How to write a world class paper

How to write a world class paper

Anthony P.F. Turner2008 10th Biosensors Conference, Shanghai

How to write a world class paper

Professor Anthony P.F. Turner

Editor-In-Chief, Biosensors & Bioelectronics, Distinguished Professor of Biotechnology, Commercial Director, Cranfield Health, Director Cranfield Ventures PhD, DSc, FRSC Founder and Editor of B&B since 1985 Cranfield University A.p.turner@cranfield.ac.uk

Professor Turner's name is synonymous with the field of Biosensors

How to write a world class paper

Outline

Current status of Chinese articles Why do scientists publish? Ethical issues Revision, and response to reviewers What gets you accepted? How to write a good manuscript for an international journal 1.preparations before starting 2.construction of an article 3.technical details

How to write a world class paper

Current status of Chinese articles

High quantity— exponential growth since 1999 Low quality— China is at 70% of the world average

How to write a world class paper

Comparison of number of Chinese submissions and accepted articles in B&B

2006 %of %rate of Submission acceptance

2007 %of Submission %rate of acceptance

China

18

17

29

25

US

12

16

15

20

How to write a world class paper

How can Chinese authors do better?We have encountered the following serious issues

English is poor Papers which are deeply out of scope of our journal Failure to format the paper according to the guide for authors

Inadequate response to reviewersMultiple submissions

Submission of paper already published in ChinesePlagiarism (especially of small parts of a paper)

How to write a world class paper

And who has to deal with it?Editors and reviewers:1.The most precious resource of a journal! 2.Practicing scientists, even leaders in their fields 3.Busy people doing their own research, writing and teaching, and working for journals in their spare time, to contribute to science 4.Editors may receive a small payment, but reviewers are UNPAID

How to write a world class paper

Your personal reason for publishingget promote d…???

… ???

However, editors, reviewers, and research community don’t consider these reasons when assessing your work.

How to write a world class paper

Why should scientists publish?

Scientists publish to share with the science COMMUNITY something that advances, not repeats, knowledge and understanding in a certain field. To present new, original results of methods

To rationalize published resultsTo present a review of the field or to summarize a particular topic

How to write a world class paper

Journal publishers do not want zerocited articles

Editors now regularly analyse citations per article―the statistic that 27% of our papers were not cited in 5 years was

disconcerting. It certainly indicates that it is important to maintain high standards when accepting papers… nothing would have been lost except the CV’s of those authors would have been shorter…‖

Articles are increasingly checked for originality and relevance

How to write a world class paper

QUALITY and VALUE: are at the heart of scholarly communicationDo not publish:1.reports of no scientific interest 2.out of date work 3.

duplication of previously published work 4.incorrect/unacceptable conclusions 5.― salami-sliced‖ papers: datasets too small to be meaningful

How to write a world class paper

Deadly sinsUnethical behavior ― can earn rejection and even a ban from publishing in the journal‖— Terry M Phillips, Editor, Journal of Chromatography B

Multiple submissions Redundant publications Plagiarism Data fabrication and falsification Improper use of human subjects and animals in research Improper author contribution

How to write a world class paper

1. Multiple submissions(一稿多投)

Multiple submissions save your time but waste editors.

The editorial process of your manuscripts will be completely stopped if the duplicated submission are discovered. ― it is considered to be unethical… We have thrown out a paper when an author was caught doing this. I believe that the other journal did the same thing.‖— James C. Hower, Editor, the international Journal of Coal Geology

Competing journals constantly exchange information on suspicious papers (even between competitors) .

You should not send your manuscripts to a second journal UNTIL you receive the final decision of the first journal.

How to write a world class paper

2. Redundant publication(重复发表)

An author should not submit for consideration in another journal a previously published paper.1.Published studies do not need to be repeated unless further conformation is required. 2.Previous publication of an abstract during the proceedings of conferences does not preclude subsequent submission for publication, but full disclosure should be made at the time of submission. 3. Re-publication of a paper in another language is acceptance, provided that there is full and prominent disclosure of its original source at the time of submission. 4.At the time of submission, authors should disclose details of related papers, even if in a different language, and similar papers in press.

How to write a world class paper

3.Plagiarism(剽窃)“Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas,processes,results,or words without giving appropriate credit, including those obtained through confidential review of others’ research proposals and manuscripts ”(the Federal Office of Science and Technology Policy,1999). ―Presenting the data or interpretations of others without crediting them, and thereby gaining for yourself the rewards earned by others is theft, and it eliminates the motivation of working scientists to generate new data and interpretations.‖---Bruce Railsback, Professor, Department of Geology, University of Georgia

For more informatin on plagiarism and self-plagiarism, please see http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/

How to write a world class paper

Example

Source: China Daily,15 March 2006 Chinese authorities take strong measures against scientific dishonesty Plagiarism and stealing work from colleagues can lead to serious consequence