How to Improve the Quality of Scientific Research

And International Journal Publications

Jin Peng 　

Institute of Uncertain Systems

Huanggang Normal University
Huanggang, Hubei 438000, China
Email: peng@hgnu.edu.cn
http: //peng.hgnu.edu.cn/english

November 30,2017
 Jin PENG, Ph.D., Professor, Vice-President

Contact Information Research Interests

Tel: +86.713.8621602
Uncertain Network Optimization, Uncertain,
Fax: +86.713.8621601
Email: peng@hgnu.edu.cn Risk Analysis, Intelligent Systems, Applications,

http://peng.hgnu.edu.cn/english etc.
Huanggang Normal University
Honors & Awards
Huanggang City, Hubei 438000, China
Govermant Award of Hubei Province (2009, 2014)

Education Zhongjiaqing OR Award (2007)

Ph.D., 2001-2003, Tsinghua University, China Associate Editor, Area Editor, Editorial Board Member, or Peer
Reviewer of some international journals
M.S., 1995-1997, Central China Normal University, China
APIEMS Attendance
B.S., 1978-1981, Huanggang Normal University, China
APIEMS2010, Malacca, Malaysia;
Professional Experience
APIEMS2011, Beijing, China (Co-chair);
2003- present, Professor, Huanggang Normal University
APIEMS2012, Phuket, Thailand;
1995-2003, Associate Professor, Huanggang Normal University
APIEMS2015, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;
1988-1995, Lecturer, Huanggang Normal University
APIEMS2017, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
1983-1988 , Assistant Huanggang Normal University
http://peng.hgnu.edu.cn/english
 Outline
How to write and publish top-quality research papers
1. Why should we publish our papers?

2. How to read scientific papers?

3. How to write a good paper?

4. How to choose the right journals?

5. How to deal with comments by peer reviewers?

6. How to do after manuscript is returned?

 Why do we have to publish?

1. Why should you publish your papers?

• Participating in scientific communication

• Creating and demonstrating new knowledge
• Providing new material for scientific discussion
• Participate in academic progress
• Documentation of scientific processes and their results
Why is your scientific contribution important?

The importance of publishing

Publish or perish?
• Science is dead without publication.

• Good research is more important than good writing,

but good research is not enough.

• Construction of science is based on communication

of results.

• Writing and publishing top-quality research in an

international journal is key to your success in academia.
It is not easy to publish a SCI paper
Science Citation Index
High Competition and Demand for Good Papers
• Only 35% Overall acceptance rate for international journals

• About 10% acceptance for the most prestigious journals

• High% (20%-60%) papers rejected without review

• 60% papers accepted after review for some journals

• Only Low% postgraduate students of mathematics in the university

published SCI papers, especially from China and other developing countries.
• It takes about 10-20 weeks or even more to write a SCI paper (expect 10
drafts).
• Half to one year is needed to publish a SCI paper.
Not everything is publishable!

Total research

Effective research

Research written up

Research published

Research
read

(J.K. Ladha)
Types of Publications

• Conference abstracts
• Extended abstracts
• Reports
• Thesis (e.g. PhD thesis)
• Proceedings
• Books (monographs, textbooks)
• Magazines
• Journals (peer-reviewed, non-reviewed)
2. How to read scientific papers?

It is up to each scientist to identify and apply the techniques that work best for them.

• always start with title and abstract

• skim the introduction
• flip through the article to look at the figures
• read the conclusion/summary
(get a general idea by reading the abstract and conclusions)
• go back into the technical details to clarify any questions you might have
• read the entire article from beginning to end, going through the sections in the
order they appear so that you can follow the flow of work that the authors want to
communicate
• check if there are references that I may be interested in
How to read a scientific paper?

• Keep these in mind (ask) when you read

• What is the major question addressed in
this paper?
• Is this question important and why?
• What are the approaches used in this
paper, and whether they are adequate for
the questions?
• What are the novel idea or using innovative
approaches?
• What is the concept coming out of this
paper?
3. How to write a good paper?

