Publishing in scholarly journals is crucial for all academics, especially young researchers and postgraduate students. Scholarly publishing can demonstrate research outputs and improve academic profiles. However, getting a paper published in a leading, renowned journal is arduous and requires going through a sophisticated peer-review process.

 

Additionally, scholarly publishing is evolving rapidly with new technologies. More models are available for choosing where and how to publish. Scholarly publishing is so important and complicated that the Library endeavors to support academics in authoring.  The University Library now collaborates with leading publishers to organize author workshops for faculty, researchers and postgraduate students.

 

On 17 September, Taylor & Francis (T&F), one of the world's leading publishers of scholarly journals, was invited to hold an author workshop at the Library – "Publishing in Academic Journals: Tips from Taylor & Francis to help you succeed with emphasis on Peer Review".  It was designed to offer advice on presenting a paper in a peer-reviewed journal and to highlight how an article is evaluated.  Professor Zhang Limin of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering was invited to serve as the panelist for the T&F author workshop.  He is the Managing Editor of Georisk.  Prof Zhang shared his experience in reviewing and editing papers and gave the audience suggestions from an editor's perspective.

 

The outcome of the workshop is encouraging.  43 participants attended, with 95% of respondents very satisfied or satisfied.  Many especially highlighted the editor's involvement as enriching the workshop.

 

Another author workshop was held 16 October.  Springer, a premier provider of scientific, technical and medical information, explored the "Springer Author Academy – Your Guide to Publication Success". Other leading publishers, including Wiley and Elsevier, have been in touch. Hopefully, more of these useful author workshops will be held in 2014 so as to help you publish your research.