Writing for Publication: tips for aspiring authors

Angharad Roberts and Jane SeckerEditors: Library and Information Research & Journal of Information Literacy

CILIP IL Group and LIRG

We plan to look at

• Where and what to publish• The peer review process• How your paper will be assessed• The publication process• Writing tips• Writing in the Journal of Information Literacy and

Library and Information Research

Where to publish?

• Why publish in an academic journal?• What is your story? Who is your audience?• Read the author guidelines of journals • Is your topic within scope of the journal?

• E.g. JIL focuses on information literacy NOT library skills, libraries or teaching in general

• Library and Information Research has a clear focus on research into practice in information and library services

• Peer-reviewed article? Shorter project report?• Read previously published articles in a journal

What to publish?

• What stage are you at with your research? Could you publish something based on your literature review, findings from a pilot project, final project conclusions?

• Writing by yourself or with a co-author?• Consider writing conference reports, book reviews...• ...or joining an Editorial team!

Articles for peer review:

• Need to be original – are you just telling a familiar story?• Refer to the literature and place the work within a wider

context• Evidence any claims made• Follow academic convention in structure of the paper• Have been carefully proof-read before submission, especially

if English is not your first language• Are anonymised for peer review

Activity

Turning a short report a into peer-review articles

• Relevance to JIL – within our scope?• Originality and interest to our audience – useful

contribution to knowledge or good practice?• Title and abstract – appropriate wording and length and

informative?• Methodology – appropriate?• Use of literature and referencing – good analysis of

literature? Good referencing or signs of plagiarism?• Clarity of expression and structure – clear exposition of

argument? Logical structure? Spell out acronyms, avoid jargon!

JIL reviewers’ criteria

LIR reviewers’ criteria

• Initial editorial review – within the scope of the journal?• Non-peer reviewed articles – more detailed editorial evaluation.• Free-text peer reviews covering:

• Suitability for the journal • Originality / interest to audience• Clarity • Length• Relevance to / implications for LIS practice

Accept for publication without amendment (almost never!)

Revisions requiredMajor revisions required followed by peer reviewResubmit elsewhereDecline submission

Peer reviewers recommend:

Make a list of all the actions needed of you. Can you address them? If so, how?

If you can’t, discuss this with the editors –say why (can take your article elsewhere!)

Revise the paper and resubmit it, with a covering letter detailing how you have addressed each comment

If there were comments you didn’t implement, because you couldn’t or because you disagreed with them, note them and say why (you may want to discuss with us earlier in revision process)

Remember that addressing these comments may unearth other suggested changes – several rounds of revisions may be required

What to do with reviewer comments

Copyeditors’ advice

Use the required templateThis also means

Use the right font and size eg Arial 11pt for body text in JIL (if using the template, this should be default)

Number all section headings using the multilevel list optionFormat headings as per the style sheet

Format your references using the journal’s required styleFor JIL that means the Harvard style as used by Cardiff UniversityRemember to convert your EndNote references to text

Ensure all in-text citations are given a full reference at the end, and that all references are cited in the text

Define all acronyms and abbreviations at first useEnsure all diagrams and images are copyright free and

acknowledge their source

And specifically for JIL:Use British spellingsAvoid footnotes – either incorporate information into the

text or list non-cited information and websites under Resources and cited sources under References

List author name, affiliation and email address for each author, in the order given in the metadata, on the article loaded for copyediting

Copyeditors’ advice [2]

Once it is published

Celebrate!Let everyone knowLink using the DOIAdd it to your

repository, acknowledging where published

Tips for aspiring authors

• Keep focused. Pin your central hypothesis or question by your desk and make sure that everything you write is directed towards supporting and answering that question

• Don’t worry about starting in the middle! Write up the section which comes most naturally and work out from there

• Practise (and reflect on) what you teach - finding the key research, synthesising the literature, citing and referencing

Tips for aspiring authors [2]

• Find your place and space to think and write

• Break it down…. it’s like how you eat an elephant

• Present your ideas early and let them grow

• Writing is an iterative process, draft, redraft, draft again

• Find a good proof reader – a colleague, friend, family member, but always get someone else to read it through!