Some General Tips:

Abstract------Brief: pure facts
Introduction------Motivation: for a non-specialist
Previous work
Obtained results
Tip: write it at the end
Preliminaries----Optional
Sections ------ of comparable length
concentrated around a problem/notion
Related work------Discuss the work of your referees
Bibliography------don’t dump your BIBTEX file!
Aspects of writing a paper:

• Contents
• Language
• Figures and Tables
• Literature (introduction, discussion)
• Choosing a Journal
• First draft
• Submitting draft to supervisor
Writing Procedures of Academic Papers

1 Choosing a topic
2 Preparing a working bibliography
3 Collecting Information (1st and 2nd hand)
4 Outlining the paper
5 Writing the paper (1st draft, revision, editing, format,
etc.)
6 Listing references (bibliography)
7 Writing Abstract
8 Printing and proofreading
Structure and Content of a Manuscript
 A manuscript is typically composed of a number of sections:
• abstract;
• key words;
• introduction;
• methods;
• results; Body
• discussion;
• conclusions; and
• references
14
 The importance of each section

Physical No. of
proportion • Title readers

• Abstract

• Figures

• Tables

• Results and discussion

• Rest of the paper

(J.K. Ladha)
How to write a good research paper?

7 Keys to Success:
Find a Topic
Look It Up
Take Notes
Outline Your Paper
Create Your First Draft
Revise and Edit Your Draft
Present Your Paper
How to write a good research paper?

Some suggestions---Five Methods:

• Choosing Your Topic
deciding on a good title
• Researching
gathering data in and outside the library
• Making an Outline
submitting a perfect proposal
• Writing Your Paper
Composing each part of the paper
• Community Q & A
Ask questions, get answers
The general structure of
a complete academic paper
1. Title
2. Author’s name(s)
3. Abstract
4. Key words
5. Body
6. Acknowledgements (if any)
7. Endnotes (not often)
8. References
9. Appendix (if any)
10.Résumé (if required)
 How to write the Title ？
1. Descriptive & Comprehensive, indicating the content, avoid words such as
“a study/an analysis/evaluation/ investigation of…”.
2. Be specific instead of being ambiguous and general
e.g.(1) “New Techniques in Carbon Materials”
3. Concise, not wordy
e.g. A Study of the effects of foreign investment on the economic growth in Spain during
the period between 1976 and 1990
The effects of foreign investment on economic growth in Spain, 1976-1990
4. In the middle
• Informative
5. Noun phrase (v.gerunds)
6. No punctuation mark except “-”,”—”,”,” and ”:” • Brief
7. Avoid using technical terms. • Specific
8. Using “:”or”—” to show subtitle • Concise
9. Short: no longer than 20 (usa.8) words.
• Unambiguous
10. Rules for capitalization: Capitalize the 1st letter of the 1st word + special terms
Capitalize all letters
11. Indicative titles / Conclusive titles
How to write an abstract?

A good abstract includes ：

(1) summary notes of the paper;
(2) the problems of former studies;
(3) your creativity to bridge the gap;
(4) the results of the study;
(5) key words.

• Short but complete sentences

• No references, tables or figures
• No acronyms or abbreviations
• No excessive details
Example of Abstract

Abstract. We tackle the general linear instantaneous model

(possibly underdetermined and noisy) where we model the
source prior withI a Student t distribution. The conjugate- What have been
exponential characterisation of the t distribution as an infinite done?
mixture of scaled Gaussians enables us to do efficient
inference. We study two well-knownMinference methods,
Gibbs sampler and variational Bayes for Bayesian source
separation. We derive both techniques as local message
passing algorithms to highlight their algorithmic similarities
and to contrast their different convergence characteristics
and computational
R requirements.
Our simulation results suggest that typical posterior
distributions in source separation have multiple local maxima. What are the main
Therefore we propose a hybrid approach where we explore discovers?
the state space with a Gibbs sampler and D then switch to a
deterministic algorithm. This approach seems to be able to
combine the speed of the variational approach with the
robustness of the Gibbs sampler.
How to write the Key Words?

• 3-8 words
• Noun phrases or noun
• Abbreviation(universally accepted): IP,
AIDS, CAM
• Separated by “,” or ”;”
• Synonyms can’t be used

Key words---indexing terms

How to write the main body?
1. Introduction/overview
Introduces the purpose,innovation and signifcance of
the present research or the application of the new
algorithm, model, method, tool, equipment, etc.

• Brief (no more than 3 pages)

• Focused
• What are the issues?
• What is known? What is not known?
• Why is it important to know?
• With the most relevant references
• Aims and Objectives
• Hypothesis
2. Background(optional)
Include this if your work is interdisciplinary, that is,
spans two or more traditional felds.

Alternative titles
(1) Background defnition and theorems
(2) Related work
(3) Theoretical analysis
(4) Background
(5) Theoretical background
(6) Experimental background
(7) Preliminaries
(8) Some general prerequisites
(9) Project description
(10) Current work
(11) Literature review
3. Method and Materials (experiments, procedures )

* Defne the method, theoretical approach, instrument;

* Show links between your method and other methods
* Justify your method
Alternative titles
(1) Method and materials
(2) Research design
(3) Materials and Experiments
(4) experiments
(5) Experimental details
(6) Research procedure/process
(7) Models
(8) Analysis
(9) Model and methodology
(10) Implementation issues
(11) Design issues
(12) The feld study
(13) Case study description
(14) Experiment design
(15) The measurement process
4. Results

Presents the fndings of the study in both fgures ( tables,

graphs, diagrams) and in written text.

