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How to Avoid Publication in Predatory Medical Journal
Categories Scientific Communication

How to Avoid Publication in Predatory Medical Journal

Author krishna kumar 0 Comments Posted on

What are Predatory Medical Journals?

Predatory medical journals are the journals that publish the research article without any peer-review of the article. These journals do not provide editing services and charge a fee for publishing the article. Jeffrey Beall first used the term ‘predatory journal’. These journals normally have quick turnaround time to publish the article as compared to other high-quality journals. Although Article Processing Charges (APCs) are also required for open access journals they have the process of critical peer review and editing services. Due to poor or absent peer review process, the quality of research articles published in predatory journals is poor as compared to high-quality journals. Despite much of the talking about the illegitimate work done by the predatory journals and increasing awareness about these journals, the number of publications in such journals is increasing and the number of such journals almost increases 4-5-fold between 2010 to 2015.

How you should Avoid Publication in Predatory Medical Journals?

Publishing the articles in a high-quality medical journal gives a feeling of pride and escalation on the career ladder. On the other hand, falling in the trap of predatory journals may bring a feeling of disgrace, dissatisfaction, and embarrassment. Thus, it is important to identify whether the target journal is predatory or not. Although there is no set of rules that allows the researcher to instantly conclude. Certain characteristics are normally present in most of the predatory journals. These characteristics are:

Unscrupulous marketing tactics: If you receive an e-mail with strongly persuasive language for getting your article published, critically analyze the available information about the journal. Publishing in such a journal may be a wastage of time and money.

Poor quality peer-review and editing: The predatory journals exist only for a motive to make money. To fulfil their motive, they are ready to publish almost every research article with a fee from the author. These journals have poor or no peer-review process. The author should avoid such journals as their authenticity is questionable.

Article-processing charges: Most of these journals hide the article processing charges. After submitting and acceptance of the article, they suddenly send an unexpected invoice. Make all the cost clear before approaching these journals.

Open journal or listed in the DOAJ: Most of the authentic journals are open journals. These journals are listed in Directory of Open Access Journals. If the target journal is not listed in DOAJ, the quality of the journal is questionable.

Medline indexed: Make a search related to the target journal on the NLM catalogue. If the journal is not indexed in Medline, the quality is questionable. However, there may be other reasons for not indexing in Medline.

No credible website or clear contact information: If the website of the journal is not appropriate with lots of grammatical mistakes and images procured from other sources, the journal may be predatory. Lack of clear contact information also creates doubt on the credibility of the journal.

Deceptive title of journal: If the title of the journal is similar to the title or older traditional journal or includes the terms “world” or “global”, make all your doubts clear before submitting an article.

Writing and Publishing Scientific Research Article
Categories Scientific Communication

Step-by-Step Approach for Writing and Publishing Scientific Research Article

Author krishna kumar 0 Comments Posted on

Introduction

Completion of research article writing gives immense satisfaction. However, to achieve this satisfaction, considerable time, energy, and mental presence is required. However, a step-by-step approach towards the conclusion reduces the burden and gives satisfactory results.

Inclusions of the Research Articles

To assist the reader for easy comprehension, the format of the research article is almost similar for all the journals. Headings of the article are designed in a way to ensure a smooth flow of the text. The 4 headings i.e. Introduction, methods, results and discussion, and conclusion comprise the body of the article while title and abstract are additional components. The information required under each heading is discussed below:

Title: Title is one of the important parts of the research article. It allows the reader to have an idea about the scope of the article and helps in attracting the target audience. The title allows database search engines to search for articles based on relevance. It has been found that articles with shorter titles are more preferred in citations.

Abstract: The abstract should be clear, concise and provide the reader with an idea about the research article. The abstract is important because based on the abstract, the reader will decide whether to proceed for further reading the article.

Introduction: In this section of the article, the writer should introduce the article and state its importance in improving current knowledge. Usefulness and novelty should be mentioned to increase the reader’s attention and interest.

