Developing Your Career

The publishing landscape is changing rapidly and in complex ways. Young researchers need to navigate this and find their place in the scientific community. Your place will evolve throughout your career and your publication and communication strategies are keys to this path. This chapter provides some guidelines for how to embark on a successful scientific career.

The Cost of Publishing

The cost of publishing is hotly debated. Until the 1990s, publication was either free of charge, paid per page or per article, or covered partially or completely if subscribing to a journal or if a member of the academic society overseeing a journal. A major shift occurred in the early 2000s when new “Open Access” publishers made articles freely available for all to read and reuse, with article processing charges being covered by the author. This chapter discusses the paradigm shift and how it has changed the landscape of who pays for scientific publication.

Peer Review

The main objectives of peer review are to improve manuscript quality and advise the editor regarding acceptance. But peer review’s two defining characteristics—anonymity and altruism—are ill-suited to reliably fulfill its aims. Increases in manuscript submissions has led to a “tragedy of the reviewer commons,” whereby over-solicited reviewers put less effort into reviews or stop reviewing altogether. This chapter presents problems surrounding peer review, and approaches to slowing the tragedy.

Choices in Publishing

The world of publishing has changed considerably over the past 20 years. Who can view published material, who pays for content and alternative models to classic peer reviewed journals are all important in considering where to publish your work. This chapter presents choices in publication venue and discusses the pros and cons of each.

The Puzzle

Your study may be of the highest standard and provide new answers to an interesting scientific question, but yet is ignored. A great paper has an interesting puzzle that hooks the reader. This chapter stresses the importance of mastering the literature and engaging the reader in the quest to seek pieces of the puzzle.

Planting Your Flag

Science works through the publication of results. Sometimes results confirm previous findings, others they are a new discovery. Either way, results only have effects when they are actually made available to the scientific community. Delaying publication may mean that what was a discovery is now a confirmatory finding. This chapter explains why it is important to “plant your flag” as a personal achievement, a necessity for career development and a gain for the scientific community.

Use of Citation Metrics

The idea that curiosity and discovery can be transcribed into rankings strikes at the very heart of science. The emerging norm of replacing scientific content with numbers is leading to an “impact factor syndrome,” whereby metrics influence both where interesting and important research is published and how committees evaluate scientists and science. This chapter discusses different citation metrics and why the scientific community increasingly looks to them as measures of impact.

The Publication Decision

The publication decision email is the moment of truth. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of work hours have now been judged and—in a single click—the decision appears. Our inclination to search for key terms such as “accept” or “reject” may blind us to important elements in the letter. This chapter explains why decision letters deserve careful reading and presents strategies for replying.

Authorship

There is no objective method for determining authorship or author order. Common sense and journal guidelines indicate that authorship is merited for all those contributing “significantly” to one or more core criteria. Attributing authorship is therefore ultimately a principal investigator’s decision and relies on an honor system. Author order is also important, and typically follows one of a small number of norms. This chapter discusses the issues surrounding authorship and author order.

Choosing a Journal

Imagine that you could fast-forward time and compare your paper’s impact had it had been published in Journal A vs. Journal B. Publishing in Journal A may result a remarkable trajectory: many citations and the creation of a new lines of research. Publishing in B could be a positive accomplishment but lead to a more moderate impact or perhaps none at all. The same paper, two different journals, two different impacts. Indeed, venue can make a difference. This chapter will present different considerations in choosing a journal and how to develop a coherent strategy.