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Scholarly Publishing Module

This Guide describes the Scholarly Publishing Module, a 10 week program, that is available for student researchers at Fisher

Information for Librarians

Weekly Topics

  1. Introductions
  2. Databases: Advanced Searching Features
  3. Citation Management
  4. Peer Review Process
  5. Authorship
  6. Submitting a Manuscript
  7. Open Access
  8. Undergraduate Research Journals
  9. Predatory Publishing
  10. Final Reflections

Week 6

Below is the information presented to students for Week 6 of the Scholarly Publishing Module.  The materials are presented in a horizontal fashion in Brightspace with students progressing through the week by clicking the right arrow on each page. There are two submodules in this week.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Issues in Publishing
  1. Browse this short book chapter  to get an overview of race, ethnic, gender, and global inequities in authorship.  (You do not need to do the exercises at the end of the chapter).  
  2. This 2022 study published in Nature, looked at many different situations and tried to control for different variables.  Here are some of the figure titles,  "Women are less likely to be named authors on any given document in all fields and at all career stages," "Women are much less likely to be named on high-impact articles,"  and "Women are more likely to report that their contributions were underestimated or that there was discrimination. "
  3. Read this news piece from Physics Today on a survey that reached over 5,000 researchers on their experiences with authorship disputes.
  4. This  is a news piece from Nature, Racial Inequalities in Journals Highlighted in Giant Study. 
Instructions for Authors
Cover Letters:

Now that you have thought about who is an author, the next step for authors would be to submit a manuscript to a journal for publication. 

Here are the directions for publishing in Nature, take a quick look [link opens in new window] and read the paragraph on cover letters from Nature listed below. Cover Letters

Although optional, the cover letter is an excellent opportunity to briefly discuss the importance of the submitted work and why it is appropriate for the journal. Please avoid repeating information that is already present in the abstract and introduction. The cover letter is not shared with the referees, and should be used to provide confidential information such as conflicts of interest and to declare any related work that is in press or submitted elsewhere.

Instructions for Authors: Figures

The directions for authors is often very detailed, including which style manual to consults on overall style issues, how to format Tables and Figures and even how to represent mathematical formulas. Below is an example of Preparing Figures for those with Color Vision Deficiency from ASM Journals https://journals.asm.org/figures-tables 

 

Preparing figures for those with color vision deficiency. Based on information on color vision deficiency provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, we ask that you design your figures with the following considerations in mind.

  • Determine whether color elements are absolutely necessary to convey the data.
  • Can the data be displayed using symbols or different line thicknesses, shapes, patterns, or font types?
  • Avoid the following color combinations whenever possible: red and green; yellow and bright green; light blue and pink; dark blue and violet.
  • Magenta can be substituted for red in fluorescent stain images, which typically use a combination of red and green.
  • Search the Internet for a color vision deficiency simulator to see how your image might appear to someone who experiences color vision deficiency.

If you have access to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, you can go to View/Proof Setup/Color Blindness, and your images will be transformed to show you how they will appear to someone who has color vision deficiency.

Please refer to the following website for more information: https://www.ascb.org/science-news/how-to-make-scientific-figures-accessible-to-readers-with-color-blindness/.

Writing a Persuasive Cover Letter

What is one way to ensure that your manuscript passes editorial judgement and moves to peer review? Write a persuasive cover letter of exactly why they need to publish your manuscript.

These tips are from a popular publisher, Springer: 

  • If known, address the editor who will be assessing your manuscript by their name. Include the date of submission and the journal you are submitting to.
  • First paragraph: include the title of your manuscript and the type of manuscript it is (e.g. review, research, case study). Then briefly explain the background to your study, the question you sought out to answer and why.
  • Second paragraph: you should concisely explain what was done, the main findings and why they are significant.
  • Third paragraph: here you should indicate why the readers of the journal would be interested in the work. Take your cues from the journal’s aims and scope. For example if the journal requires that all work published has broad implications explain how your study fulfils this. It is also a good idea to include a sentence on the importance of the results to the field.

https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/authorandreviewertutorials/submitting-to-a-journal-and-peer-review/cover-letters/10285574 

Discussion Board Prompts

1. Write a bulleted list or outline of things you would include in a cover letter about your research.

2. Complete this sentence. Readers of my work would be interested in this research over other articles because...

3. Complete this sentence.  Readers of my work will easily be able to connect my research to the broader issue of ...