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Ruth Yanai
Writing for Scientific Publication

Exercises

Workshop Files

Navigating Class Materials

Other Resources

How to create a research poster

Effective poster design for academic conferences 

Books:

Russell, Stephen and David Morrison. Year? Grant Application and Writer's Workbook.  Successful Grants for Any Agency / Grant Writers' Seminars and Workshops

Dr. O'Neal, Vanessa S. 2013.  Grant Me the Money! - The Practical Guide to Successful Grant Writing Practice.  Crystal Spirit Publishing, Inc Kindle Edition ($9.99)

Geever, Jane C. 2012.  The Foundation Center's Guide to Proposal Writing, 6th Edition. ISBN 978-1-59542-404-4.  See also their workshops and podcast

Coley, Soraya M. and  Cynthia A. Scheinberg. 1990. Proposal Writing.  SAGE Human Services Guides.

Hofmann, Angelika H. 2010. Scientific Writing and Communication: Papers, Proposals, and Presentations. Oxford University Press.

Friedland, Andrew and Carol L. Folt's 2009. Writing Successful Science Proposals.  Yale University Press; 2 edition

Schimel, Joshua.  2011. Writing Science:  How to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded.  Oxford University Press book /blog

Steps to Publication

Each journal has a "Guide to Authors" that outlines the order of sections within a paper, word limits, costs (if any), instructions for preparing tables and figures, and formatting requirements for the literature cited.  You can find these on the journal websites.

You may be prompted for additional information when it comes time to submit—key words, cover letter, article type, suggested reviewers, cover art, and it's unpleasant (and inefficient) to be taken by surprise.

Here are some ppt shows with screenshots of the steps involved in electronic submissions of manuscripts and written summaries provided by students.

  • American Society of Agronomy (ASA) PDF
  • Biogeochemistry PPS
  • Canadian Journal of Forest Research PPS
  • Environmental Science and Technology Summary
  • Forests Summary
  • Forest Ecology and Management  PPS | Summary
  • Journal of Bryology Summary
  • Journal of Forestry  PPS
  • Plant and Soil  PPS
  • Soil Science Society of America Journal Guide for Authors | PPS | Summary

Webinar for Journal of American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) that covers the submission process for this journal, about 40 minutes in they discuss the peer review process. Link to view recording

Cover letters are often required, which are sometimes quite cursory.  Better cover letters include (especially if requested!) what's new and exciting about this work and why its suited for this journal, and recommended reviewers or why someone might be a particularly poor one.

Author contributions - here are some examples from previous papers. Some journals allow free form and others use CRediT.

When your manuscript is received by the journal, an associate editor will send it out for review, Here are examples of the instructions provided to reviewers of manuscripts, from a variety of journals. If you study them, you can be aware of what the reviewers will be looking for in your paper.

When you write a review, it is important to be fair, professional and not personal in your criticism, and to describe the strengths as well as the weakness of the paper. Specific examples will help the authors and the editors understand your points. Here are some examples of reviews:

as well as an article about reviewing:

The case for (more) diversity in peer review. Exploring the history, importance and benefits of being inclusive. 

Want to become a certified peer reviewer? Introducing Elsevier Researcher Academy's latest free offering - a comprehensive course on becoming a confident referee.

Ten reasons to accept your (next) invitation to reviewWhy saying -yes-could prove an enriching and rewarding experience in more ways than one.

Rights and Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers.

ACS is working on a video series entitled Publishing Your Research 101. Upcoming episode will address: Responding to reviewer comments and manuscript rejections.

Occasionally, there are funny responses

 

Examples of Responses to Reviews

After you receive a review, unless your paper is rejected, you will be asked to respond to the reviewer's comments. You will need to submit a detailed accounting of your changes (or your reasons for not making making changes suggested by the reviewers) as well as the revised manuscript. Here are some examples of responses to reviewers.

Once accepted, you may need to visit the system to review page proofs, assign copyright, answer additional questions, etc.

Examples of electronic page proofs:

Copyright transfer agreements: