How to Write Successful ResearchJournal Papers

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How to Write Successful Research/Journal Papers

• Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, PhD.
• Membrane Research Unit, FKKKSA, UTM.

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Content

• Course Introduction
• What is a Research/Journal Paper?
• Why We Need to Write and Publish a Journal Paper?
• What is a Referred Journal Paper?
• Can I Write a Paper?
• Type of Academic Papers
• Type of Referred Journal Papers
• Types of Journal
• Journal Citation Rating
• Which is the Suitable Journals?
• Example of Relevance Journals
• Author Guidelines
• The Structure of a Typical Journal
• How to Start Writing the Papers
• Now Write !!
• The Title

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Content

• Abstract
• Writing an Abstract
• Extended Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and Methodology
• Writing Materials and Methods Section
• Results and Discussion
• Tables and Figures
• Writing Results and Discussion Section
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgement
• Literature Cited
• Appendices
• What Do Editors Look For?
• Formatting
• Rewards of Writing
• Summary

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Course Introduction

• Writing Research Paper ????
• Publish in Journal ???
• Why bother ???
• Too difficult!!!
• I have No time !!!
• I have No research !!!

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What is a Research/Journal Paper??

• A research/journal paper is an organized
  description of hypotheses, objectives and scopes,
  methodology, results, discussion and conclusion
  of our systematic works.
• The paper is based on our own thoughts and the
  facts and ideas we have gathered from a variety
  of sources, and it is a creation that is uniquely
  yours.
• The experience of gathering, interpreting, and
  documenting information, developing, discussing
  and organizing ideas and conclusions, and
  communicating them clearly will prove to be an
  important and satisfying part of your education.
• A paper is also representing a structure for
  planning our research in progress
• If we clearly understand the purpose and form of
  a paper, it can be useful in organizing and
  conducting our research

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Why we need to Write and Publish a Journal Paper?

• Dissemination of research output
• Knowledge contribution
• Enhance author prestige - This may attract
  recognition and networking and promotion
• Enhance University recognition and
  reputation-This may affect ranking, student
  intake and research funding
• Demonstrate continued technical leadership- This
  technical knowledge demonstrating the level of
  our research.
• Critical reviewing by subject specialists
• Practical and industrial exposure is enhanced by
  attributed publications.
• Decimates our knowledge.
• Developing an international profile
• Enlarging Networking
• Job requirement
• Personal satisfaction

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Can I Write a Paper??
Kena tulis setiap hari
Yes U Can !!

• Since we write all the time, it is obvious that
  we possess the basic skill required
• No need to learn a new skill in order to be able
  to write for publication, we simply have to
  translate the skill we already possess into a
  different context and level.
• Only require adaptation to different styles based
  on different aims and settings.
• Writing for publication in many ways, minor
  adaptation. In addition, it is not as difficult
  as is commonly supposed, and the rewards are
  great.
• Writing and publishing are practice effect skills
  the more you do them the better you get at them.

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Types of Academic Papers

• Referred journal paper
• Journal Citation Rating (JCR)
• Referred conference papers
• Conference papers
• Non-referred papers
• Proceeding of abstracts
• Books and book chapters

Conference just to develop confidentcs
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Types of Referred Journal Papers

• Research papers
• Reviews
• Short communications
• Technical notes

Kalau nak publish cept pergi ke short
communication sbb mungkin ada result yg bagus
considered juga paper. Idea ialah kita dah jumpe
satu finding yang interesting.
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Types of Journal

• Research journals
• Review journals
• Rapid communication journals
• Methodology journals

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Journal Citation Rating

• Or Impact Factor
• Provide a way to evaluate and compare journal
  relative to other journals in the same field
• berapa org rujuk/ cite tesis dia. Kita boleh
  monitor paper kita.
• drpd situ kita akan dapat promotion.

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Which is The Suitable Journal?

