20140825 edanz kyushu session 1

Kyushu University Department of Agriculture Seminar Series – Session 1

Dr Jeffrey Robens

25 August 2014

Seminar series

Session 1 Session 2

Effective writing Manuscript structure

Journal selection Cover letters

Methodology Peer review

What are your research goals?

Seminar Series Goals

Why publish? Exchange ideas globally

Your research is not complete until it is

published

Communicate on a global stage

One publication per year

International language of academics

People want to hear from Japanese

researchers

International reputation

Funding Career

advancement

Why English?

Publication success = Academic success

Publication Metrics and Success on the Academic Job Market van Dijk et al. Current Biology. 2014; 24: R516-R517.

• >25,000 researchers in PubMed • Determined which factors positively correlated

with academic success

• Number of publications • Impact factor of the journal • Number of citations • University ranking • Gender

Publication output of Japan

www.scimagojr.com

Publication output of Kyushu University

www.scimagojr.com

Top 5 journals for Kyushu University

www.scimagojr.com

Journal name Number of articles

Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture Kyushu University 1115

Chemistry Letters 614

Lecture Notes in Computer Sciences 569

Journal of Biological Chemistry 503

Journal of the Physical Society of Japan 403

What do international journal editors want?

Interesting to journal’s readership

Increase impact

High quality research

Original and novel research

Clear and concise English

Real-world applications

Relevant topic

Significant results

Logical presentation

High readability

Addresses an important problem researchers are facing

Findings that advance the knowledge in the field

Information and results clearly presented in a logical manner

Ideas are easily understood

Qualities of a well-written article

Professional writing skills

Section 1

Writing skills Use your figures to structure your manuscript

Where to start?

Your findings are why you want to publish your work

Form the basis of your manuscript

First step, is to logically organize your findings

Figure 1

Figure 2

Table 1

Figure 3

Is anything missing? ? Additional analyses?

Writing skills

Where to start?

Your findings are why you want to publish your work

Form the basis of your manuscript

First step, is to logically organize your findings

Figure 1

Figure 2

Table 1

Figure 3

Figure 4

New data

Use your figures to structure your manuscript

Writing skills Prepare an outline

Now that you know what findings you are going to present, you know what you need to write about

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

What background information you will introduce

What techniques you will describe

What findings you will discuss

What interpretations, limitations, and implications you will discuss

I. Introduction A. General background B. Related studies C. Problems in the field D. Aims

II. Methods A. Subjects/Samples/Materials B. General methods C. Specific methods D. Statistical analyses

III. Results A. Key points about Figure 1 B. Key points about Table 1 C. Key points about Figure 2 D. Key points about Figure 3 E. Key points about Figure 4

IV. Discussion A. Major conclusion B. Key findings that support conclusion C. Relevance to published studies D. Limitations E. Unexpected results F. Implications G. Future directions

Knowing what you need to discuss, write down the key ideas

Use short bullet points to list ideas

Don’t let “writing correct English sentences” get in the way of outlining your ideas

List important information from your reading in the appropriate section with citations

I. Introduction A. General background B. Related studies C. Problems in the field D. Aims

II. Methods A. Subjects/Samples/Materials B. General methods C. Specific methods D. Statistical analyses

III. Results A. Key points about Figure 1 B. Key points about Table 1 C. Key points about Figure 2 D. Key points about Figure 3 E. Key points about Figure 4

IV. Discussion A. Major conclusion B. Key findings that support conclusion C. Relevance to published studies D. Unexpected/negative findings E. Limitations F. Implications G. Future directions

What background information you will introduce

Introduction

What analyses you will describe

Methods

What findings you will present

Results

What interpretations, limitations, and implications you will discuss

Discussion

Writing skills Getting feedback

After completing your outline, discuss it with your colleagues

Make the necessary changes before you begin writing

Write your manuscript section-by-section, do not get overwhelmed by thinking about writing an entire manuscript

Set deadlines as to when the first draft of each section will be completed

Get feedback from you colleagues after each section and make changes before beginning the next section

Writing skills The ‘write’ order

Manuscript sections

• Title • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Figures • Discussion

Writing order

• Methods • Figures • Results • Discussion • Introduction • Abstract • Title

Methods

Figures

Results

• Write as you are doing experiments • Include any changes you’ve made • Methods sections are usually consistent

• Prepare figures after choosing journal • Repeat experiments if necessary

• Based on prepared figures • Subsections based on each figure

Discussion

Introduction

Abstract

• Conclusions based on presented data • Discuss relevant studies

• Narrow- or broad-focused journal • Introduce ideas necessary for

understanding the Results/Discussion

• Concisely summarize manuscript • According to author guidelines

Title • Concisely summarize key finding • Include key words

Writing skills After the first draft….

