Professor Dr. Murali Raman

June 1st 2015

Removing the Barriers: Publishing Scholary Work (inTop-Tiered Journals & other

academic outlets)an Editorial Perspective

Outline

1. Background of the presenter2. Some fundamental questions3. Defining Top-Tiered (TT) journals (j)4. Rules of publishing – code of ethics5. Why TTJs?6. What editors look out for7. Some strategies8. Q&A

1. Background - PrequalificationMore than 75 tier 1,2 and 3 pubs combined, pre,

during/post doctoral work in the US and upon returnEditorial board for several Tier 1,2 and 3 journals and

numerous TTJs locally and internationallyMore than 70 papers collectively over the past 5 years in

conferencesSpecial edition for new journal KMEL, Associate Editor

JITCAR, IJBMR, IJKM, SPAR etcCo-Chair for Sub-track on knowledge evolution for HICSS

2010 (IEEE-backed conference), with Dr. SaravananReviewed more than 100 papers in the last 5 years

aloneH-index of 14

Questions1. Why publish academic work?2. How is an academic publication

different relative to normal publication (media etc?)

3. Where should we be publishing in?4. When does one start publishing?5. How to start for a novice?6. How do we create a publishing

culture within an institution?

2. What are TTjs?Depends on who you askThere are several major categories that can be

used to guide in defining what TTJs are:Industry specific journals – that have high

readership but give less emphasis on academic theory – e.g. CACM has a readership based of more than 150,000

Advanced theoretical-empirical backed journals – listed on top tiered indexes

Journals that are recognized by major scientific communities via listing or citations in indexes e.g. ISI, SCOPUS, Cabel, ISI Web of Knowledge etc

2. For MMU – Our Goal

TTJs – defined by the MMU Master journal listing

Focus on this for promotion/recognition/Phd Viva purposes

Strategy though:Must be MMU Tiered 3 and abovePossibly listed in both SCOPUS, ISI, ABDCWhy?

3. Code of ethics

Publishing can be a gameGood publishing conduct:

Names appears with consentName appears as one has contributed either

in (i) idea stage, or better still co-authored the paper

Good supervisors – let students take the lead and not otherwise in naming convention

4. Why TTJs?Basis for promotion/academic ad

advancementBasis for good/strong CVBuilding a name amidst scientific

community

5. What Editors Look For?Usually decision if the paper will be

accepted/rejected can be done in 15 minutes Editors often do a quick read or scan the paper

to examine:If the overall theme of paper fits with theme of

journalIf paper has good contribution to both theory and

practiceIf the problem formulated is indeed good i.e.

addresses some gapIf the methodology is sound at a glacePresentation is very clear – no grammatical blunders Maps to journal format/general style

6. Strategy 1 - Research TopicFills gap(s) called for journal(s) targetedThe above can come from:

New/enhanced methodology in solving an on-going problem

Challenging some/most of the empirical finding from prior papers in the journal

Works on suggestions on research topics/areas as called for by the editors themselves

6. Strategy 2 – Read before Write

Don’t blindly shoot to journals without clearly understanding if the papers does conform to what the journal is looking for:-E.g. sending a quantitative paper to a IEEE

journal that stresses on prototype developedE.g. sending a conceptual paper to a TTJ well

known for rigorous methodology Do your homework first by reading papers

relevant to your topic, that has been published before

Send the editor an e-mail if unsure if the theme fits – albeit some level of risk is involved here

6. Strategy 3 – Get Internal Feedback

Go through an internal peer-review with your colleagues

Take feedback constructivelyRevise and then submit to journal

It’s quite normal for getting rejections from TTJs at first submission

However, this does not mean that your paper is not good – probably the theme was not met or met well

Use feedback to revise and send to another TTj – no issues, we all do this…

There is a home for every paper

6. Strategy 4 – Norm

Discussion Questions

QuestionsWhat are the challenges that you currently

face – preventing you from producing high impact research outputs in your career?

For the issues identified, what are some of the suggestions that can be used to address/overcome the above challenges?

How do you think we (faculties) can support to assist you in overcoming/addressing these challenges?

Experience sharing – research issues, problems, solutions in general