Research Methodology

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University
Engineering Technical College / Najaf
Communication Engineering Department

Asst. Prof. Ali Mohanned Saeed Alsahlany

Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany

Research Methodology

Lecture Outline:
 Overview
 Impact Factor
 Research Criteria
 Format of Paper
 Status of Report
Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Overview
 For writing scientific and engineering papers you must:

 Determine which field you are interested in.

 Find the journals that publish papers in your field of study.
 Read about 5 -10 papers published by the journals in the past 5 -10.
♦ To be familiar with the type of publication, writing style, and format.
 Submit your manuscript.
 Papers can be submitted to an independent journal with an ISSN or to a special
issue of conference proceedings having an ISBN.
♦ 1. Elsevier 2. Springer 3. Wiley 4. Taylor & Francis.
 Address the comments made by several reviewers.
 The paper is accepted and published after it is finally revised.

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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Impact Factor
 Impact Factor:
 Researcher should not send your paper to predatory journals and publishers
 Website for predatory journals and publishers:
 Jeffrey Beall’s list https://www.beallslist.net/
 Stop predatory journals https://www.predatoryjournals.com/
 Researcher should send his paper to authentic journals having an impact factor.
 The impact factor is considered the number “one” ranking value for authentic journals and has
become a substantial part of any journal development discussion.
 The yearly developments in Impact Factor are reported in the Thomson Reuters.
 Impact factor is a benchmark for a journal’s reputation and reflects how frequently peer-reviewed
journals are cited by other researchers in a particular year.
 Websites for checking journals impact factor:
 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) http://jcr.clarivate.com/
 ISI Web of Knowledge
 Scimago Journal & Country Rank https://www.scimagojr.com/index.php 4
Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Research Criteria
 An authentic paper is generally composed of the following criteria:
1. Necessity of research.
 Should the area be addressed because it has been neglected?
 Would the area fill a gap in current scientific knowledge?
2. Significance of research.
 Does your paper advance understanding?
 Does your paper make a useful contribution?
 Can you show a specific instance of the possible useful contribution?
 Are your findings original?
3. Relevance of research.
 Is your research of interest to the journal audience?
 Is this topic relevant to the publication?
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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Research Criteria
 An authentic paper is generally composed of the following criteria:
4. Clarity of research.
 Is your topic clearly mentioned?
 Does your paper follow through by addressing this topic consistently and clearly?
5. Relation to literature.
 Does your paper show an adequate understanding of the current literature in the field?
 Does your paper connect with the literature in a way which might be useful to the
development of our understanding in the area it addresses?
6. Reference of research.
 Does your paper use theory in a meaningful way?
 Does your paper develop or employ theoretical concepts in such a way as to make reasonable
generalizations?
 Does your paper develop new theory?
 Does your paper apply theory to practice? 6
Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Research Criteria
 An authentic paper is generally composed of the following criteria:

7. Methodology of research.
 Has the research, or equivalent intellectual work upon which the paper is based, been well
designed?
 Does the paper show adequate use of evidence, informational input, or other intellectual
raw materials in support of its case?
8. Data analysis.
 Can you correctly use data analysis techniques?
 Can you make right interpretations from the data collected?
 Have the data been used effectively to advance the themes that the paper sets out to
address?

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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Research Criteria
 An authentic paper is generally composed of the following criteria:

9. Critical qualities.
 Does your paper demonstrate a critical self-awareness of the author’s own viewpoints and
interests?
 Does your paper show awareness of the possibility of alternative or competing
perspectives, such as other theoretical or intellectual perspectives?
 Does your paper show an awareness of the practical implications of the ideas it is
advancing?
10. Clarity of conclusions.
 Are the conclusions of the paper clearly stated?
 Do the conclusions adequately tie together the other elements of the paper (such as theory,
data, and critical perspectives)?

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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Research Criteria
 An authentic paper is generally composed of the following criteria:
11. Quality of communication.
 Does your paper clearly express its case, measured against the technical language of the
field and the reading capacities of an academic, tertiary student, and professional
readership?
 What is the standard of writing, including spelling and grammar?
 If you say YES for almost every criteria, this means that your authentic paper possibly makes
it clear how the findings advance understanding of the issue under study. In addition, your
paper provides an important critical and/or analytical insight that contributes something new
to the field of higher education.
 Moreover, your issue/problem is well situated in appropriate literature. Furthermore, your
paper demonstrates methodological soundness. Last, your conclusion is well supported and
persuasively argued. Your paper is also succinct and coherent.

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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Format of Paper
 There are many types of the authentic papers.
 Research paper: A research paper can be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods.
This paper shows important and original findings.
 Review paper: A review paper is usually commissioned by editors. This paper raises
technical or scientific questions about the published work.
 A general set of sequential components of the research and review papers should have the
following details:
• Title: The title length is usually around 5 -20 words. Context must be short and specific.
• Abstract: Abstract is a brief summary of about 75 -300 words. You can use the suitable tense
in the sentence. You should avoid citations, tables, equations, figures, and references.
• Keywords: You must provide at least five keywords so that these are useful to select reviewers
who are familiar with your papers.
• Introduction: The introduction must show a statement of the problem, significance of
the study, and objective.
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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Format of Paper
 Format of Paper .

• Results and discussion: Data analysis must be accurate. This must be based on the research
questions you have formulated. Results and discussions can be either in the same section or in
separate sections. You should show and compare your findings with other studies. In addition,
you should purpose your own suggestions.
• Conclusion: The content can be similar to the introduction plus abstract sections, but you can
just restate it.
• Acknowledgment (if any): You mention the financial support and thank your college at this
section.
• References: You must show the references cited in the paper using the reference format
according to the publisher’s format.

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Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany
Lecture 1 : Introduction Status of Report
 Status of Report.
 Status of Report: After your paper submission, you would have to deal with comments from
reviewers. You can face any one of the three scenarios: outright rejection, major corrections,
and minor corrections. Very rarely, there is outright acceptance without corrections.
1. Outright rejection: You must calm down so that you can think better. First you must go
through the comments and reasons provided. If valid, you consider major revisions. If your major
revisions involve collecting data, you must consider the time and money needed. If you just
require to reanalyze the data, rewriting the paper based on the comments is easier.
2. Major corrections: There is still some hope. If it is going back to collecting data, you must
consider time and money involved, subject availability. If it is just reanalyzing the data, you seek
the statistician's help and try to incorporate the reviewers’ comments. If it is just a
conceptualization issue, it is easier to solve. You just look at some examples of similar papers and
how the problems are conceptualized.
3. Minor corrections: The editor considers your paper to be almost accepted. You follow the
comments closely and do not unnecessarily argue with the editor. The editor makes a final
decision based on the comments of the reviewers. You revise the paper within the time allocated
and send it to a language expert to check and then send the paper a few days before the deadline. 12
Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University Asst. Prof Ali M. Saeed Alsahlany

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