“School of Authors” is a website from Comunicar, Scientific Journal in Education and Communication, indexed in main international data bases, that complements other websites in Spanish, English and Portuguese. “School of Authors” is written and edited, basically, by the Editorial Board of “Comunicar” and it aims to offer different sources, for manuscript submissions in scientific journals in a planned and strategic manner. It is intended to make authors think about scientific information management for publishing scientific manuscripts in high impact journals.

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The importance of “bringing to light”, instead of hiding, the unexpected or anomalous results

Posted on March 14^th, 2019 by Ángel Hernando Gómez

Author: Ángel Hernando Gómez –Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

When we formulate hypotheses or set objectives, it is normal, from the point of view of the human being in general and of the researcher in particular, that we hope to reach our objectives or confirm the hypotheses we propose, it is clear that a confirmed hypothesis is better than one that is not confirmed.

Although in most of the research designs we propose, we confirm the hypotheses and / or achieve the objectives, it does not always have to be that way, and in fact it is not, so the temptation to “force” (temptation that goes to both the new and the not so inexpert researchers) the analysis or hide the anomalous results that appear – when we make the analysis of our results at the end of the field work – it is great. We can never fall into this temptation for at least three reasons, the first and simple is because it is unethical, the second because we would be missing the truth and the third is because, on numerous occasions, these unconfirmed hypotheses can be more enriching for the subject matter that the simple confirmation of what was considered. If the hypothesis has been confirmed, the conclusion is clear since the research question has been answered, but if it has not been confirmed we have a new opportunity to investigate, to make new questions or to reformulate some of those that we had already done ourselves.

In the course of our investigations, sometimes we find anomalous or unexpected results, these should never be hidden (it may be a serendipity and we are faced with a very valuable finding that we have reached, without looking for it, accidental!) as we are directly opening new research proposals, new lines in which we can design research to try to respond to what we did not expect but that has appeared in our results. These anomalous results have to be brought to light and we have to give them the best possible explanation or, simply, say that we have found them and, for now, we can not give them any explanation. It can also happen that, if we do not show these results, the editor, who in many cases is or must also be a good researcher, will be the one who brings them to light.

We must also learn from the unexpected, what in advance can be considered as a failure or a weakness of our research is not so, we can consider it a strength because it allows us to formulate new hypotheses or propose new research objectives (we or any member of the academic community that works or investigates on this subject) that, in the end, what they will do is to enrich the research on the thematic field. This strength can only be given, obviously, if instead of hiding them or “putting them in a shoehorn” we are able to “bring to light” the anomalous or unexpected results that we find in our researches.

Future research. Why is prospective important in scientific articles?

Posted on March 9th, 2019 by Luis M Romero-Rodríguez

Author Luis M Romero-Rodríguez– Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

Science advances in steps, not leaps

Thomas Macaulay

Knowledge is, in essence, an evolutionary social construct. It is to say; everything that we know today (from a table, a laptop, a plane or a pill) has been built in progressive advances of the human ingenuity in form of sciences, arts or trades.

Of course, these advances would not be more than isolated and restricted knowledge if there were no means of communicating progress. This is where we go into the subject of the prospective of research, as a recommended way to contribute in the direction of future developments; more specifically to the conclusions section of a scientific article, which more or less standardized structure requires us to: i) Summarize the most significant findings of the research (synthesis of contributions); ii) Check these findings in light of the theories and the state of the matter presented previously (discussion); iii) Present the limitations of the study and; iv) Determine future lines of research (prospective). In this post we will concentrate on this last section of the conclusions.

Where is the future?

When we believed that we had all the answers, suddenly, all the questions changed.

Mario Benedetti.

All research word contributes, in greater or fewer measure, to answer some questions about a topic and to solve some doubts, but in a simultaneous way generates new questions, ideas and emerging lines of work.

Research prospectives are found generally at the end of all scientific text (it is the last section of a conclusion), although there are journals that request that they are found in a part of the abstract or as final notes.

The goal of this part is not another one than the one of facilitating the concentration of investment and research efforts in areas in which researchers have identified new possible ways to get complementary findings or new objects.

Examples of writing of prospective

Roses, S. & Humanes-Humanes, M. (2019). Conflicts in the professional roles of journalists in Spain: Ideals and practice. [Conflictos en los roles profesionales de los periodistas en España: Ideales y práctica]. Comunicar, 58, 65-74. https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-06

Among the future developments of this line of research, it is worth mentioning the comparative analysis of the gap with other countries, the replication of the design with a sample of professionals from different media supports (radio, television, digital native diaries and social networks) and observation and analysis of the real gap between the conception of professional roles and their materialization in the contents.

