Writing a scientific article & Playing the citation game

Guest Speakers

Roine Leiringer

Associate Professor

Department of Real Estate and Construction

The University of Hong Kong

Andy Dainty

Director, Loughborough University Doctoral College

Writing A Scientific Article

Why is this important?

  • A large proportion of what researchers of is writing
  • This is how you disseminate your research and ideas
  • Journal papers are one of the fundamental measure of your effectiveness and quality as a researcher and academic
  • At present, probably the single most important thing in terms of career progression (promotion, grants, external appointments etc.)

The process of writing

  • Keep writing, regardless of quality and purpose!! You get better at it over time
  • Expect to draft and redraft text many times!
  • Read as much as possible!
  • Make coherent notes on relevant papers and books you read
  • Try to emulate scholars you admire and the styles/format of journals you might target

“Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.”

——George Eilot

Writing for publication

  • Think about your audience
  • Target a specific journal or conference
  • The structure of a scientific paper is usually quite standardised
  • But check carefully for variations!

Introduction

  • Provide the setting for the paper and introduction the reader to the topic under investigation and provide at least a partial description of what is to come (the first two sentences are important!!)
  • Explain the significance of the research or paper, and justifies why it is important and interesting – so what?
  • Make sure you have a statement of the purpose of the paper / research
  • Depending on the journal, the introduction might include the discussion of relevant literature – current state of the art
  • It can be useful to explain how you have structured your argument, i.e. what is to come
  • The knowledge gap fallacy

For more information, refer to the soft copy….


Playing the Citation Game

Outline
  • The importance of developing a citation profile – a case study
  • Knowing your IFs from you SNIPs and your SJRs
  • Playing the game effectively

If you do nothing else, of this…

  • Search for yourself and make sure your top-ranking profiles are up-to-date
  • Check which outlines are working for you and why
  • Go open access
  • Focus on promotion on the IR version
  • Get alerted when your work is cited and mentioned
  • Get an ORCID

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