centre for water management and reuse publish from your phd: why, how and where simon beecham...
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Centre for Water Management and Reuse
Publish from your PhD:Why, How and Where
Simon Beecham
Professor of Sustainable Water Resources Engineering
Head of School of Natural and Built Environments
University of South Australia
Centre for Water Management and Reuse
Why publish?
• All researchers, to preserve their integrity, have an obligation to publish the results of their studies (McMurray et al., 2004)
• Nothing is easier than not to publish. Anyone can be a bad researcher
• However, consistent publication requires a high level of research excellence
• Journals and books simply cannot afford to publish nonsense
• Publication is the way to keep researchers on their toes
McMurray,A., Pace, R. & Scott, D.,(2004), Research: a commonsense approach, Victoria, Thomson Social Science Press. Chapter 1, p. 19-23.
Centre for Water Management and Reuse
Benefits of publishing
• Publication is a pathway to showcasing yourself and your research and has the capacity to help you gain personal or commercial competitive advantage– gain may result in recognition or status in the form of
becoming an authority in a specific field, and/or – may even be used for promotion
• Research is improved through peer review– How else could you get two to three highly intelligent
world experts to spend two to three days of their time analysing your work and providing constructive feedback?
Centre for Water Management and Reuse
When to Publish
• Once you know enough to have something to say, then you are ready to publish
• Three qualifications of – authenticity– originality, and – significance
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Where to Publish
• Journal– Long turn-around time
• often a gap of two to three years between the completion of a research project and its publication in a journal
– Can be archival– More prestigious– Better feedback from
reviewers and editor• Conference
– Immediate feedback– Publication within 6 or 7
months– Slacker reviewing
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Which Journals?
• Publish in high-ranked journals– Impact factor– ERA (Australian) ranking (A*, A, B or C)
• See: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_journal_list.htm#1
• Publish in the field
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Starting your writing
• Start early, don’t underestimate how long it takes• Have your content set fairly early and start writing under
those headings – Use the questions to structure your writing. Think of new
headings to go with each idea you feel like writing about. Write under the headings and rearrange them later if necessary
• Don’t be perfectionist in the early stage, better to get started than get it perfect first time
• Set a consistent format/template/styles from the start and use the same software throughout group
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Some tips
• Understand the writing process– Managing time and place– Procrastination is the thief of
time
• Understand your audience• Establish a clear structure• A picture paints a thousand
words
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Tips: Papers in Progress
• Keep a folder on your computer titled “Papers in Progress” with sub-folders for each paper on which you are working
• Record your ideas for each paper on a whiteboard
Paper 1............
Paper 2............
Paper 3............
Paper 4............
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Objectives of a journal or conference paper
• Most people will never read your thesis – don’t think about this too much – it can be depressing
• The best way to tell others about your work is through an international journal or at a professional conference
• This also provides a good opportunity for feedback
• Papers are summaries of your work for presentation to a broad audience, not all of whom are experts in your field
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Purpose of a paper
• Give readers a clear understanding of the research problem and why it was important
• Describe exactly how data were collected (experimental design and methodology)
• Present all data completely and precisely• Interpret the data and describe how it resolved
the research problem (or not)• To draw conclusions and make
recommendations
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Research highlights
• The effective porosity was measured and the total porosity was estimated.
• The total porosity shows a good correlation with the effective porosity.
• The exponential equation has been examined for porous concrete.
• A new model using Griffith’s fracture theory was proposed.
• Proposed model represents a significant improvement over the exponential equation.
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Over to you...
• How many journal papers do you think you can produce from your research studies?
• What are the three main reasons why you are not publishing right now?– Reason 1.....– Reason 2 .....– Reason 3 .....
Centre for Water Management and Reuse
Conclusions
• Publishing in peer-reviewed journals is one of the best ways of ensuring excellence in your doctoral or your masters by thesis studies
• It brings in anonymous world experts to help you
• If you publish three to four journal papers in high impact journals, it is a brave external examiner that questions the findings of these peer-reviewed processes
• It raises your confidence and self-esteem and it trains you well for a productive future research career
Simon BeechamProfessor of Sustainable Water Resources EngineeringHead of School of Natural and Built EnvironmentsUniversity of South Australia