• Quality of research output
• decide on subject area
• Decide on type of journal paper
• Read papers from that journal if your not
  familiar with the journal

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Example of Relevance Journals

• Subject area Membrane Technology
• Journals
• J. Membrane Science
• Separation Science and Technology
• Carbon
• J. Applied Membrane Science and Technology
• Chemical Engineering Science
• J. Power Sources
• Polymer
• J. Applied Polymer Science
• Desalination

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Authors Guidelines

• Most journals have specific guidelines for
  manuscript preparation
• General approach
• text double spaced
• tables, figure and figure captions separate after
  text
• reference format style
• Number of copies or electronic submission

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The Structure of a Typical Journal Paper
Introduction
Literature Review
Problem statement
Objective
Experimentation
Methodology
Simulation
Results Discussion
Conclusion
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How to Start Writing the Paper?? Organize Your
thoughts

• Decide on a title
• Organize your paper content
• Outline some objectives and conclusions
• Prepare materials and methodology
• Prepare data
• Decide on types of data presentation
• Tables
• Figures
• Statistical analysis
• Prepare some reference to start with
• Prepare an introduction (Review of Literature)
• Draft your results, discussion and conclusions
• Preparation of a draft abstract

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• NOW WRITE!!!

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The Title

• Should reflect the content of your paper
• Should be
• Short, if possible
• Include some keywords
• Critical that you have precise title that relates
  the objective of you paper, not to general

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Abstract

• It is a short summary of the paper. A reader can
  learn the rationale behind the study, general
  approach to the problem, pertinent results, and
  important conclusions or new questions.
• This is a complete and very concise summary of
  the whole paper.
• Should summarise or include
• Objectives of the study
• Methodology or brief description of experiments
• Results including specific data if the results
  are quantitative in nature, report quantitative
  data results of any statistical analysis should
  be reported
• Important conclusions
• Most often the only text that is written

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Keywords

• Usually included under the title or abstract.
• Should be three to six words, which headline the
  subject matter.
• There are very important but often added as after
  thought
• Must get them right if we want our paper to be
  found in searches, read and cited.
• When writing keywords, think about the subject
  matter and categories we might use in a
  literature search of this topic.

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Writing an Abstract

• This is the last section to be written.
• Be concise, however, use complete sentences and
  do not sacrifice readability for brevity. This
  can be done by writing sentences so that they
  serve more than one purpose. For example, "The
  objective of this study is to develop high
  performance membranes through the combine
  optimization of phase inversion parameters and
  rheological factors, to provide a membrane with
  selectivity surpasses intrinsic selectivity for
  CO2/CH4 separation."
• This sentence provides the objective, methods,
  and type of separation, all in one sentence. The
  writer can now go directly to summarizing the
  results.
• Style
• Single paragraph and concise. As literature
  review, it is always written in past tense
• An abstract should stand on its own, and not
  refer to any other part of the paper such as a
  figure or table
• Focus on summarizing results - limit background
  information to a sentence or two, if absolutely
  necessary
• What you report in an abstract must be consistent
  with what you reported.

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Extended Abstract

• What is an Extended Abstract?
• An extended abstract is not simply a long
  abstract. An extended abstract should contain
  references, comparisons to related work, proofs
  of key theorems and other details expected in a
  research paper but not in an abstract.
• An extended abstract is a research paper whose
  ideas and significance can be understood in less
  than an hour. Writing an extended abstract can be
  more demanding than writing a research paper.
• Some things that can be omitted from an extended
  abstract future work, details of proofs or
  implementation that should seem plausible to
  reviewers, ramifications not relevant to the key
  ideas of the abstract.

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Introduction

• Should introduce the subject area generally
• Should include
• Background of the study
• Bring the reader from what is commonly
  understood to the point
• of appreciating the questions your research
  attempts to answer.
• Literature review
• Provide detailed background knowledge of
  earlier work
• Covering the latest development in the field.
• Provide an critical evaluation of
  methodologies used.
• Introduce the ideas that led to the present
  work.
• Objectives or scope
• Normally at the end of this section and
  rationale that lead you to do
• this research.

Tnpa saya baca jurnal lain dah ckup jurnal ini
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Materials and Methodology (1)

• Should outline all methodologies used to perform
  experimental or simulation work
• previous methodologies -should use references to
  summarise
• Include schematic instead of lengthy text
• Include data gathering and analysis techniques
  (instrumentation and materials)

Boleh copy and paste drpd yg lama
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Materials and Methodology (2)

• This should be the easiest section to write, but
  many peoples misunderstand the purpose. So, write
  this section first.
• The objective is to document all specialized
  materials and general procedures, so that another
  individual may use some or all of the methods in
  another study or judge the scientific merit of
  your work.
• It is not to be a step by step description of
  everything you did, nor is a methods section a
  set of instructions.
• Your notebook should contain all of the
  information that you need for this section.
• There is no specific page limit, but a key
  concept is to keep this section as concise as you
  possibly can.
• People will want to read this material
  selectively.
• Materials and methods may be reported under
  separate subheadings within this section or can
  be incorporated together.

