Stanisław Lem's „How

the world was saved” remixed by Jacaszek

 "All right, let it make Nature [Science]. "
 "Machine, do Nothing!"
 The machine whined, and in a trice Trurl's front yard was
packed with naturalists [scientists]. They argued, each
publishing heavy volumes, which the others tore to pieces;
in the distance one could see flaming pyres, on which
martyrs to Nature [science] were sizzling; there was
thunder, and strange mushroom-shaped columns of smoke
rose up; everyone talked at once, no one listened, and
there were all sorts of memoranda, appeals, subpoenas and
other documents, while off to the side sat a few old men,
feverishly scribbling on scraps of paper.
How academia works

the backstage/kitchen view

ACADEMIA?

Academia can include institutions of various types as well as independent

researchers (at least according to some definitions). It encompasses all
disciplines and fields of knowledge. In a word, academia is the institutional face
of research.
FUNDING IN ACADEMIA
WHAT DO YOU EVEN NEED MONEY FOR?
literature, equipment/materials, paying your subjects, travelling
(incl. conferences), article processing charges
SOURCES OF FUNDING
your own pocket (well...)
SUBSIDIES (involves smaller scale procedural effort, but is
often limited by personal likes and dislikes, also such funds are
limited)
GRANTS (involves complicated eligibility rules and procedures,
a grant proposal is quite often a research article in its own right)
SPONSORSHIP (involves a risk in credibility, is limited to
highly applicable research)
COOPERATION/COLLABORATION
BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION
increasing funding opportunities
larger samples, more generalisable results
more efficient bias avoidance
application of various skills (e.g. statistical analysis)
spotting errors before the reviewers

RISKS OF COLLABORATION
differing visions
communication problems
sharing the glory  (and points)
THE PUBLISHING PROCESS: publish or
perish?
THE PUBLISHING PROCESS
• is preceded by the research proper and writing
sumbi • you may never submit to multiple journals at the same time :/
ssion

• is done in a variety of modes, most common being „double-blind peer

review”
revie
w
• results in acceptance or rejection; may take from weeks to, well, years

• revisions may be minor or major

revisi • some of these may be... silly. It depends on who was your reviewer
on

resub
missio
n
THE PUBLISHING PROCESS 2: the whys
• the author fights for a place in a good journal and is not paid for the work
sum • WHY: because even his continued employment depends on that
bissi
on

• other scholars in his field do the reviews and are not paid for it
revie • WHY: because it boosts their status (?); because they actually care (?)
w

• editors do some editing work on the articles, sometimes,

• sometimes companies are engaged in some promotional activities, but
revis
ion mostly they sell in bulk to Universities and even countries

publ • would you like to buy an individual article for £35.99?

icati
on
JOURNALS: some close-ups
OPEN ACCESS: approach to doing research in which the resulting
publications are distributed for free to the public at large. It can take
a variety of legal forms, most common of which are CC-based
copyrights.
DOUBLE-BLIND PEER REVIEW: the type of review in which
other scholars (from the same field) check your work for potential
shortcomings (including methodology). Double-blind means that
you don’t know their identify and they don’t know yours.
IMPACT FACTOR: a way of measuring the impact of a journal (or
an individual paper in it, or all the publications of a given scholar)
based on the number of times he or she is quoted.
PREDATORY JOURNALS: the definition is somewhat blurred, but
basically it means the journals that forego quality in order to make
money on the publishing process
ANNA O. SZUST?