“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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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.

 

 

Manuscript edition in English

Posted on December 2nd, 2018 by Ana Pérez-Escoda

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

One of the main objectives that every researcher should keep in mind when publishing his or her research is the visibility of it. There will be no point in being excellent in academic and scientific contributions if we are not able to reach the right audience. In a globalized world, of instant communications we must take advantage of the synergies that the information society offers us:

• Alternative metrics that make the article visible on digital platforms.
• Quality of the publication chosen, which guarantees an optimal starting context.
• Key ideas, highlighting the value of the research.
• Scientific social networks, which efficiently focus the attention of colleagues, doctoral students and research staff.

In addition to these factors, all of them to be taken into account for the publication of our research, there is another one of vital importance: The edition of the manuscript in English.

Image: Pixabay Source: Statista 

The importance of the language or languages ​​in which we publish will mark the possibilities of real readers for our research, the greater the number of potential readers, the greater the possibility of generating a significant impact on the scientific community. It is in this case where the number of millions of approximate speakers of the language or languages ​​in which we publish takes on special relevance.

If our article is published in Spanish, we are talking about a probabilistic but not real scope (since not all speakers of a language will be potential readers of our research) of about 420 million people, if we add an English version to this version, we are adding an approximate population of 1,500 people.

Therefore, in a global and connected ecosystem where knowledge is generated with a vocation of reach, the most the best, the linguistic aspect will undoubtedly result in this intention, offering a potential audience to our article that we would never have dreamed of. Therefore, at the value of communicating our article, we will add the value of communicating to much more people which is better, always seeking an English edition of our article.

It is important, not to forget to mention the essential that results in this point to guarantee a professional and academic version that reinforces the strategy of double language, contributing to a greater scope of our research and our reputation as researchers in the area of ​​knowledge worked. Neglecting the translation process would condemn our reputation with Anglo-Saxon readers. The neatness, the rigor, the requirement and the urgency with which the manuscript has been written should be translated in the same way as the English version, so resorting to a native who knows our field of research will be mandatory if we want to maintain the quality of our publication.

 

Simple review or blind peers

Posted on November 25th, 2018 by Luis M Romero-Rodríguez

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

The main core of scientific journals lies fundamentally in its peer review process. No matter how much a publication has a first-level Scientific Council, editors of great relevance within a scientific community or the journal is from a renowned university or research center, the basis of its scientific character are precisely the quality of its reviewers, who with their expert opinions, evaluate and value the proposed research.

In the peer review -which does not necessarily mean that they are two or multiples of two, but rather as synonymous with “homologs”-, different modalities can be presented:

• Single-blind: In which the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers, but the reviewers know the identity of the authors.
• Double-blind: None of the parties (authors and reviewers) know the identity of the other.
• Open: In this system both authors and reviewers know their identities and allows authors and reviewers to dialogue in the review process.
• Collaborative: Also known as the “blockchain revision”, since it is a collaborative platform (forum type) in which the manuscript subject to review is exposed and in which the authors and reviewers can interact without intermediaries, without any knowing the identity of the other.
• Third-Party: Some magazines usually request that the articles pass, prior to the presentation of the same, a review process by an external agent, generally a payment service, so that with the change and authorization report, it could be published.
• Post-publication: More than a review process (which is understood to be prior to its publication), it is a system in which journals or platforms allow other experts to comment on the published article.
• Cascading: It happens when a manuscript is rejected by a magazine, either because the subject is not adapted or because it is not of interest to its readers. In this case, the journal, with the prior authorization of the authors, sends the article to another journal, usually from the same publisher or consortium, together with the revisions made, to continue with the process.

Although most of the typologies mentioned are not usually common, especially in Social Sciences journals, the first two (single and double blind) are the ones that we will most certainly find.

Single-blind peer review

The single-blind peer review (peer review) is a system in which the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers, but the reviewers themselves of the authors. This typology, although not very common in Social Sciences journals, applies in other branches of knowledge. For example, the publisher Nature – one of the most prestigious in the world – uses it as a default option.

