{"id":6177,"date":"2019-02-21T07:59:35","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T07:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/experts\/a-recipe-for-the-secret-sauce-to-publication-success\/"},"modified":"2019-02-21T07:59:35","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T07:59:35","slug":"a-recipe-for-the-secret-sauce-to-publication-success","status":"publish","type":"experts","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/a-recipe-for-the-secret-sauce-to-publication-success","title":{"rendered":"A recipe for the secret SAUCE to publication success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Simon Linacre is the Director of International Marketing & Development at Cabells where he focuses on <\/span><\/span>growing international markets for Cabells and on developing networks in UK, Europe, and Asia<\/span><\/span>. \u00a0Before joining Cabells, he was with Emerald Publishing for 15 years and worked on journal acquisitions, open access, and business development. Simon is also passionate about helping authors get published and has delivered over a hundred talks, sharing useful publication tips for researchers. He has also written extensively about bibliometrics, knowledge transfer, and the need for authors to follow a publishing strategy. Simon holds Masters degrees in Philosophy and International Business and has gained considerable teaching experience as well.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In this, conversation, Simon talks about how researchers ought to plan their publications and career by carefully considering both political and strategic factors. Such an approach will not only help them find the right journals to publish in but also ensure that they are able to navigate their academic journey with confidence. Simon insists that researchers need not be dependent on anyone else to help them understand the complex publication process. Instead, they can rely on data to help make evidence-based decisions. He talks about the role Cabells plays in helping researchers make informed data-driven decisions as well as about the uptake of the Cabells Blacklist. We end the interview on a positive note with Simon sharing his own recipe for a secret sauce that will help researchers understand the publication process and succeed in their publication journey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You have spoken about the\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>need for researchers to have a publication plan or strategy in place<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a>. Could you elaborate? What is the best way for researchers to create a publishing plan that will work for them?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I would argue that authors always have political and strategic questions to answer when it comes to deciding where to publish. Political, in that they need to be aware of any expectations their institution has of them in terms of where journals they publish in are ranked or if there are Open Access mandates in place; strategic, in that having a plan in the first place\u2014which helps them to decide where they want to be in the future\u2014is always better than having no plan at all. The best thing for researchers to do is to understand these political and strategic imperatives, decide on the best pathways to meet the objectives they have from these contexts, and move forward on that basis. This will include deciding just how much importance they place on these two questions, and they can decide to answer other questions about their careers as well, but they can\u2019t ignore these two fundamental challenges and should plan for them accordingly.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You have extensive experience (<\/span><\/span><\/b>over a 100 presentations<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a>)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/u><\/b>\u00a0helping researchers with tips on how to get published. What have you learned about some of the most common areas researchers need help with? What are some of the real struggles they face?\u00a0What are their key pain points based on your observations?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In universities, far too little support is given to researchers about publishing, which is why I have always been happy to share some knowledge with them on campus or through webinars. Universities or governments will set benchmarks for researchers to publish in certain journals without helping to equip them with the skills and knowledge to help them do that. This is\u00a0<\/span><\/span>really unfair<\/span><\/span>\u00a0on researchers, and understandably some struggle. But researchers can help themselves a great deal, and the most common area for this is simply “researching their research”- that is, use the first-rate research skills they possess as academics and applying them to finding out about potential outlets for their work. Understanding citation,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>altmetrics<\/span><\/span>, usage data and other information about journals and articles will help them through the pain points they have regarding the lack of knowledge of the publishing\u00a0<\/span><\/span>process, and<\/span><\/span>\u00a0help them target the right journals for their political and strategic goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting that you mention the need to use data. A recent\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>Editage\u00a0survey report<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0reveals journal selection as one of the main\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>challenges<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0researchers face. While discussing the results of this survey, you mention how authors identify the right journal with the help of data and how a resource like\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>Cabells<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0could play a critical role here. Could you elaborate?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once researchers understand their political and strategic goals, they can use data to\u00a0inform the decision-making process. For example, if I am a researcher in Computer Science and would like to publish in a popular journal with an Impact Factor (IF) before the end of the year, I can first draw up a shortlist of all the relevant journals. Then, I can use data from\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Cabells<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to compare the journals in terms of whether they have an IF or\u00a0not, how high the IF is, how popular they are with social media (using Altmetrics data)<\/span><\/span>,\u00a0and how long I can expect to wait for the article to be reviewed and published.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Cabells<\/span><\/span>\u00a0also\u00a0provides its own unique metrics\u00a0for journals in the Whitelist<\/a>.\u00a0These are the\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Cabells<\/span><\/span>\u00a0Classification Index (CCI),\u00a0which\u00a0uses a percentage score to show the influence a journal has\u00a0in its field of study, and Difficulty of Acceptance (DA), which\u00a0uses a percentage score to show how difficult it is to\u00a0publish an article in a journal in its field of study.\u00a0Weighing up this data, alongside any other relevant information I may have, will enable me to make an evidence-based decision about which journals I should publish\u00a0in.\u00a0It also allows a range of data to be used rather than relying on just a single metric, such as the IF.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It has been a year and half since Cabell\u2019s Blacklist<\/a> was introduced. Could you tell us about the uptake of this list?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, it has been huge! Both the uptake of the product and the growth of the product\u00a0itself has taken us a little by surprise, and certainly surpassed our expectations.\u00a0Academic, corporate, and government institutions all<\/span>\u00a0over North America, Europe, and Asia have subscribed to the Blacklist, which has grown from 4,000 journals at launch to well over 10,000 journals at the start of 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>In particular, engagement<\/span><\/span>\u00a0with the product has also been a little overwhelming, with many personal messages of thanks for the help it has given both institutions and individual researchers.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What are some of the most common queries you receive about the Blacklist?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, we get a lot of enquiries about the criteria for listing the journals on the Blacklist, or if we have investigated Journal A as it exhibits predatory journal symptoms. A lot of the growth of the list has stemmed from referrals from users to investigate journals, and it has been a challenge to keep up with these at times. Perhaps surprisingly, we have had very few queries from those publishers whose journals we have listed, with reviews of their inclusion in single figures.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How does\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>Cabells<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0work with other industry stakeholders to work on the pain points of researchers?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We do this at both a corporate and individual level. As an organization, we are in constant contact with stakeholders to understand what challenges they are facing, and what role\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Cabells<\/span><\/span>\u00a0can play to help them. An example of this is the development of our\u00a0<\/span><\/span>BrightTALK\u00a0channel<\/a><\/span><\/span> which aims to answer many of the individual user queries we receive in one place.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Could you tell us more about the\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b>Cabells-Editage\u00a0partnership<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/b>?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We have been working for a while with\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Editage<\/span><\/span>\u00a0on helping researchers with what I call the \u201cvalidation gap.\u201d Every researcher reaches a stage in their publication path where they\u00a0<\/span><\/span>have to<\/span><\/span>\u00a0validate the article they have written in different ways \u2013 research quality, writing quality, language, choice of journal, etc. As I mentioned before, universities tend to offer great support up until this point, and afterwards when articles have been published and tenures have been confirmed, but at this crucial stop in the road there is often a chasm that needs to be crossed to get to the other side. This is part of the journey for early-career scholars and even more experienced scholars, and along with\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Editage<\/span><\/span>\u00a0we hope that\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Cabells<\/span><\/span>\u00a0helps to bridge the gap.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And any publication tips for researchers?<\/span><\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I love a good acronym to remember things, so here is a quick one which should help those researchers looking for the secret \u201csauce\u201d to\u00a0understanding\u00a0the publishing process and achieving publication success:<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n