How Much Does It Cost To Publish in Science What sort of costs should a scientist who wishes to publish a research article in a peer-reviewed journal expect to pay? The quick answer is that it is impossible to generalise…
Using Numerical References in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Numerical References in Your Thesis or Dissertation If you are writing a thesis or dissertation in the medical or biological sciences, you will probably need to use numerical references such as those required for a Vancouver style of referencing….
Three Cover Letter Templates to Journal Editors
Three Cover Letter Templates to Journal Editors Each cover letter is unique, and those addressed to journal proofreaders by scientists and academics when they submit their writing for publication are no exception. As an opportunity to present original research in…
Choosing an External Examiner for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Choosing an External Examiner for Your Thesis or Dissertation Doctoral theses and many other long research-based documents that are written to earn credit towards academic and scientific degrees require formal examination by a committee. In most cases, this committee consists…
How To Write a Methodology for a Publishable Journal Article
How To Write a Methodology for a Publishable Journal Article Writing about the significant results and exciting implications of advanced research necessitates writing about the methodology employed to achieve those results. Although a well-written methodology for an academic or scientific…
Expressing Scholarly Speculation Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Expressing Scholarly Speculation Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation Reporting the methodological processes and final results of most research is relatively straightforward, and advanced students tend to do an excellent job of it in their theses and dissertations. However, the…
How Many Papers per Year Should a Postdoctoral Fellow Publish?
How Many Papers per Year Should a Postdoctoral Fellow Publish? Among the many benefits of becoming a postdoctoral fellow at a university or laboratory is the opportunity to conduct valuable research and publish significant findings. Both sides of this opportunity…
Making the Best Use of Tables and Figures in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Making the Best Use of Tables and Figures in Your Thesis or Dissertation Scholarly writing can be significantly enhanced by the careful use of well-designed tables and figures of various kinds. By catching the eye and presenting complex information in…
Why & How To Withdraw a Published Research Paper from a Journal
Why & How To Withdraw a Published Research Paper from a Journal Once an academic or scientific paper has been published by a journal, it is usually too late to withdraw it, which is why it is so important to…
Perfecting Sentence Structure in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Perfecting Sentence Structure in Your Thesis or Dissertation The process of writing a thesis or dissertation in the English language tends to place new demands on the textual skills of most students, particularly those students whose first language is not…
Academic Writing Tips on How To Summarize a Journal Article
Academic Writing Tips on How To Summarize a Journal Article Just how valuable knowing how to summarize a journal article truly is becomes clear when the wide variety of reasons for which academic and scientific articles are summarized is understood….
Taking Critical Notes when Reading and Thinking about Sources for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Taking Critical Notes when Reading and Thinking about Sources for Your Thesis or Dissertation When working on your thesis or dissertation, you will no doubt be consulting scholarly sources such as previous trials and experiments, primary documents and theoretical studies…
Sample Responses to Letters from Academic and Scientific Journal Editors
Sample Responses to Letters from Academic and Scientific Journal Editors Each letter to an journal editor is unique, so the following letters are only examples, but they will provide you with ideas about how to format and word your own…
Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation?
Does Good Grammar Really Matter in a Thesis or Dissertation? The short answer to that question is a resounding yes, good grammar matters a great deal, despite the fact that the validity of fussing over correct grammar seems to have…
Is There a Reliable or Complete List of Pay To Publish Journals?
Is There a Reliable List of Predatory Pay To Publish Journals? An online search for ‘list of pay to publish journals’ will quickly turn up numerous discussions and links to lists both white and black. The terminology itself may be…
PhD Theses or Dissertations: Footnotes-Notes for Documentation
PhD Theses or Dissertations: Footnotes-Notes for Documentation | Tips on How to Write a Thesis or Dissertation Providing references via footnotes or endnotes is a very different style of documentation than the author–date and numerical referencing systems. The use of…
How To Write a Journal Article: Three Tips for Writing Journal Papers
How To Write a Journal Article: Three Tips for Writing Journal Papers There are two main approaches to writing an article for a scientific or academic journal. The first is to write the article first and then decide on the…
Beginning Sentences Correctly and Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Beginning Sentences Correctly and Effectively in Your Thesis or Dissertation Each sentence of the scholarly English prose you write for your thesis or dissertation should start in ways that are precise and complete, and certain elements of writing should never…
Open Access vs Traditional Publishing: What Are the Differences?