This type of review has not been subject to criticism, since it is understood that by affecting the anonymization of authors, reviewers can operate with biases – for better or for worse – or commit anti-ethical practices. However, it also has its defenders, who argue among its advantages:

• Greater ability to identify, by the reviewers, conflicts of interest (especially needed in journals of medicine, pharmacy or economics, where there are many examples of advertisement practices in favor of brands).
• Possibility to follow the previous works of the authors and identify “salami-slicing” (unethical practice of dividing investigations into phases to publish partial results).
• Better ability to detect auto-plagiarism.

Double-blind peer review

Undoubtedly, this modality is the most frequent option in Social Sciences journals, as is the case of Comunicar Journal. As explained, the system of double blind peers is based on the fact that the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers, nor they do not know the identity of the authors.

This system is based mainly on anonymity as the vault key of ethical review practices. However, critics of this modality explain that nowadays, with open repositories, academic and scientific social networks, Google Scholar, among others, anonymity of authors can never be guaranteed.

Moreover, according to a 2008 study by the Publishing Research Consortium, cited by Professor Lluis Codina, 56% of those consulted were in favor of the double-blind system, while 25% were in favor of the simple blind, which leaves in evidence that it is a system that the authors prefer, although it is not the only type of peer reviews that exists or that has demonstrated its efficiency -see examples such as Nature-.

 

Online magazines, printed … global?

Posted on November 18th, 2018 by Ignacio-Aguaded

Author Ignacio-Aguaded – Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

A debate that has been diluted in recent years is the controversy surrounding the privileged or exclusive channel of the diffusion of scientific research. Until no more than two decades ago, online or virtual magazines were discredited and many national scientific evaluation agencies did not value the contributions in these channels, or considered them second level, from a reasoning today unexplained that these media were of inferior rank in front of the printed edition that had remained unchanged from the very begginning of the conception of the scientific journals and even more, in the DNA of the publication and of the bookby itself, in the Gutenberg press.

Today we have gone almost to the other extreme. It is not easy to find librarians who say that their centers do not receive printed magazines if they have electronic editions, as if both were not compatible and even more, complementary and necessary. Many experts in librarianship bet for the double channel for prestigious journals and with history. It is ilogical to think that an OJS platform with all its virtualities (which are immense in version 3.0) can easily replace the printed editorial background of a magazine with category and many “printed” pages and stories.

It is evident that it is not about defending past archeology, but rather locating the value of the different channels for scientific diffusion. Online journals have acquired an immense potential for all the advantages of the Internet and for the applications that have been developed for their management, both in the revision and editing as well as in the editing processes. This is not incompatible with maintaining printed editions with a long editing history that expand their coverage and are library funds with immense value.

The future of the written edition is not written yet. Some negatives of librarianship already augur the end of the magazines, at least we already live a blurring of the role of the headers. Today, “magazines” are no longer consulted, but rather single articles in the “cloud” through their keywords. These macro-bases have not already erased the unitary sense of the publication? Scientific social networks also diffuse the work in isolation, blurring their initial headings and acquiring these only value based on the prestige of their citation.

It is evident that the scientific world is transforming itself in leaps and bounds, like almost the whole world. In this sense, scientific diffusion is also revolutionizing all the standards and the very concept of the scientific journal that is less and less like the classic printed book. This is an open and exciting debate … in the meantime we defend our future with our past and our present. Printed magazines, online magazines, global magazines…

The correct use of quotation marks in academic writing

Posted on October 30th, 2018 by Angel Torres Toukoumidis

Author Angel Torres Toukoumidis – Translation: Erika-Lucia Gonzalez-Carrion

Quotation marks are a punctuation mark that is commonly used in academic and scientific writing. In Spanish, 3 types of quotation marks are used, low or Latin quotation marks(« »), which stand out when prescribed as the first option when making a quotation, as well as being frequent in social sciences and humanities, while high or English quotes (“ ”) and single quotes(‘ ‘), are used in texts that are already previously quoted with low or Latin quotations, being adopted more frequently for citations in scientific texts.

Among the multiple objectives of using quotation marks is to insert textual statements avoiding thereby incurring into plagiarism, to fully comply with reference styles, to add unusual or recently coined terms and to incorporate words or phrases into another language.