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Writing Materials and Methods Section (1)

• Materials
• Describe materials separately only if the study
  is so complicated that it saves space this way.
• Include specialized chemicals, biological
  materials, and any equipment or supplies that are
  not commonly found in laboratories.
• If use of a specific type of equipment, a
  specific enzyme, or a culture from a particular
  supplier is critical to the success of the
  experiment, then it and the source should be
  singled out, otherwise no.
• Materials may be reported in a separate paragraph
  or else they may be identified along with your
  procedures.

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Writing Materials and Methods Section (2)

• Methods
• Report the methodology (not details of each
  procedure that employed the same methodology)
• Describe the methodology completely, including
  such specifics as temperatures, pressure, flow
  rate, etc.
• For Numerical work, include software used, model
  development, computation procedure, limitation
  and problems.
• To be concise, present methods under headings
  devoted to specific procedures or groups of
  procedures
• Generalize - report how procedures were done, not
  how they were specifically performed on a
  particular day. For example, report 100 gram
  polymer solutions were prepared from a mixture of
  polymers with different solvent concentration
  ranges from 10 to 50 concentration" don't
  report that 100 gram of polymer solution was
  mixed with 10 to 50 solvents to make the final
  polymer concentration."
• If well documented procedures were used, report
  the procedure by name, perhaps with reference,
  and that's all.

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Results and Discussion

• The purpose of a results and discussion section
  is to present, illustrate and provide critical
  interpretation of our results or findings.
• Support all of our results using evidence from
  our experiment and generally accepted knowledge,
  if appropriate. The significance of findings or
  specific trend should be clearly described or
  highlighted.
• The page length of this section is set by the
  amount and types of data to be reported. Continue
  to be concise, using figures and tables, if
  appropriate, to present results most effectively.
  

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Tables and Figures Captions

• List all the Tables and Figures Titles on a
  separate page
• Each Tables and Figures is on a separate page
• Presents results of research
• Should be independent of text
• Titles should be specific
• Should be clear and include all units
• Should include some statistical understanding
• Decimal places
• Statistical analysis i.e. SD

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Writing Results and Discussion Section (1)

• We must clearly distinguish material that would
  normally be included in a research article from
  any raw data or other appendix material that
  would not be published.
• Such material should not be submitted at all
  unless requested by the editor or reviewer.
• Interpret your data in the results discussion in
  appropriate depth. When you explain a phenomenon,
  you must describe mechanisms that may account for
  the observation. Provide critical comparison.
  Dont just repeat introduction
• If your results differ from your expectations,
  explain why that may have happened. If your
  results agree, then describe the theory that the
  evidence supported. It is never appropriate to
  simply state that the data agreed with
  expectations, and let it hanging there.
• Relate your results to previous published data
  and provide supporting statement from literature.
  Always make cross referencing.

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Writing Results and Discussion Section (2)

• Summarize your findings in text and illustrate
  them, if appropriate, with figures and tables.
• In text, describe each of your results, pointing
  the reader to observations that are most
  relevant.
• Describe and analyze your results of control
  experiments and include observations that are not
  presented in a formal figure or table.
• Decide if each hypothesis is supported, rejected,
  or if you cannot make a decision with confidence.
  Do not simply dismiss a study or part of a study
  as "inconclusive.
• Research papers are not accepted if the work is
  incomplete. Draw what conclusions you can based
  upon the results that you have, and treat the
  study as a finished work.
• You may suggest future directions, such as how
  the experiment might be modified to accomplish
  another objective.

