How To Write Best Research Paper - PDF

Why write and publish research
papers?
Ideally –
g and discoveries
To share research findings
with the hope of improving technology.
Practically –
To get funding
To get promotedd
To get a job
T keep
To k your job!
j b!
“Scientists are rated by
what they finish, not by
what
h t they
th attempt”
tt t”
“Scientists are known by what
they have published, not by
where they are located
located”
Getting a paper published
Competition for space in journals is intense
Rejection rates vary

IETE = 40%
PRL = 60%
IEEE SMC= 70 %
IEEE
IEEE IP
IP= 80 %
Science, Nature, PAMI = 90%
Major reasons for
rejection
Confirmatory (not novel)
Poor experimental design
- Poor controls
- Hypothesis not adequately tested
Inappropriate for journal
Poorly written
Tips
1. Know the journal, its editors, and why you submitted

the paper there
2. Pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and

punctuation
3. Make sure references are comprehensive and accurate
4
4. Avoid careless mistakes
5. Read and conform to “Instructions for Authors”

“Th Seven
“The S Deadly
D dl Sins”
Si ”
1. Data manipulation, falsification
2. Duplicate manuscripts
3. Redundant publication
4. Plagiarism
5 Author conflicts of interest
5.
6. Animal use concerns
7. Humans use concerns
What constitutes redundant
publication?
Data in conference abstract? No
Same data, different journal? Yes
Data on website? Maybe
Data included in review article? OK if later
Expansion of published data set? Yes
What makes a good research
paper?
Good science
Good writing
Publication in good journals
What constitutes good science?
Novel – New and not resembling something
formerly known or used (can be novel but not
important)
Mechanistic – Testing a hypothesis - determining

th fundamental
the f d t l processes involved
i l d in i or
responsible for an action, reaction, or other natural
phenomenon
Descriptive – Describes how are things are but

does not test how things work – hypotheses are
not tested.
What constitutes a good journal?
Impact factor –
Average number of times published papers are
cited
i d up to two years after
f publication.
bli i
Immediacy Index –
Average number of times published papers are
cited
it d during
d i year off publication.
bli ti
Citation rates
• The Institute of Scientific Information

records scientific citations/references
• The number of times a publication has

been cited within a certain period
• Published as the Science Citation Index

Impact factor
• This is the mean citation rate of all articles

contained in the journal
• Published annually in the SCI Journal

Citation reports
Definition of impact factor
• The recorded number of citations within a

certain year (eg 2003) to the items
published in the journal during the
preceding
p g two yyears ((eg
g 2001 and 2002))
• Denominator: An “item”
item is a research
paper or a review article
• Numerator: Citations to all types of articles

Calculating the impact factor for 2003
Journal Citation Report,
Report 2009
Name of Journal Impact 5-Years Immediacy
F t
Factor I
Impactt I d
Index
Factor
Nature 30.979 06.679
Science 29.162 05.589
AM J MATH 0002-9327 002353 00.962 00.122
Signal Processing (Elsevier) 1.256 1.319
Pattern Recognition 13
1.3
Letter(Elsevier)
IEEE Trans. On System Man 2.00
and Cybernetics Part B
IEEE Trans on Image 2.5
Processing
IEEE Trans on Pattern 35
3.5
Analysis and Machine
Intelligence
Proper and improper uses of impact
f t
factor
• Evaluating individual scientists

• A
Awarding
di hihigher
h academic
d i positions
iti
• Evaluating research groups
• Evaluating institutions
• Resource allocation
• Evaluating journals
Some examples
• In Japan people walk around boasting of

their own individual impact factor
• In the UK (and elsewhere) university

funding is awarded on the basis of impact
factors (research assessment exercise)
• Deans instruct authors to publish in

highest impact factors, though may not be
the best fit
What is wrong with impact factors?
• Self citations are allowed

• Review articles are heavily cited and
inflate the impact factor
• Long articles collect many citations
• Short publication lag allows short term
journal self citations
• Same language citations are preferred by
authors
What is wrong with impact factors?
• Selective journal self citation

• Coverage of the database is not complete
((3,200
, out of 126,000
, journals)
j )
• Database has an English language bias
• Database is dominated by American
publications
• Jou
Journals
a s in database mayay vary
a y from
o yea
year to yea
year
• IF is a function of the number of articles in the
research field
What are the alternatives?
• User rating of articles
• Use
U a longer
l term b
base than
h 2 years
• Exclude letters and reviews to focus on research
• “Scope
Scope adjusted impact
pact factor”
acto
• Expert evaluation of best papers