Alternative titles
(1)   Results
(2)   Main results
(3)   Numerical results
(4)   Theoretical results
(5)   Experimental results
(6)   Simulation results
(7)   Measured performance ( 测 试 性
能)
(8)   Lessons learnt
(9)   Performance ( 性能特征 )
(10)  Visual Observation ( 观察结果 )
(11) Evaluation of ... ( 对 ... 的评估 )
5. Discussion

Give comments on results, including those generalized from the results, explanation
of possible reasons for the results and comparison of present results with results
from other studies.
• What are the new findings?
Alternative titles
• What do the results mean?
(1)   Discussions
(2)   Results and discussion • How are my results compared
(3)   Evaluation of results with previous works?
(4)   Analysis • What are the limitations?
(5)   Growth arguments • What are the significance?
(6)   Application and analysis • Do not repeat results
(7)   Performance analysis • Conclusions

This is often a difficult section to write.

 6. Conclusion
Alternative titles
(1) Conclusions
(2) Summary
(3) Summary and conclusions
(4) Concluding remarks
(5) Final remarks ( 总结 )
(6) Conclusions and future work
(7) Conclusions and future/further research
(8) Conclusions and open problems/ questions
(9) Conclusion and future directions
(10) Open problems ( 不足之处 )

1) Summarise the major achievements.

2) Indicate what has not been achieved (e. g, certain aspects still cannot be
explained) and the limitation of the current investigation.
3) Future work
7.Acknowledgments

• Persons

• Institutions

• Projects

• Grants

• Scholarships

• Etc.
 8. Notes （注释）

Notation / Nomenclature （符号和术语）

• Footnotes

• Endnotes
9.References

Alternative titles
• References
• Bibliography
• Works Cited
• Reading List
• Reading list and bibliography
• Alphabetical bibliography
• Selected Readings
 10. Appendix

This contains information which is too detailed to

include in your main text, but which is important to
show how you arrived at your conclusions, for
example, long tables, mathematical computations,
programme listings ， lengthy
quotations ， supplementary illustrative materials;
questionnaires, etc..
The material in the appendix may be subdivided
according to the logical classifcations. List each
appendix by letter and title in the table of
contents.
 Final checklist

• Completion of required forms

• Spelling/proofreading
• References
• All authors’ affiliations/addresses
• Data
• Figures/tables
• Permission from any copyright holder to reproduce
figures, tables, questionnaires
4. How to choose the right journal?
Choose your target journal

• Subject matter of the paper is covered by the journal.

• Emphasis of the paper consistent with that of the chosen journal:

fundamental or more applied, theoretical, computer simulation etc.

• Level of the paper matches the international standing of the journal.
4. How to choose the right journal?
Identifying a Target Journal
• Select a journal that publishes
work relevant to your area of
research
• Consider journals that you
have cited in your work
•Do not write the paper and
then look for a journal
•Associate Editors and
Editorial Review Board
Selection criteria
• Readership
• SCI and Impact Factor
• Access
(open access vs. subscription only)
• Review process
• Publication time
(e-pub ahead of print)
• Likelihood of acceptance
Manuscript Review Process

Preliminary
Reject without Review
Screening

Assign to
Associate Send to Reviewers
Editor

EIC Makes Reject

Decision

Accept On-Line Print Version

Version
Publish Procedure
Online Elsevier Editorial System (EES)
Submission
EES

Prepare your Pre-Submission

Automatic
article Peer Review Handover

ELSEVIER
Pub

Editorial-Production Production
Pos tion
l i ca
t

Early
Publication
web presence
Fully citable
paper
The evaluation process
Editorial staff
Board of Reviewing Editors
rejected before in-depth review
rejected after in-depth review
published (biological)
published (physical sci)

REVIEW REJECT 4%
20-30% 6%

REJECT ACCEPT
20%
70% (~10%)
70%
“Guide for Authors” often contains useful instructions
on scientific writing.
Exampl
e
“…
6 Introduction
The Introduction summarizes the rationale for the study and gives a concise
background. Use references to provide the most salient background rather than
an exhaustive review. The last sentence should concisely state your purpose for
carrying out the study (not methods, results, or conclusion).
…
9 Results
Emphasize or summarize only important observations. Simple data may be set
forth in the text with no need for tables or figures. Give absolute values, not
merely percentages, particularly for the control values.
Present your results followed by (Table 1 or Figure 2). Do not write "Table 1
shows that" or "Figure 2 demonstrated that."
…
– Author guidelines
 Cover Letters

•
main findings

•
significance

•
suggested reviewers

•
“not to review” list

•
who have read
5. How to respond to comments after peer review?

