Caven Mcloughlin

A qualified school psychologist and Fulbright scholar passionate about helping authors understand and develop best publication practices.

What a journal editor expects to see in a literature review

The literature review is an essential part of an article. Without a strong analysis of prior literature, there can be no certainty that an article addresses important principles. This article presents a journal editor's views on how to present a systematic and transparent review of previous literature in your article.

Academic hijacking: Avoid the dark alleys of academic street crime

Do you know what journal editors want from you? In this post a journal editor talks about how the predatory publishing and academic hijacking are very much like street crime. Read on to know what you should do if your paper is being held hostage by a predatory journal.

How an author can deal effectively with coercive citation requests

Some journal editors ask authors to include inappropriate or irrelevant citations in their papers in an effort to artificially inflate the journal's impact factor. If such a request is made before accepting a paper, it can easily feel coercive and the author might feel pressured to cite the recommended articles for fear of rejection. This article  explains how an author deal with a coercive citation request. 

How to identify coercive citation requests from an editor

Some journal editors ask authors to include inappropriate or irrelevant citations in their papers in an effort to artificially inflate the journal's impact factor. If such a request is made before accepting a paper, it can easily feel coercive and the author might feel pressured to cite the recommended articles for fear of rejection. This article  explains how an author can identify a coercive citation request.