Methods: This section may be subdivided into various subheadings for better dissemination of information. Various subheadings are subjects, procedures, definitions and criteria, data collection and statistical tools applied to interpret the data. The process is more important than the person who did it thus it is advisable to use the passive language in this section.

Results: Results should be organized in correspondence to the subheadings of the methods section. The author should progress from the simple outcomes to the more complex outcomes. If there is an unexpected result obtained during the study, the author should initiate the result section with that particular result.

Discussion and conclusion: In the discussion section, the author should discuss in detail the outcomes of the study and its relevance in context to the prior literature. The author may also discuss how this study will help in identifying and filling the scientific gap. The study limitations should be clearly defined and further course of actions are advised. In the conclusion section, the author presents the principal findings.

Preliminary Work

Writing a scientific research paper is not an easy task. The process of writing does not only include writing the research rather there are certain other preliminary tasks to be conducted. Here are some of the preliminary tasks along with or before writing:

The decision to writing the paper: There is a saying “Right beginning is half work done”. The same applies to write the research article. Writing a research article is a tedious task and strong commitment and persistence will help to achieve the outcome.

Create a reference list: Be clear about the message you want to convey to the reader. Based on the basics of your research, start searching for the relevant literature to be incorporated into your article. Arrange the literature based on relevance.

Outlining the article: Before start writing the article, prepare an outline ad various sections to be written. This will help you in focusing on one section and time. The outline will also reduce the repeatability of the text.  Write the headings of the section. Outlining the article will help in managing the word count in context with the journal’s guidelines.

Discuss with mentor or professional reviewer: The article will reach the reviewer after you submit it to the journal. Thus, it would be wise to discuss the content of the article with a reviewer known to you. You may also seek advice from your mentor as he may have a lot of experience in publishing research articles.

Writing the draft: In most cases, you may not be able to achieve the desired outcome. Revising the draft is key to the high-quality article. You should start by writing the first draft and revise the text at least twice. In the third draft, when your text gets accurate, you may incorporate the tables and figures. Once all this gets completed, incorporate the abstract.

Revising the Article

Revision of article, both initially and according to the reviewer’s comments are important in getting it published. After writing the final draft, left the article for at least 10 days. After 10 days, start reading, comprehending, and revising the article.  The number of revisions will surprise you which are required to make it perfect. After receiving the comments of reviewer/s, try to revise the article strictly as per the comments.

Submitting the Article

The submission of the article in an appropriate journal is the key to success. You should maintain a balance between undervaluing and overvaluing your paper. The article should be written strictly as per the guidelines of the target journal to reduce the chances of rejection. You should select the target journal based on the scope and area of your research.

Things to Take Care

Here are the things you should take care while writing the research article:

  • Clearly understand the scope of your research.
  • Do not hesitate to take advice from a mentor and reviewer.
  • Provide considerable time for writing.
  • Revise the article according to the reviewer’s comments.
  • Do not forget to include relevant references.
  • Utilize your resources optimally.
How to avoid Duplicate Publication
Categories Scientific Communication

Medical Journal Articles: How to avoid Duplicate Publication and Simultaneous Submission?

Author krishna kumar 51 Comments on Medical Journal Articles: How to avoid Duplicate Publication and Simultaneous Submission? Posted on

For an honest and scholarly scientific research, you must follow the ethics of research and good publication practices. All the reputed journals expect the authors to know and comply with the ethics in publication.

Here, in this post, we discuss the two common and unethical publishing practices – duplicate publication and simultaneous submission, and how to avoid them with your manuscript.

1) Duplicate Publication

What is it?

When you publish a new paper similar to a published paper by another author or yours without acknowledging the source and without getting the permission of the original author, it is called a duplicate publication. Even if you change the title or the abstract, the data and the results remain the same.

Why is duplicate publication a problem?

Duplicate publication is unethical because:

  1. It violates the copyright for the paper.
  2. Researchers who study the subject may count the same set of results twice, and thus distort the empirical evidence. Since empirical studies form the base of many health policies, it becomes a serious problem.
  3. Republication of your own work without attribution surmounts to “self-plagiarism”.
  4. It leads to the wastage of editorial and review resources.
  5. Republication of the same work unjustly takes up the limited journal space and denies other authors’ right to publish their work.

