Writing an international

publication: A path to success

Praneed Songwathana, RN., PhD. Faculty of Nursing, Prince of Songkla University

E-mail: praneed.sw@gmail.com

Learning outcomes expected today:

gain motivation and a path to

success in publication

P. Songwathana 2020

Already complete a project

But don’t know how to write

Used to write

but have no success, No published paper

Used to have

a rejection from journal

and feel no confidence

What is your experience in writing a paper?

Prefer reading, Not writing

Only publish a local/

national journal

Never/ no interest

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• What are your barriers?

• How to get through it?

Writing a manuscript/paper: How is it differ from writing a report?

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5

Short, limited page number /word

counts Update topic/

literature Writing a

paper

Concise and using journal language

The differences

Editorial process

Wider audience

The significance of writing a

research/academic paper

Significance of Writing

Research

Knowledge Generation

Extension

Knowledge Application

Response to the

organization’s aim Increase the

recognition and

acceptance to the public

Create research

collaboration/ networking

Teaching

Knowledge Dissemination

P. Songwathana 2018

3 roadmaps to reach a successful

writing (ready for submission)

1. Plan

(prepare) Your topic of

journal interest Guideline of

authors Draft outline/ tentative plan

2. Do (write it out)

Review Case study/

analysis study

Research/

Development

3. Recheck/

evaluate Peer

review/revising

Reassess

Checklist/

guideline

Editing/revising/

Submitting

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 P. Songwathana 2020

1.Preparation and plan (quality of paper must match with

the right academic journal) P. Songwathana 2020

Coverage and Quality of

Journals

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How to Select ISI/Scopus

Journals? • Choose field of knowledge

• Determine journals’ Impact Factor and Quartiles

• Select the journals within the quartile (Q1, Q2,

Q3)

• For all journals selected before visit their website

• Check type of works accepted (Review, Original

research article, Letters etc.)

• Check the turnaround time for articles submitted

to the journal

Rekha Timalsina, PhD Candidate,

2020

10

. How to Select ISI/Scopus

Journals? Contd…

• Check its publications per year

• Check type of fees implanted

• Check if it has online edition

• Check the length and structure of the

manuscript acceptable to the journal

• Check acceptance rate

Rekha Timalsina, PhD Candidate,

2020

11

Top Three ISI-Indexing services

• Science Citation Index (SCI) or Science

Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)

• Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)

• Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI)

• A new indexing service launched in 2015

named as Emerging Sources Citation

Index (ESCI)

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Some Useful Journal Finder

Links

• https://www.journalguide.com/

• http://jane.biosemantics.org/suggestions

.php

• http://journalsuggester.springer.com/

• https://www.edanzediting.com/journal-

selector

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From your expertise, interest, important aspects of the field

Relevant to the themes of journal/ hot issue

Finding topics to be attractive to the journal

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Highlight issues ie. well design, problem solving methods, unique/new knowledge

Choosing a journal and study a guideline of authors

• General or specific types of journal (who are the

target readers?)

• Data base of the journal (ISI, Scopus, SJR)

• Aim and scope of the journal

• High impact journal? It has now required the

inclusion of statements such as

– ‘What is already known about the topic?’ and

– ‘What this paper or study adds?

• Editorial board from various disciplines

• The paper and writing styles

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JOURNALS’ STYLE & REFERENCING

“Guidelines for Authors” is important information: editorial policy, format and style, how to submit your articles and the process of publication (reviewing process, accepted for publication and editing proofs)

“Vancouver (use name and year)” or the APA(use numbering)” style Important: text and the reference list must be matched, and references must be cited either quote an author directly or paraphrase to prevent “plagiarism”

The publishing process (type, time, cost, requirement) look at author’s guideline

Decision tree for authors to discriminate potential/

good OA journal for publication using COPE

(https://publicationethics.org/)

P. Songwathana 2018

Do not choose

Beall’s list of predatory open access journals (Watson R. RIP. Nurs Open 2017; 4: 60)

• Two major points on Beall's list were

– (i) the lack of rigorous control of scientific quality of the

submitted manuscript due to the absence of or minimal

nature of the peer review process

– (ii) the efforts made by publishers to attract authors and

encourage to submit manuscripts by aggressively

emailing, advertising rapid review processes and

creating a false image of a reputable journal, providing

falsified impact factors or fake editorial members

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Check Beall’s list https://www.scribd.com/document/439848476/BEALLS-LIST-OF-PREDATORY-PUBLISHERS

Tentative plan and outline

– How many paper? (not repetition and maintain ethical standard)

– Who are the target readers? – What are the contents to be

presented? Should make a draft or mapping ideas/outlines of contents in writing

– When to complete or submit a paper? Should make a tentative timetable and commit yourself

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2 Do: Steps on writing a paper

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Writing a literature/systemic review

According to Steward [2004], a good review should be:

• Comprehensive: evidence should be gathered from all

relevant sources, using a standard protocol

• Fully referenced: allowing others to follow the path of

the author to the paper’s conclusion.

• Selective: using appropriate search strategies to find

the key evidence.

• Relevant: focusing on pertinent data. A synthesis of

key themes and ideas.

• Balanced: between different ideas and opinions.

Critical: in its appraisal of the literature.