Garmen, P., Rodríguez, C., García-Redondo, P. & San-Pedro-Veledo, J. (2019). Multiple intelligences and video games: Assessment and intervention with TOI software. [Inteligencias múltiples y videojuegos: Evaluación e intervención con software TOI]. Comunicar, 58, 95-104. https://doi.org/10.3916/C58-2019-09

Facing future lines of work, it is expected to apply the methodology for the design of games that allow to cover different age groups, as well as to verify the validity and reliability of TOI for the intervention with groups of specific educational needs, such as high-level skills or ADHD.

The image of the results also matters

Posted on March 3rd , 2019 by Ana Pérez-Escoda

Author Ana Pérez-Escoda – Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

How to make good tables and graphics?

The fact that we live in a society highly mediated and deeply marked by the image is not a newness if there was any doubt social networks have emerged as colossus of the image, where the hegemony of the visual does not admit doubts. The latest data from the Annual Report of Hootsuit, 2018 Digital Yearbook, reveal that of the 7,593 billion of the total population, 3,196 billion are social network users, and 2,950 billion are active users of social networks through smartphone.

In February 2018 the New York Times produced a special “Welcome to the Post-Text Future” in which several prestigious journalists: Farhad Manjoo, Nellie Bowles, Mike Isaac or Claire Cain Miller, among many others analyzed the phenomenon of an online society in which the written text falls back as a mean of transmission to give way to sound and image as elements of universal communication.

Why does it affect to researchers?

Because academic results are not only read on paper, nor in front of a desktop computer, the penetration trends of smartphones among citizens, the increasing use of these devices to access content and the growing connectivity have changed, also the way in which science is consumed. Not for nothing when we talk of scientific and academic publications, we no longer speak only of traditional metrics but also of the alternative metrics that are produced by the interaction in networks.

It is because of this emerging and growing need that researchers and academics must take care of the way in which they publish their results, to make their work visible, so it will be essential to take into account the aspect in which they show their research results.

Below we propose three free tools for the creation of excellent graphics, images, infographics and personalized images so that the research results are adapted to a 100% visual society.

Access to EASEL.LY Access to VISME Access to CANVA

It is also important that the graphs of the research are attractive and their visualization is appropriate to the digital medium, so we propose these 3 tools for the design of graphics.

Access to Generador de gráficos Access to ChartGo Access to Creately

Web 2.0 and its wide range of free possibilities makes available to the researcher a free repertoire of options with which making better tables, graphs and infographics that will seek, after publication, a diffusion in research networks of high impact and visibility.

 

The “ritual phrases” Do we abuse of them in scientific articles?

Posted on February 19th, 2019 by Águeda Delgado-Ponce

Author Águeda Delgado-Ponce– Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

Despite the fact that written communication is part of the academic life of every student, the writing of the scientific article involves a series of requirements that differentiate it from other types of texts and, therefore, make it difficult its elaboration. Among the main aspects that stand out in this type of writing (from which we spoke in another entry) we can highlight: clarity, brevity and precision. Hence, when you start writing scientific articles, the use of specific expressions, of phrases, provides a guide or help that facilitates this work.

The “ritual phrases”, those phrases with a concrete or repeated form and of common use, can in certain cases favor the connection of ideas and avoid the blockages that arise when it comes to writing. And even, simplify or speed up the understanding of the text. However, the problem, as in everything, arises when these expressions are abused, something that uses to happen quite frequently in research articles, because of the intention of a writing closer to the scientific, as well as in writing in another language, given the specificity of this literature. On the contrary, what is achieved with this abuse is a lack of precision since we take “precooked” phrases, which are valid for any article and not for the expression of the specific and particular information that we want to communicate. Also, to subtract originality and seem repetitive.

Therefore, to the question of whether we should demonize and contribute to the eradication of these ritual phrases, the answer would be no, given that sometimes, when you are beginning to write these articles or in translations, they may result in help. But it is necessary to reduce its use to achieve the precision and clarity that this type of texts require.

What is and what is not a scientific article?

Posted on February 11th, 2019 by Ángel Hernando Gómez

Author Ángel Hernando Gómez – Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

Without detracting from the rest of types and formats of articles -all of them valuable in their own genre and for the type of readers to which they are intended for- one must take into account that in order for an article to be considered as scientific it must have a series of characteristics and respond to a reason. Although these do not always have to be experimental, you can try to inform about new knowledge, it is needed to deal with a research report or scientific communication.