– Accept as it is (extremely rare)

– Accept if suitably revised (3 or 4 rounds of revision)
– Reconsider if revised
– Reject
Editor-in-Chief makes decision based on associate editor’s suggestions

Take the 4R golden rules and tips for responding to reviewer comments:
• Respond completely; (Give point-by-point responses)
• Respond skillfully; (Provide well-reasoned arguments)
• Respond politely; (Watch your tone & Appreciate the reviewers’ work)
• Respond with evidence ( Pay attention to detail )
How to Deal with the Referees?

As mentioned above, we have tried our best

to improve the manuscript and made some

changes in the manuscript.  These changes

will not influence the main content and

framework of the paper. And we marked the

changes in red in the revised paper.

Once again, we are grateful to the editors

and reviewers, and we hope that the correction

will meet with approval.

6. How to do after manuscript is returned?

Common reasons for rejection

• Belongs in a specialized journal

• Too small of an advance over previously published work

• Unconvincing data

• Observations without interpretations

• Interpretations without data

What to do when a paper is rejected
If the paper is rejected, then
• Rejection is a necessary part of publication happens to everyone
• Not necessarily a reflection of your research
• Reviewers and editors are not always correct

• Request to be reconsidered
• Revise based on comments and suggestions
-Check with the editor before you submit it again
• Re-submit it to another journal
-ITA ( 作者指南）
-Cover letter
-Don’t ignore comments from the reviewers
If the paper is rejected
• Carefully consider the critical points.
• You may need to read more literature.
• More experiments may be required.
• Revise your manuscript. New direction?
• Resubmit your manuscript to the same journal
(if invited to do so).
• Choose an alternative journal (if not invited to resubmit
to the same journal).
• Never submit your manuscript to an alternative journal
without appropriate revision. Your revised manuscript
may end up in the hands of the same reviewer.
 Revise your paper

• Be calm about reviewers criticisms.

• Always make editor your friend

• Never argue with reviewers

• Try to do everything that reviewers ask

• Seize the opportunity when reviewers make mistakes

Does your paper answer these questions?

• Why? Introduction

• How? Materials and Method

• What did you find? Results

• What does it mean? Discussion

What gets you accepted?
ACCEPTANCE means
• Attention to details
• Check and double check your work
• Consider the reviews
• English must be as good as possible
• Presentation is important
• Take your time with revision
• Acknowledge those who have helped you
• New, original and previously unpublished
• Critically evaluate your own manuscript
• Ethical rules must be obeyed
– Nigel John Cook, Editor-in-Chief, Ore Geology Reviews
What Makes Good Scientific Research?

• Important and significant

• Original and innovative

• Solid and rigorous
• Unique and unusual

Novelty is essential!
 Is it a good paper or not?

The 4C standards of a good paper:

* Clear * Complete * Correct * Concise

Golden rules of paper writing:

KISS: Keep It Short & Simple.

Never forget: You are writing the paper for the reader!!
Publishing is a somewhat of a game need to learn to play.
Improve the chances of getting your manuscript accepted!
Scopus offers tools to track, analyze and visualize research.

www.scopus.com

Scopus ：全球最大的文摘与引文数据库
• 洞悉研究领域热点和趋势
• 寻找合作作者和审稿人
• 选择适合的期刊投稿
• …

Scopus is the largest

abstract and citation
database of peer-reviewed
literature: scientific
journals, books and
conference proceedings.
Expand your academic network

• Build your personal website

• Attend conference/workshop/seminar
• Ask your colleague to introduce you to his
research/academic colleagues
• Volunteer for committees
• To be a reviewer
• Offer to help other people
 References
1. Hans Lambers, Preparing your results for publication.

2. J. K. Ladha, The basics of science communication.

3. Chia-Hsiang Chen, The structure, format, content, and style of scientific

paper. 

4. Christopher D. Ingersoll, Scientific writing.

5. Arthur Chiou, Some general guidelines for technical writing in English.

6. Kenneth F. Schulz, If research is not published, it did not happen.

7. Sami K. Solanki, How to write a research paper.

8. Robert A. Day, How to write and publish a scientific paper.

Good luck!