submit reviews.Information for Reviewers


Copyright & Permissions/RightslinkForms and instructions for the ACS Copyright. Permissions for ACS Pubs ... Permissions Request Form Copyright & Permissions/Rightslink

Publishing Policies.. Ethical Guidelines for … publication of research ... Editors, Authors, and Reviewers .. policy on prior publication.Ethical Guidelines Journal Policy on Prior Publication

Publishing Tools... online Manuscript Submission ... ACS Style Guide, . downloadable .. Style Package .. Supporting Information..Publishing Tools


Who do you include on your paper? Collaborators; those who contributed; but some have very strict rules about this – need a certain level of input to be included. A Research Director with no input does not get automatic authorship; Need to sort this out…

How do you prepare a good abstract – and is this important?

Make the reader want to read it… concise; word limit? Make it quantitative (include main quant. data)

What is the guideline for an Introduction?

I use 2 pages as my limit, unless it is a theory paper. Background what has been done, what needs to be done. How this paper addresses this limitation in our knowledge.


Don’t waste Journal space: Concise Exptl; R&D; Tables/Figs! Use unambiguous English (simple?)

Don’t repeat in a FIG, what is in Table. If it can be easily stated in text, do it. “Grammar of Graphs; Theology of Tables” Bob Schoenfield. Good, clear English. Unambiguous. Non-repetitive. Native English speaker? Learn the required style.

Consider the use of Supplementary Data – much easier in the era of

on-line access to Journal Do large tabulated data sets make use of space unweildy? Suppl. Data is convenient, does not detract from the paper – may make its impact better??


How important are references? - get them RIGHT! - include all / most

relevant citations Don’t spell the name of the reviewer wrongly!! Don’t use inconsistent referencing!! ENDNOTE styles, and use of correctly modified templates is EASY. Don’t blindly accept downloaded citations. CHECK. Wrong Refs reflects poorly on paper – has same attention been paid to your INTERPRETATION? Don’t leave out important refs that might have just been published!!

Choosing KEYWORDS (search engine criteria) Badly chosen keywords lack specificity. Think of who need to find your article. Words added into search protocols – could you find your paper? Repeated Title words?


Correct format for electronic uploading (Figs/Tables in the Text copy?

Or Figs/Text separate uploaded files? Check the Guidelines. There may be some leniency, but if the Publ Editor requires a certain format – you will oblige – correct? Do you locate Figs/Tables in the text location in the review copy? Check..

Editor letter & Choosing reviewers; Friends? Fair? Avoid competitors?

This I the last thing I do wrote the Ed Letter. Then agonise over the reviewer choice. Keep your buddy on-side! Sometimes a hard reviewer makes the paper draft better.. But maybe a direct competitor is not wise..


Rejection, Lukewarm, or Positive review received? How should you handle your response to reviewers? (How should you handle a rejection?)

We’ve all had rejection, but there are degrees of rejection. Direct to a different (lower IF?) journal. Should/Must tell the next editor about this. Take it a as learning experience. See if the MS was a little too ‘ambitious’ for the Journal. Does it need more work?

.. a considered and precise REVISION

Reply to all points in the revision cover letter; don’t assume the editor will not check! Follow guidelines for revision: Track changes for the new version? Reduce Figs/Tables; Correct Your References???


Graphics for the on-line Journal Contents?

Great – this means your paper is accepted.. It is nice to see a good graphic alongside the on-line Contents table. Something that represents the topic area – need not be from the paper Figs.

When can you talk about your research e.g. at a conference?

When it is submitted (or just about to be) – if you are pretty sure it is going to be accepted. Careful if it isn’t submitted and it takes time to submit. A paper at a conference reveals the subject, and any author is free to extend that if they can see an extension you did not think about. You should be doing that work already…!


Good luck!

And we are all in a race (maybe not of our own making) like it or not!

Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science Professor Philip Marriott School of Applied...

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