Things to consider before writing
1 Time to write the paper?
1.
- Has a significant advancement been made?
- Is the hypothesis straightforward?
- Did the experiments test the hypothesis?
- Are the controls appropriate
pp p and sufficient?
- Can you describe the study in 1 or 2 minutes?
- Can the key message be written in 1 or 2 sentences?
“Those who have the

most to say usually say
it with the fewest words”
Things to consider before writing
2 Tables
2. T bl andd figures
fi
- Must be clear and concise
- Should be self-explanatory
3. Read references
- Will help in choosing journal
- Better insight into possible reviewers
4. Choose journal
- study “instructions to authors”
- think about possible reviewers
- quality of journal “impact factor”
5. Tentative title and summary
6. Choose authors
Authorship
• Each author should have sufficiently
participated in the work to take public
responsibility for content
content.
• Participation must include
– Conception or design
– Analysis and interpretation of data
– Draftingg the article or critically
y revising
g it for intellectual
content
– Final approval for version to be published.
Participation of solely in collection of data doesn't
doesn t justify
authorship.
Writing the manuscript
Thee hardest
des part
p iss
getting started.
Parts of a manuscript
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
Write in what order?
Title
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
References
Revise revise and revise
Revise,
All authors should participate

Review
R i order
d off data
d t presentation
t ti
Polish the writing style
Double check references
Look for typos
Double check spelling
Develop a good writing style
Read well written articles

Try to get good writers to review
Learn from editing changes
Submission
1. Read instructions carefully

2. Fill out all necessary forms
Copyright transfer
Conflict of interest
33. Write
W it cover letter
l tt (suggest
( t reviewers)
i )
4. Confirm receipt after 6 weeks
Process of Research
C
Completion
l ti off research
h
Preparation of manuscript
Submission of manuscript
Assignment and review
Decision
Rejection Revision
Resubmission
Re-review
Acceptance
Rejection
Publication
Responding to reviewers
1. Carefully prepare your responses

Each comment should be addressed
Each change should be stated
Be enthusiastic
2. Reviewer may be wrong
3. Be tactful – thank the reviewers
4. Do not respond to reviewers while upset
5. Never call the editor
6. Get help from other authors
Research Misconduct
• What is it?:
– Research misconduct is defined as:
– Fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing,
performing, or reviewing research results.
• Fabrication: Making up results and recording or reporting them
• Falsification: Manipulation of research materials, equipment, or

processes or changing or omitting results
processes, res lts ssuch
ch that the research
is not accurately represented in the record.
• Plagiarism: The appropriation of another’s ideas, processes,

results, or words without giving proper credit.
What is not Misconduct?
Honesty in reporting
Unintentional error
+ = Research Misconduct
Top Fourteen “POOR” behaviors
1. Falsifying or ‘cooking’ research data.

2 Ignoring
2. I i major
j aspects off human-subject
h bj requirements
i
3. Not properly disclosing involvement in firms whose
products are based on one‘s
one s own research
4. Using another’s ideas without obtaining permission or
giving due credit (plagiarism).
5. Unauthorized use of confidential information in
connection with one’s own research
6. Failing to present data that contradict one’s own previous
research ????
7. Circumventing certain minor aspects of human-subject
requirements.
Top Fourteen behaviors
(
(continued)
i d)
8. Changing
g g the design,
g methodology gy or results of a studyy in
response to pressure from a funding source (falsification).
9. Publishing the same data or results in two or more publications.
10. Inappropriately assigning authorship credit.
11. Withholding details of methodology or results in papers or
proposals.
proposals
12. Using inadequate or inappropriate research designs.
13 Dropping observations or data points from analyses based on a
13.
gut feeling that they were inaccurate.
q
14. Inadequate record keeping
p g related to research p
projects.
j

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Why write and publish research

 Competition for space in journals is intense

 Rejection rates vary

1. Know the journal, its editors, and why you submitted

2. Pay close attention to spelling, grammar, and

3. Make sure references are comprehensive and accurate

5. Read and conform to “Instructions for Authors”

Mechanistic – Testing a hypothesis - determining

Descriptive – Describes how are things are but

• The Institute of Scientific Information

• The number of times a publication has

• Published as the Science Citation Index

• This is the mean citation rate of all articles

• Published annually in the SCI Journal

• The recorded number of citations within a

• Numerator: Citations to all types of articles

• Evaluating individual scientists

• In Japan people walk around boasting of

• In the UK (and elsewhere) university

• Deans instruct authors to publish in

• Self citations are allowed

• Selective journal self citation

• User rating of articles

• Exclude letters and reviews to focus on research

• Expert evaluation of best papers

“Those who have the

5. Tentative title and summary

 All authors should participate

Read well written articles

1. Read instructions carefully

Assignment and review

1. Carefully prepare your responses

• Falsification: Manipulation of research materials, equipment, or

• Plagiarism: The appropriation of another’s ideas, processes,

1. Falsifying or ‘cooking’ research data.

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Competition for space in journals is intense

Rejection rates vary

All authors should participate