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Writing Results and Discussion Section (3)

• Never include raw data or intermediate
  calculations in a research paper.
• Do not present the same data more than once.
• Text should complement any figures or tables, not
  repeat the same information.
• Please do not confuse figures with tables - there
  is a difference.
• In text, refer to each figure as Figure 1,"
  Figure 2," etc. number your tables as well.
• Place figures and tables, properly numbered, in
  order at the end of the report (clearly
  distinguish them from any other material such as
  raw data, standard curves, etc.)

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Writing Results and Discussion Section (4)

• Regardless of placement, each table must be
  titled, numbered consecutively and complete with
  heading (title with description goes above the
  table)
• Each figure and table must be sufficiently
  complete that it could stand on its own, separate
  from text
• When you refer to information, distinguish data
  generated by your own studies from published
  information or from information obtained from
  other sources
• Refer to work done by specific individuals
  (including yourself) in past tense.

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Writing Results and Discussion Section (5)

• Refer to generally accepted facts and principles
  in past present tense. For example, Ismail et
  al. (2004) found that the oriented polymer
  molecules were frozen in the membrane structure
  during rapid coagulation process in the hollow
  fiber spinning
• The biggest mistake that normally make in Results
  and
• Discussion section is to present a superficial
• interpretation that more or less re-states the
  results. It is
• necessary to suggest why results came out as they
  did,
• focusing on the mechanisms behind the
  observations.

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Conclusions

• Should summary the principle outcomes of your
  experimental or simulation work
• Different to the abstract
• Consider use point form

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Nomenclature

• Define all symbols, specialized terms or
  abbreviation used.
• Introduce the symbols, specialized terms or
  abbreviation a long phrase that we are going to
  use many times
• Give full name the first time you use it (only
  for the first time)

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Acknowledgement

• Should consider to acknowledge any help and
  assistance, such as research grant, scholarship,
  special permission, people who helped to review,
  comments, etc.

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Literature Cited

• List all literature cited in your paper, in
  alphabetical order, by first author. In a proper
  research paper, only primary literature is used
  (original research articles authored by the
  original investigators).
• If possible, do not include a web site as a
  reference - anyone can put just about anything on
  a web site, and you have no way of knowing if it
  is truth or fiction.
• If you are citing an on line journal, use the
  journal citation (name, volume, year, page
  numbers).

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Appendices

• Here include details that are needed for
  completeness but whose complete expression would
  interfere with the flow of your main text.
• These things have a small place in your central
  argument, yet are long or complex. Also at the
  end you can put things you might like to keep for
  your records, but take too much space for a
  published paper like computer programs,
  mathematical proofs, detailed graphs, work
  chronologies, purchase lists, and shop drawings.

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What Do Editors Look For?

• It is generally accepted that the most successful
  papers are those written by experienced authors.
• This is not because they are great writers
  (although some are), but because they are
  practiced and take care.
• Successful papers show knowledge of the area.
  Knowing the area allows your paper to be relevant
  to the audience and timely in its appearance.
• These two facts alone greatly enhance the chances
  of publication.
• The author of the successful paper knows the
  journal to which the paper is submitted. This
  involves knowing the academic level at which the
  journal is pitched, knowing the sort of papers it
  publishes and knowing its intended readership.

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Formatting

• Read journal guidelines again and again
• Create a single word document
• Cover page
• Separate abstract page
• Text
• Separate table and figure pages
• Figure captions
• References

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Formattingcont.

• Dont forget to include a shortened manuscript
  title on the cover page
• Acknowledgements
• Sponsors
• Technical assistance
• Authors/Corresponding Author
• Which order!!!
• Student, Post-doc and Supervisor??

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Rewards of Writing

• There are some tangible rewards. The letter of
  acceptance, the arrival of the proofs of the
  paper, the arrival of the complimentary copies of
  the journal or the reprints, the correspondence,
  the requests for reprints, the congratulations of
  colleagues, even (occasionally) money!
• All these gifts, and more, are the lot of the
  published author, however modest the paper.
• If you want to communicate your work, can you
  imagine not being delighted when you have
  successfully done so?

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Summary

• Everybody can write a successful academic papers
• Writing academic papers is a way to disseminate
  knowledge
• The reward of writing paper is a merely personal
  Satisfaction
• Type of publication is important
• Do some background work on journals in specific
  subject areas
• Preparing a quality paper takes time
• Prepare your initial thoughts
• Produce the final paper
• 6-18 months from start to publication