Update references

• 75% from the last 5 years • Avoid too many self citations • Include international citations

Most references Introduction

Discussion Methods Some references

No references Conclusion Abstract Results

Writing skills After the first draft….

Format manuscript

• Journal template • Word limits • Reference formatting

Revise manuscript

• Proofread • Input from colleagues • Reduce by 15% • Clear Figures/Tables • Logical flow

In groups:

1. Briefly discuss your writing strategies

2. Identify one ‘ideal’ writing strategy per group

3. Share this strategy with others

Professional writing skills

Improving readability

Section 2

Readability Japanese vs. English

scientific writing style

Japanese English

Followed by conclusion

Cause/reason comes first

Passive voice

Followed by explanation

Conclusion comes first

Active voice

Readability Reader expectations

Information is easier to understand when it is placed where readers expect to find it

Good writers are aware of these expectations

Readability Subject-verb placement

Readers expect verbs to closely follow the subject

Subject Verb

Readers expect verbs to closely follow the subject

Subject Verb

The viral infection that the patient caught on her recent trip to the outbreak-prone areas in Africa spread quickly.

The patient caught a viral infection on her recent trip to the outbreak-prone areas in Africa, and this infection spread quickly.

Readability Short sentences

Reading once… 4% of readers can understand a 27-word sentence

75% of readers can understand a 17-word sentence

Pinner and Pinner (1998) Communication Skills

Goals to aim for: One idea per sentence

15–20 words

Readability

30 words

Economists considered Tanaka Industries, a large Japanese trading corporation founded in 1916 outside of Osaka by Ichiro Tanaka, to be a model in the development of modern employee conditions worldwide.

Short sentences

Readability Short sentences

Economists considered Tanaka Industries to be a model in the development of modern employee conditions worldwide. This large Japanese trading corporation was founded in 1916 outside of Osaka by Ichiro Tanaka.

16 words

15 words

One idea per sentence

Readability Active voice

Sentences written in the active voice are:

simple direct clear easy to read

The mechanisms regulating seed dormancy were investigated.

Passive

We investigated the mechanisms regulating seed dormancy.

Active

Readability Active voice is preferred

“Use the active voice when it is less wordy and more direct than the passive”. (3rd ed., pg. 42)

“Use the active voice rather than the passive voice…”. www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/effective-verb-use.aspx

“As a matter of style, passive voice is typically, but not always, inferior to active voice”. (15th ed., pg. 177)

“In general, authors should use the active voice…”. (10th

ed., pg. 320)

ACS Style Guide

APA Style

Chicago Style Guide

AMA Manual of Style

“Nature journals prefer authors to write in the active voice” (http://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_write.html)

Nature

Readability Stress position

Readers focus at the end of the sentence to determine what is important.

1. You deserve a raise, but the budget is tight.

Which sentence suggests that you

will get a raise?

2. The budget is tight, but you deserve a raise.

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/flow/

Readability

The budget is tight, but you deserve a raise. Your salary

will increase at the beginning of next year.

http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/flow/

Stress position

The stress position also introduces the topic of the next sentence

Stress position

Topic position

The topic position introduces the idea of the current sentence

Readability Topic position

The patient went to the hospital to see a gastroenterologist. The doctor then performed a series of diagnostic tests. The results showed the patient suffered from a bacterial infection. Antibiotics were prescribed to treat the infection before the patient developed an ulcer.

idea idea idea idea

Topic link

sentence

Readability

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality for men and women. Despite smoking prevention and cessation programs and advances in early detection, the 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is only 16% with current therapies. Although lung cancer incidence rates have recently declined in the United States, more lung cancer is now diagnosed when considered together in former- and never-smokers than in current smokers. Thus, even if all of the national anti-smoking campaign goals are met, lung cancer will remain a major public health problem for decades. New ways to treat or prevent lung cancer are therefore needed. One potential therapeutic target for lung cancer is the Wnt signaling pathway. The canonical Wnt signaling pathway in mammals consists of a family of secreted lipid-modified Wnt protein ligands that bind to a family of 7-pass transmembrane Frizzled (Fzd) receptors, as reviewed…

Busch et al. BMC Cancer. 2012; 13: 211.

Linking your ideas in your manuscript

Topic sentence

Stress sentence

Topic sentence

Support

Common mistakes

Section 3

Customer Service Common mistakes

Compared with is for comparing similar things

Compared to is for comparing different things

This year’s deforestation rates were compared to those from last year.

This year’s deforestation rates were compared with those from last year.

Comparisons

Use between for comparisons of two items

Use among for more than two items

‘Between’ or ‘among’?