• Become a peer reviewer, or a book reviews writer, but learn to read critically to help you write critically

Activity [2]

Think about your next steps towards getting published.List up to 3 ideas about how you could follow up from this session and discuss in groups.

Further resources• Gordon, Rachel Singer. 2004. The Librarian's Guide to Writing

for Publication. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.• HEA-ICS. 2007. Writing for publication

http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/events/displayevent.php?id=187

• JIL Author Guidelines. http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

• LIR Author Guidelines: http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/lir/docs/lir-author-guidelines.doc

• Nicholson, S. 2006. Writing your first scholarly article: a guide for budding authors in librarianship. Information Technology and Libraries 25(2) 108-111. Available at: http://bibliomining.com/nicholson/firstarticle.htm

Further resources….

• Eve J (2008) Writing a research proposal: planning and communicating your research ideas effectively, Library and Information Research, 32(102): 18-28

• Hall GM (1998) How to write a paper, London, BMJ Books• Hinchcliffe LJ and Dorner J (eds) (2003) How to get published in LIS

Journals: a practical guide, Library Connect, pamphlet 2• Huth EJ (1990) How to write and publish papers in the medical sciences,

Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins• Murray R (2005) Writing for academic journals, Maidenhead: Open

University Press

Meet the Journal Editors

Journal of Information Literacy, Jane SeckerLibrary and Information Research, Angharad Roberts

Innovative Practice in Higher Education, Geoff WaltonNew Review of Academic Librarianship, Graham Walton

Evidence based Library and Information Practice, Alison Brettle

Journal of Information LiteracyJIL is an international, peer- reviewed journal that aims to

investigate information literacy in all its forms to address the interests of diverse IL communities of practice. To this end it publishes articles from both established and new authors in this field.

JIL welcomes contributions that push the boundaries of IL beyond the educational setting and examine this phenomenon as a continuum between those involved in its development and delivery and those benefiting from its provision.

2 issues per year (June and December) - no author processing charges

OPEN ACCESS 2007 >

Library and Information Research

Research Into Practice in Information and Library Services.

Journal of the CILIP special interest group LIRG: www.lirgjournal.org.uk

LIR’s objectives include: - To publish research in such a way that it is accessible to, and usable by, the LIS community; - To encourage reporting of research by practitioners; - To encourage reflective and evidence-based practice; - To publish papers resulting from LIRG annual awards and prizes; - To promote the use and understanding of quality research methods.

Open Access – no processing charges.

3 issues per year, including 1 special issue each year.

Digitised archive from 1993 onwards.

Innovative Practice in Higher Education

• Independent online journal (kindly hosted at Staffordshire University) - an opportunity for colleagues in HE to share their work on innovation in teaching and learning

• Double blind peer reviewed publicationhttp://journals.staffs.ac.uk/index.php/ipihe

• One publication per year since 2011• Joint managing editors:

• Chris Wakeman (University of Wolverhampton)• Geoff Walton (Northumbria University)

• Topics include: tutoring, research, equality and diversity, internationalisation, classroom innovation, widening participation, assessment and feedback, research-informed teaching, information and digital literacy, teaching and learning processes

• Accepts long papers (up to 5,000), short papers and posters with audio

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice• EBLIP is an international open access, peer reviewed journal, published

quarterly, hosted by the University of Alberta Learning Services, • The purpose of the journal is to provide a forum for librarians and

other information professionals to discover research that may contribute to decision making in professional practice.

• EBLIP publishes original research and commentary on the topic of evidence based library and information practice, as well as reviews of previously published research (evidence summaries) on a wide number of topics to help LIS practitioners use research in their practice

• http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/index

Publishes reviews, research, critiques and exemplar case studies on substantive topics relevant to those providing library and information services to academic communities. Emphasis is placed on establishing the relevance and applicability of

theory and/or research for the academic library practitioner. The intention is to disseminate developments and encourage discussion on the future role of academic libraries and their services

British Journal of Academic Librarianship : 1986 – 1994 (204 papers)

New Review of Academic Librarianship: 1995 – http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/racl20/current

• 406 papers as at summer 2014• Three issues per year• 2014 themed issue on ‘Special Collections in a Digital Age’ with Guest Editors Margaret Haines and Wayne Jones

(Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada)• Double blind peer review

Thank you!