The scientific article has a series of characteristics, among them, the fact that it has to be original (it communicates for the first time the result of a research), that is, to contribute something new to the field of study in which the subject matter is inserted. The results presented must be valid and reliable, must be written in a clear and precise language and, above all, use a methodology with instruments and procedures that have been proven to be scientifically valid, regardless of whether the research carried out follows a quantitative, qualitative or mixed methodology.

The scientific article must pass through a review process, so the journal in which it is published must be a peer-reviewed scientific journal that uses an external review system by experts (peer-review), prior to acceptance and publication of the manuscript, which helps guarantee the relevance of the article and the value of its contribution.

We also should take into account that the scientific article has as a main objective to share the obtained results, through the research carried out, with the scientific community so that these can be known and contrasted. To do this, all the necessary information must be clearly stated in the body of the manuscript, which allows us to reproduce the results that have been found.

The scientific article reports the results of a research; therefore, it must follow a standardized structure of scientific manuscripts (standard of scientific writing), as set out in the IMRyD format (Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion) for the organization of the scientific article between the researchers. This standard of scientific writing must be followed in all its aspects both regarding to the structure and the content and references of the manuscript, since what is done is to expose a research report that has writing standards that are very explicit within the academic world.

In short, there are many types and formats of articles: theoretical, opinion, review articles, studies, reviews, intervention reports, replies to previously published articles, interviews, research reports, etc. But for an article to be considered as scientific it has to fulfill the characteristics that previously have been exposed and be a research report or scientific communication.

Some advice to increase the number of citations to our publications

Posted on January 13th, 2019 by Raidell Avello Martínez

Author Raidell Avello Martínez  – Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Figura-3-Indicadores-de-impacto-de-los-catalogos-por-ano-Numero-de-citas-en-SciELO_fig5_317176760

As it has been commented in several times in this blog, the final publication of the results of the research is an essential part to evaluate the quality of an institution, group or researcher of higher education or research center. Since many years ago, the impact factor of a publication, calculated since the number of citations per article, is the fundamental measure to calculate the quality and impact of a publication.

The citation shows how many times an article has been cited by other articles and as quality factor is important both for the author as well as for the affiliated institution. In this context, the greater part of the researchers are evaluated based on their publications, as well as for the number of citations that their publications receive. Although, many university evaluation systems based only in this criteria have received critics, and continues being one of the main indicators even in the most integral systems.

The visibility of articles: presence of journals in international databases

Posted on January 6th, 2019 by rosagarciaruiz

Author rosagarciaruiz – Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

The quality of a journal depends on three fundamental factors: editorial management, the impact and visibility of its publications. The most prestigious scientific journals in any area of ​​knowledge constantly work to improve in these three aspects, in addition to other criteria already mentioned in the previous post “Quality criteria in the publications”, and in a very special way to maximize its visibility, which implies that the journal will be positioned in the best databases and its articles will be visible to researchers and potential authors around the world.

For an author it is essential to identify those journals that are located in indexed databases, selective newspaper archives, selective catalogs or university libraries. Therefore, when selecting the journal to which you want to send a manuscript, in addition to taking into account the advice already published in this blog on choosing a publication of quality, the author should check in which databases that journal is ranked, since to bet for a visible magazine supposes that our article will be visible for the researchers of the area and evidently, it will favor that it is cited in the next publications.

When an author decides that Comunicar can be the journal to send his or her best manuscript, the autor can check, in the tab “Indexations” where it is located, and as a consequence, check the journal’s ability to become known in the academic and scientific field its research work. Comunicar is present in 650 databases, grouped in the following categories:

• Selective international databases
• Journal evaluation platforms
• Selective directories
• Selective newspaper libraries
• Specialized websites
• Searchers of scientific literature open Access
• Libraries catalogs
• Social networks
• Catalogs of university libraries

As can be seen, there are different databases in which a journal can be indexed, and in this sense, they can be categorized in order of relevance. In this way, we can consider as more important and prestigious databases those that index journals taking into account different variables related to the impact of the journal, for which they are given a relative quality index within the journal’s set of the same category. A clear example of these databases are Scopus or the Web of Science.

Other databases take into account the editorial value of the journal, as is the case of Latindex, which establishes a series of criteria to be fulfilled, linked to the editorial quality of the journals, and not to the impact of the published articles. Others take into account the criteria of the experts in the scientific field to which the journal is linked.

The prestigious scientific journals, therefore, are recognized by their position in the data bases, which suppose an effort of permanent update to the editorial teams that, repercutes as well in the visibility of each one of the articles that publish. Therefore, authors should spend time searching for this information in each journal to which they wish to send their articles.