• Analytical: developing new ideas and understandings

from the evidence. P. Songwathana 2020

Writing a case study Analyses a real life situation where existing

problems need to be solved by apply

ideas/knowledge from related theory to a

practical situation;

• Identify the problems

• Select the major problems in the case

• Suggest solutions to these major problems

• Recommend the best solution to be

implemented

• Detail how this solution should be implemented

P. Songwathana 2020

A framework for writing 2 statement

of the problem

3 aims or objectives/ hypothesis

1 abstract

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6 conclusion and references

5 results, discussion

4 design/methodology of research, instruments,

ethical considerations

Writing a research paper

Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research

The checklist Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/pu

blication/339666031_

Q u a l i t y o f p a p e r

u s i n g E Q U A T O R S e c o n d a r y

e v i d e n c e

COREQ Qualitative

SPIRIT

CONSORT

STARD/TRIPOT

STROBE

CARE

Diagnostic study

SQUIRE

Epidemiology study

Study protocol

RCT

Case study

Quality improvement study

CPG Agree

Systemic review / Meta-

analysis

PRISMA

P r i m a r y

e v i d e n c e

Economic evaluation study

CHEERS

25

Format Structure/

Un-structure

Systemic

Keywords Writing an

abstract

Concise/clear of content/ Highlight

the results Word counts 200-300

Principles of writing an abstract

Should have no references cited

Why did you study in this topic? Write a background information, the significance ,purpose and value of the study

Describe the findings ,follow the objectives, highlight the important first Presenting in the simple way using table, diagram, statistics as appropriate

5 Conclusion

Methods

Introduction

3

2

1

Results

Discussion

what the findings mean and contrasts them to those of prior studies. Addressing the limitations, implications for practice and future research are included

How the study was conducted and why those methods were chosen. This section needs to be detailed enough for others to replicate

Discussion 4

W r i t i n g

t h e

m a i n

t e x t

Tips of writing a research paper

Write as order by follow the framework (1-6) or

based on your styles/preferences

Write an abstract or the first draft (from a report)

throughout one day

Study and learn the language of the journal when

writing

Commitment with time and task management is

important

Need co-authoring, mentoring, English and

professional experts to speed up the writing

international publication’s skill

P. Songwathana 2020

Potential risk/comments for

publication • Not suitable or interesting to general readers

• Potential bias and plagiarism

• Content too narrow or localized for International

readership

• Content superficial

• Not relevant to practice (education, managerial or

clinical)

• Subject is too specialized. (Try another journal)

• Subject has not been covered adequately in the journal.

• Paper is poorly structured

• Inadequate literature review

• Ambiguous research and vague hypotheses P. Songwathaza 2020

Potential risk/comments for

publication • Inadequate description of the procedure (Not enough

details for replication)

• Inadequate sample and descriptions of the instruments

• Psychometric properties of instruments (validity and

reliability)

• Questionable statistical analysis

• Discussion section is the repetitions of the results

sections, or is not relevant to the findings of the study

• Generalization of findings limited due to

methodological designs

• Flaws in the writing style

• Excessive number of words P. Songwathaza 2020

Lesson learnt: writing a

significance

What is a highlight message?

What is a new knowledge to have?

What has been lack from a literature/previous study?

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3. Recheck and evaluate (checklist and peer review)

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Essential characteristics of good

manuscript

No. Essential features

1 Specific goal and time of the study

2 Having the Ethical Approval

3 Good methodology/study design

4 Good statistical Analysis

5 Appropriate and correct interpretation of

Data

6 Good figures/illustrations

7 Appropriate use of language/grammar P. Songwathana 2018

Do and recheck with team • Linking by word, sentence, paragraph

• Check flow of content and logic with

evidence support

• Use necessary references

• Analytic method, not copy and paste

• Clearly discussion with evidence, theory,

previous studies

• Using peer or team for reviewer

P. Songwathana 2020

Important points of preparing a final

submitted paper

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• Use double line spacing

• Include line and page numbering

• Use SI units: to ensure that all special

characters used are embedded in the

text, otherwise they will be lost during

conversion to PDF

• Do not use page breaks in your

manuscript

Editing and revising before submission

Revise, recheck, reconsider

Fix all technical error and management

(format and references) by strictly adhere

to the journal's guidelines

Leave the manuscript for a few days and

return for reading, very helpful to find some

potential mistakes

Submitting with cover letter and checklist

of attached files

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Essential files to be ready for submission

Cover letter

Title page and author’s detail

Authorship declaration/conflict of interest

Abstract with highlight

Final manuscript (the main text without

author name)

Tables

Figures

Others/additional documents as necessary P. Songwathana 2020

After submission Showing patience during waiting for a

response (3-6 months)

If accepted, point to point basis when

revising as each reviewer/editor’s

comments

If rejected, can write a letter to ask

editor for further improvement, learn

more and seek alternative journal

Resubmitting a paper (on time)

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Review Process and

Response • The journal decision will be one of the

following:

Accepted without revisions

Accepted with minor revisions (indicated)

Accepted with major revisions (indicated)

Rejected but encouraged to resubmit with

revisions

Rejected no revision will be accepted

• If the papers gets revision, it important to

carefully respond to reviewer comments

MY LESSON LEARNT: STRATEGIC

S-Strive for

Succeed

C-Communication & coordination

T – Teamwork & Collaboration

R – Responsible

& Commitment

A – Accumulative

idea & assessment T –

Time management

E– Empower &

Effective

G – Guidance &

gather

I – Internal & external

support

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How to reach a success in publication? Lesson learnt from a novice (By student)

ISI Scopus TCI

https://pubswatch.psu.ac.th/rp_author.php

Q3: If you are the reviewer, how will you consider it? (accept, reject) Why?

Q2: If you are the co-author, what would you suggest?

Q1: What is a highlight of a paper

Exercise

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