… the only difference between the control group and the experimental group is ...

… significant differences were observed in the values among the five groups.

Customer Service Common mistakes Data is plural

Data is the plural form of datum

The data was analyzed... This data suggests…

The data were analyzed… These data suggest…

Nature’s guide to authors:

Nature is an international journal covering all the sciences. Contributions should therefore be written clearly and simply so that they are accessible to readers in other disciplines and to readers for whom English is not their first language.

www.nature.com/nature/authors/gta/index.html#a4

“I should use complex words to make my writing more impressive.”

Customer Service Common mistakes Complex words

To ascertain the efficaciousness of the program, we interrogated the participants upon completion.

To determine the success of the program, we questioned the participants upon completion.

Customer Service Common mistakes Simple words

Preferred Enough Clear Try Very Size Asked Keep Later Enough End Use

Avoid Adequate Apparent Endeavor Exceedingly Magnitude Requested Retain Subsequently Sufficient Terminate Utilization

Avoid At a concentration of 2 g/L At a temperature of 37C At a wavelength of 340 nm In order to In the first place Four in number Green color Subsequent to Prior to

Preferred At 2 g/L At 37C At 340 nm To First Four Green After Before

Unnecessary words

In the first place, in order to determine the critical point of the material, we incubated it at a

temperature of 95°C until it became black in color.

First, to determine the critical point of the material, we incubated it at 95°C until it became black.

28 words

18 words

Unnecessary words

Effective writing activity

In the paragraph in your handout, identify as many mistakes as you can

• Subject-verb placement • Short sentences • Active voice

• Common mistakes • Simple words • Unnecessary words

…and others?

A new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university was contrived. This program had three stages; to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students, once the number of local students increased, recruit students nationally, and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we find that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase between the three schools. One of the many potential possibilities was that the students in school C were wealthier compared to schools A and B; therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Identify all the mistakes you can find in this paragraph.

A new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university was contrived. This program had three stages; to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students, once the number of local students increased, recruit students nationally, and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we find that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase between the three schools. One of the many potential possibilities was that the students in school C were wealthier compared to schools A and B; therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Identify all the mistakes you can find in this paragraph. Passive voice Complex words

We developed a new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university. This program had three stages; to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students, once the number of local students increased, recruit students nationally, and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we find that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase between the three schools. One of the many potential possibilities was that the students in school C were wealthier compared to schools A and B; therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Colon/semicolon usage

Parallel structure

We developed a new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university. This program had three stages: to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students; once the number of local students increased, to recruit students nationally; and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we find that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase between the three schools. One of the many potential possibilities was that the students in school C were wealthier compared to schools A and B; therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Verb tense Respectively

We developed a new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university. This program had three stages: to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students; once the number of local students increased, to recruit students nationally; and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we found that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%, respectively. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase between the three schools. One of the many potential possibilities was that the students in school C were wealthier compared to schools A and B; therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Between/among

We developed a new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university. This program had three stages: to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students; once the number of local students increased, to recruit students nationally; and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we found that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%, respectively. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase among the three schools. One of the many potential possibilities was that the students in school C were wealthier compared to schools A and B; therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Too long (43 words) Unnecessary words Compare with

We developed a new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university. This program had three stages: to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students; once the number of local students increased, to recruit students nationally; and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we found that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%, respectively. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase among the three schools. One possibility was that the students in school C were wealthier compared with those in schools A and B. Therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, this data suggests that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first in order to more quickly aggrandize university enrollment.

Data is plural Unnecessary words Complex words

We developed a new program to increase the enrollment of students at the university. This program had three stages: to recruit at regional schools to first increase the enrollment of local students; once the number of local students increased, to recruit students nationally; and finally to recruit students internationally. In the first stage, we found that recruiting students from schools A, B, and C augmented their enrollment by 5, 9, and 22%, respectively. It was not clear why school C had a much larger increase among the three schools. One possibility was that the students in school C were wealthier compared with those in schools A and B. Therefore, they may have had more financial resources to pay the tuition fees at our university, which increased by 32% this year. Together, these data suggest that schools from wealthier areas should be targeted first to more quickly increase university enrollment.

Thank you!

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Jeffrey Robens: jrobens@edanzgroup.com

Journal selection

Section 4

Journal selection Timing

Choose your target journal:

– After you have decided you have enough results for a publication

– After you have decided on how high to aim—high, medium or low impact

– After you have decided how broadly relevant your findings are

– Before writing your manuscript

Journal selection

Choose your journal first

Author guidelines • Manuscript structure • Word limits • Reference style

Aims and scope • Topics • Readership • Be sure to emphasize

Relevant references Writing style

Journal selection Broad vs. narrow focus

Aims and scope

Broad focus

Narrow focus

Make sure your findings will be of broad interest

Make sure your findings will be of interest to

specific area(s)

Journal selection

Aims and scope

Planta publishes timely and substantial articles on all aspects of plant biology. We welcome original research papers on any plant species.