Open Access vs Traditional Publishing: What Are the Differences? The defining difference between open access and traditional publishing lies in the type of access offered to readers. Both forms of publication are acceptable for most academic and scientific articles, and…
Exploiting the Power of Keywords in your PhD Thesis or Dissertation
Exploiting the Power of Keywords in your PhD Thesis or Dissertation Although a tiny and, in the history of doctoral studies, relatively recent aspect of a PhD dissertation, keywords (also called ‘key words’ or ‘key terms’) pack a very large…
The Importance of Writing with Precision in a Thesis or Dissertation
The Importance of Writing with Precision in a Thesis or Dissertation As a postgraduate student working on a thesis or dissertation, you no doubt enjoy the benefits of a primary mentor or supervisor who is an expert in your area…
Roles and Responsibilities of Journal Editors in Peer-Review Processes
Roles and Responsibilities of Journal Editors in Peer-Review Processes Most scholarly authors who submit their writing for publication in academic and scientific journals are aware that the proofreaders of those journals play an important role in the peer review process….
Maintaining the Flow of Text while Writing a Thesis or Dissertation
Maintaining the Flow of Text while Writing a Thesis or Dissertation Life is full of distractions, and they seem to multiply in both number and kind when a student sits down to write a thesis or dissertation. The type of…
The Process of Publishing a Research Paper in a Journal
The Process of Publishing a Research Paper in a Journal Paradoxically, submitting a research paper for journal publication can feel anticlimactic. It is always a relief, of course, to get the work done and sent off on what could be…
Reporting the Facts of Your Findings in a Thesis or Dissertation
Reporting the Facts of Your Findings in a Thesis or Dissertation There is no doubt that the ways in which to present and organise a report of research results in a thesis or dissertation vary widely. The nature of an…
Writing Acknowledgements for Academic or Scientific Manuscripts
Writing Acknowledgements for Academic or Scientific Manuscripts Most academics and scientists read (or perhaps skim) many acknowledgements as they consult sources for their research, and this general familiarity with standard formats and contents is extremely helpful when it comes time…
Using Three Grammatical Structures Agreeably in a Thesis or Dissertation
Using Three Grammatical Structures Agreeably in a Thesis or Dissertation If you are not a native speaker of English, but are writing a thesis or dissertation in the language, you may find yourself struggling at times to establish agreement between…
How To Write a Research Paper for Journal Publication
How To Write a Research Paper for Journal Publication A traditional research paper published in a reputable scholarly journal remains a primary means of reporting and disseminating the methods, results and implications of advanced research. Writing an excellent research paper…
How To Choose the Right Proofreader for Your Thesis or Dissertation
How To Choose the Right Proofreader for Your Thesis or Dissertation Completing the research and writing required for a thesis or dissertation is an enormous undertaking. Whether it is considered in terms of time, effort or tuition, the investment of…
Writing an Effective Abstract for Journal Submission
Writing an Effective Abstract for Journal Submission With the exception of your covering letter, the abstract of your paper are the first things encountered by the editor considering your submission (and the very first things if you are not able…
Punctuating Sentences as Lists in Theses and Dissertations
Punctuating Sentences as Lists in Theses and Dissertations Lists are extremely effective tools for students who are writing a thesis or dissertation. A list can present a great deal of complicated material in a concise format that is especially clear…
Publishing Research as Book Chapters: Is It Worth It?
