Slides from the talk "How to Get Published" by Julia Ballard and Chris Elliot at Don't Forget the Bubbles, Melbourne Australia in August 2018.

1. How to Get Published
- the slides -

2. Presented by Julia Ballard and Chris Elliot
Twitter: @JuliaB1004 | @DrCElliot
Don’t Forget the Bubbles, Melbourne 2018
for more details visit:
www.JPCHonline.com/HowToGetPublished

3. Hello!
We’re Julia and Chris
We’re both authors.
In addition, one of us is an editor and the other a publisher.
We had 15 minutes on stage to share our insights.
Getting through these slides will be much faster.
Let’s go.

4. Getting Published is Hard
Researchers, looking at papers published from 1650 onwards, estimate
global scientific output doubles every 9 years.
In 2016 just under 2.3 million scientific papers were published
in that year alone
In 2017 more than 400,000 papers were submitted just to Wiley.
Only 80,000 were published.

5. There are a ton of common-sense things you need to
do to get published:
Have a meaningful title.
Use correct grammar.
Match your research topic to your journal.
… and so on.

6. We’re not going to talk about any of that.

7. Our Key Messages:

9. Our Key Messages
1. You are in control.
Getting published is hard. Your chances of a successful
submission to Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
alone are less than 20%.
But…
You’re still in control. Here’s why:

10. You pick the research topic, type of study and outcomes.
You write the article draft.
You choose the journal.
You respond to peer review.
You can promote and share your research widely
(more on this later)

11. You’re in control!

12. Speaking of Journals…
There are 17,000 scientific journals out there to choose from.
Pick one that is honest and accountable, that will take care of your research.
There is an independent body that can help you:
www.ThinkCheckSubmit.org
(scroll down for info and a link)

13. http://thinkchecksubmit.org/

15. 2. Authors, Editors and Publishers are all on the same team
It might feel like you’re in battle with your editors and publisher
to get your paper out there, but in reality we all want to
disseminate excellent, meaningful research to the people who
need to see it.
If you don’t believe that, think about the ecosystem
authors work in…

17. Authors create quality research
Editors ensure credibility
Publishers disseminate widely

18. The Ecosystem
Without authors, editors and publisher have nothing to do.
Without editors, authors would share
research without peer review or editing.
Editors ensure credibility in our body of research
Without publishers, it’s difficult for people you’ve never met, in places
you’ve never heard of, to find your research – now and in the future.

20. 4. Research articles are like stories. Tell great stories.
Stories have a premise, plot, characters and an ending
So do research papers…

22. Good stories inform us, help us appreciate a different perspective or
understand the world a little better.
Great stories change the way we live our lives. So does research.
Tell great stories.
Don’t spend your time on anything less than good research;
on telling a great story that matters to you and to others.
(It’ll help you get through peer review, if nothing else)

24. 5. Peer Review is a conversation
Peer review can be very tough. But…
You don’t have to accept every suggestion a peer-reviewer makes.
You have to address all their points, but you can (if you want to)
say something like this author...

25. “I have not otherwise altered the content of the paper.
There is an attachment which outlines my response to
the referee comments and the justification for not
making the suggested changes.”

27. Everyone gets rejected – but we don’t talk about it.
Associate Professor Nick Hopwood does.
Visit his “Wall of Rejection” (scroll down for link).
It’s guaranteed to make you feel better.

29. 6. Publishers add value. It's true!
It’s trendy to lament publishers. That’s ok.
Someone has to do the things that publisher do:
Typesetting, copyright, archives, licensing, plagiarism checks,
dissemination… there’s a long list:
102 Things Scholarly Publishers Do (2018)
(scroll down for the link)

30. Publishers provide a platform for journals.
Journals provide a platform for authors.
Publisher want journals to be successful, not obsolete.

31. This is a big topic.
It can help as an author when you can see how all the
parts of the system work together.

33. 7. It is not enough just to get published.
Share your research – it is easier than you think
Nurture your research.
There are PLENTY of legitimate ways to share it, especially if you’re
worried about paywalls.
(scroll down for our resources)

35. Final thoughts…
(The next 3 slides make a sentence)

36. Scientific, social, and economic research impacts our lives in innumerable ways. And it’s
just the beginning: all fields of research are becoming more computational,
collaborative, data-driven, automated, and web-based.
Researchers
produce
21st century
research…

37. …written up
using
20th century
technology…
From PDF to Word, most document formats we produce today are not natively collaborative, data-
driven, or version controlled. Also they are incompatible with one another.

38. A centuries-old research “paper” does not look too different from documents we publish,
share and read today (i.e., static, lifeless PDFs)
…published
in a
17th century
format.

39. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London, first volume published in 1665
JPCH 2018---pretty much the same format more than
350 years later

40. Getting Published is Hard. Don’t despair!

41. Hopefully we’ve shown you:
You have more control than you might think
The parts of the system might be painful at times
… but they serve a purpose
You CAN survive peer review
You CAN share your research after publication – and you should
We all want the system to work better than it does
Let’s start a conversation and see what we can achieve!
www.JPCHonline.com/HowToGetPublished