ME-621 Writing and Publishing Academic Research (Høst 2020)

• Understand the process of writing academic papers
• Appreciate the academic peer review system
• Understand what is required to get published in reputed international journals
• Select journal outlets for his/her research papers
• Submit and get accepted a research paper in a decent journal or a recognized international research conference

The course aims at:

• Introducing researchers to the process of publishing academic research
• Improving participants academic writing skills as well as presentation skills
• Engaging participants in writing up a complete research paper
• Engaging participants in giving, receiving and responding to critique
• Engaging participant in submitting a paper to a decent journal or a recognized international research conference

 Topics:

• The course is first and foremost a learning by doing course where participants are engaged in writing up an original research paper. In addition the following topics will be covered:
• International quality publications, the modern way to an academic career
• The jungle of journals, how to select a good outlet for your research
• Visibility of research, the need for pre- and post- publication strategies
• Publication ethics and plagiarism
• Identifying your competitive advantage in research teams
• From a research idea to a researchable idea
• The publication process and the peer review system
• Establishing a research pipeline
• Refereeing papers and responding to referees reports
• When and how to plan for co-authorship
• Ideas to consider before deciding between Journals, special issues, book chapters and books
• Defining the story of a paper
• The structure of academic articles
• Complying with journal guidelines

Guest professors may be invited and include additional topics in their lectures.

The course will consist of three modules covered over a period of around 4-8 months. For the first module (1-2 days) participants should bring a research idea that during the module should be developed into a researchable idea including a research model. For the second module (1-2 days) participants should bring a first draft of a research paper and a powerpoint presentation of this. Between modules two and three the papers should undergo an internal peer review process where participants will referee each others papers. The third module (1-2 days) will be organized as a research conference where the participants should bring their papers, response letters to reviewers and powerpoint presentations. After finishing the course and considering comments received, the participants should have a research paper ready to be submitted to a journal or to a conference.

Student workload (135 hours):
Lectures/seminars: 30 hours
Reading articles and preparing for sessions: 15 hours
Preparing reports (review reports and response to reviewers): 10 hours
Writing up a research paper and journal/conference submission(s): 80 hours