Recent discussions about publishing academic and scientific research as book chapters in edited volumes instead of as articles in scholarly journals have suggested that book chapters do not get cited nearly as often as journal articles do. With citation reports…
Structure and Order for Reporting Results in Your Thesis or Dissertation
Structure and Order for Reporting Results in Your Thesis or Dissertation The task of reporting the results of advanced research in a thesis or dissertation can be enormously challenging. In most cases, the student designing the section or chapter dedicated…
How To Respond When a Journal Editor Asks You To Do a Peer Review
How To Respond When a Journal Editor Asks You To Do a Peer Review | Tips on How to Get Your Research Published You just received a request from the editor of a reputable scientific journal asking if you would…
Forming the Future Tenses of English Verbs for Theses and Dissertations
Forming the Future Tenses of English Verbs for Theses and Dissertations Many thesis and dissertation candidates, especially those whose native language is not English, find the conjugation of English verbs somewhat tricky. For this reason, I have written a few…
The Benefits and Rewards of Peer Reviewing Journal Articles
The Benefits and Rewards of Peer Reviewing Journal Articles | Tips on How to Get Your Research Published If you are considering becoming a peer reviewer for an academic or scientific journal, you are probably already aware that there can…
English Verbs and Their Present Tenses in Theses and Dissertations
English Verbs and Their Present Tenses in Theses and Dissertations Increasing numbers of students who are writing a thesis or dissertation in the English language are not native speakers of that language. Although they may possess excellent writing skills in…
Fraud and Intentional Deception in Scientific and Academic Research
Fraud and Intentional Deception in Scientific and Academic Research ‘Oh what a tangled web we weave When first we practise to deceive.’ (Sir Walter Scott, ‘Marmion’) Instances of fraud in academic and scientific research are on the rise. Whether this…
The Importance of Proofreading Your Thesis or Dissertation
The Importance of Proofreading Your Thesis or Dissertation Writing a thesis or dissertation is for most postgraduate students the first instance in which they are required to produce a long academic or scientific document. The content of theses and dissertations…
How To Publish in High-Impact Journals
How To Publish in High-Impact Journals High-impact journals are extremely desirable publication venues, and early-career researchers are often encouraged to submit their writing to the most prestigious journals despite low acceptance rates. Learning how to publish in high-impact journals is…
The Value of a Working Table of Contents for Your Thesis or Dissertation
The Value of a Working Table of Contents for Your Thesis or Dissertation Although every student working on a thesis or dissertation begins the project with the best of intentions and an ideal outline in mind, it often proves difficult…
How To Publish Research Presentations in Formal and Informal Ways
How To Publish Research Presentations in Formal and Informal Ways Presenting original research at conferences, symposiums, workshops and other professional meetings is an essential part of a successful academic or scientific career and it also tends to be a rewarding…
Using Word Effectively while Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Word Effectively while Writing Your Thesis or Dissertation As an efficient tool for authors, Microsoft Word can be incredibly helpful while you write your thesis or dissertation, but only if it is used effectively with an understanding of its…
How To Find Impact Factors of Journals
How To Find Impact Factors of Journals There are many excellent reasons why knowing how to find the impact factors of journals is essential for academics and scientists who publish their research. The Journal Impact Factors provided each year by…
Using Full Stops Effectively in Abbreviations for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Using Full Stops Effectively in Abbreviations for Your Thesis or Dissertation Academic and scientific writing tends to make frequent use of abbreviations to express a wide variety of concepts and terms as concisely as possible, so it is very likely…
How To Select the Right Journal for Publication
How To Select the Right Journal for Publication Very few if any academics and scientists would choose to have their writing published in a journal that is rarely read and cited by specialists in their fields – the kind of…
Using the Past Tenses of English Verbs in Theses and Dissertations
Using the Past Tenses of English Verbs in Theses and Dissertations Thesis and dissertation students who struggle with writing English prose that effectively presents their research often have difficulties when it comes to conjugating verb tenses. In this post, I…
How To Use Cover Letter Templates When Writing to Journal Editors
How To Use Cover Letter Templates When Writing to Journal Editors Templates are all the rage online and every expert offering one claims that it will simplify a necessary task, usually a task considered especially mundane or difficult. There are,…
Designing the Perfect Title for Your Thesis or Dissertation
Designing the Perfect Title for Your Thesis or Dissertation Visibility and accessibility are key issues to keep in mind when you are designing a title for your thesis or dissertation. Most researchers will find your work, or not, via the…
Explaining DOIs, ISBNs, ISSNs & Other Publication Identifiers
Explaining DOIs, ISBNs, ISSNs and Other Publication Identifiers The modern world is information rich and becoming more so with each passing day. Staggering numbers of new books, articles, reports and other texts as well as audio and visual creations across…