Planta

Broad focus

Journal selection

How did related articles target the journal?

Chlorophyll is present in many plant organs, including immature fruit where it is usually degraded during ripening. Mature green kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) are an exception, with high concentrations of chlorophyll remaining in the fruit flesh. In gold-fleshed kiwifruit (A. chinensis), chlorophyll is degraded to colourless catabolites upon fruit ripening, leaving yellow carotenoids visible. We have identified candidate genes for the control of chlorophyll degradation in kiwifruit…

Pilkington et al. Planta. 2012; 236: 1615−1628.

The control of chlorophyll levels in maturing kiwifruit

Broad interest

Broad focus

Journal selection

Aims and scope

The aim of Paddy and Water Environment is to advance the science and technology of water and environment related disciplines in paddy-farming. The scope includes the paddy-farming related scientific and technological aspects in agricultural engineering such as irrigation and drainage, soil and water conservation, land and water resources management, paddy multi-functionality, agricultural policy, regional planning, bioenvironmental systems, and ecological conservation and restoration in paddy farming regions.

Paddy and Water Environment

Narrow focus

Journal selection

Aims and scope

The aim of Paddy and Water Environment is to advance the science and technology of water and environment related disciplines in paddy-farming. The scope includes the paddy-farming related scientific and technological aspects in agricultural engineering such as irrigation and drainage, soil and water conservation, land and water resources management, paddy multi-functionality, agricultural policy, regional planning, bioenvironmental systems, and ecological conservation and restoration in paddy farming regions.

Paddy and Water Environment

Make sure your manuscript specifically targets one of these areas of interest!

Narrow focus

Journal selection

How did related articles target the journal?

Effects of tillage and irrigation on the occurrence and establishment of native wetland plant species in fallow paddy fields

Traditional weed management, such as tillage and irrigation, has led to an enhanced maintenance of wetland plant species in fallow paddy fields. Recent herbicide usage and improvements in irrigation and drainage systems however have caused habitat loss of these species, especially in fields on open lowlands…

Takanose et al. Paddy Water Environ. 2013; 11: 1−4.

Keywords from the Aims and Scope

Narrow focus

Journal selection Factors to consider when choosing a journal

Aims & scope Readership

Open access

Which factor is most important to you?

Impact factor

Varies by field

Indexing

Journal selection Open access

http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcbiol/about#openaccess

¥270,000!

Journal selection Open access myths

Open access is too expensive!

• Not all OA journals charge a publication fee (~1/3)

• Many grants (59%) and universities (24%) pay for OA

fees (only 12% of authors paid)*

• May offer waiver for authors who cannot afford

*SOAP survey: http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.5260

Journal selection Open access myths

The quality of OA journals is not good

• OA journals have the same peer review process as subscription-based journals

• IFs are lower partly because they are newer

Less visibility in the field Fewer citations

Journal selection Predatory journals

Some OA journals are not good

Easy way to get money from authors

• Promise quick and easy publication • Often ask for a ‘submission/handling’ fee

If unsure, please check the Beall’s List of Predatory Publishers

http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/12/06/bealls-list-of-predatory-publishers-2013/

Journal selection Choosing a target journal

Significance Aims and Scope Impact

Journal selection must be based on an

honest evaluation of your findings

Journal selection

New findings

Evaluating significance: Novelty

Medium to high impact

Low to medium impact

Incremental advances

Conceptual advances

How new are my results compared with those already published?

Journal selection Evaluating significance: Relevance

How broadly relevant is your work?

Species specific? Relevant to human condition? How common is the disease?

Biology

Geographically restricted? Relevant to business or government policy?

Forestry

International or regional journal?

Broad- or narrow- focused journal?

Journal selection Evaluating significance: Importance

Area of popular appeal

Global warming, genetically modified crops, deforestation

Important real-world applications

Rice resistant to high salt conditions, shrimp resistant to viral infections

Journal selection Journal Selector www.edanzediting.co.jp/journal_selector

Insert your proposed abstract

Journal selection

Recommended journals

Filter by: • Impact factor • Publishing frequency • Open access

Journal Selector www.edanzediting.co.jp/journal_selector

Journal selection

Semantic matching terms

Journal’s aims & scope, IF, and publication frequency

Are they recent?

20140825 edanz kyushu session 1

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