What do journals say about the issue? 

The editorial committees of the academic journals instruct the authors do not submit the papers or variations of papers already published elsewhere. They design stringent policies and ask the authors to send copies of older, related articles along with their submitted paper.

However, republication is allowed in some cases:

  • A follow-up on a published preliminary report (e.g., an abstract, poster, or conference presentation)
  • A paper with a list of the guidelines prepared by professional societies or governmental agencies
  • A paper that re-analyses or re-interprets the findings of the study for a different audience
  • A translation of the original paper
  • e-prints of the paper in repositories

Despite these exceptions, authors must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Get permission from the copyright holders.
  • Get approval from the editor of the journal in which the paper was first published and the editor of the journal in which they will republish it.
  • Acknowledge the source of your republication by providing its full citation.

Dos and don’ts to avoid duplicate publication

  • Do not replicate content from any of your other published papers.
  • Do not offer preliminary reports about the published papers to any company without the permission of the journal.
  • When quoting data from your published work, include only a few sentences, and place the text in quotation marks and cite the source.
  • If you write more than one manuscript by using a single dataset, ensure:
    • Each manuscript addresses separate and important questions
    • You cross-reference the manuscripts
    • Inform the journal editors about this in a cover letter
  • While submitting your paper to the journal editor, provide copies of your published and related papers for complete transparency.

2) Simultaneous Submission

What is it?

The practice of submitting the same manuscript to two or more journals at the same time without informing the respective scientific journal editors is known as simultaneous or multiple or dual submission.

Why is simultaneous submission a problem?

The journals consider simultaneous submission as unethical because:

  1. If more than one journal publishes the paper, it can lead to a copyright dispute.
  2. Since two publication houses will carry out the same task, it is a waste of academic and scientific resources.

However, simultaneous submission is acceptable in following cases:

  • When the editors of the two or more journals agree to publish the paper simultaneously or jointly in the larger interest of the society.
  • When scientific conferences allow the authors to simultaneously submit their papers to other meetings with overlapping submission periods.

Dos and don’ts for the authors 

  • Do not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal.
  • If you wish to submit a paper that is “under consideration” at one journal to another journal:
    • Get a written consent from your co-authors.
    • Inform the first journal editor asking about the paper withdrawal.
    • Do not submit unless you get a formal notification from the first journal editor regarding the paper withdrawal.
    • Submit this notification to the second journal along with your paper.
  • If you have written two related papers and wish to submit them to two different journals:
    • Disclose the details of each paper to both the journals.
    • Inform both the editors that you have a similar paper under review at another journal (even if they are in different languages).
    • Enclose the copies of both the papers along with your submission.

Conclusion

Thus, duplicate publication and simultaneous submission are a serious offence and you can spoil your research career by indulging in such practices. We recommend you to contact our professional journal publication services experts to understand and follow ethical submission practices for the welfare of the society and your career.

Benefits of Publishing in Open Access Journals
Categories Scientific Communication

5 Benefits of Publishing in Open Access Journals

Author krishna kumar 0 Comments Posted on

The most important question that confronts the mind of a researcher is to publish his research in an open access or subscription based journals. Publishing in open access journal through our reliable and professional publication support services team is beneficial for researchers. Here we give you a rundown on the positive aspects of publishing in an open access journal.

Journal Impact Factor and Its Significance in Publishing Your Manuscript
Categories Scientific Communication

Journal Impact Factor and Its Significance in Publishing Your Manuscript

Author krishna kumar 0 Comments Posted on

The Impact factor of a journal is one of the things authors consider while choosing the right journal for publishing their manuscript. But, what is this impact factor? Why is it considered important in selecting the target journal for publication?

Journal Impact factor is the number of times articles in the journal are cited in other publications for a particular year. For example, an impact factor of 3 indicates that each article in the journal was cited 3 times on average for a specific year.

So, the impact factor indicates the importance or the rank of a journal by calculating the times its articles are cited elsewhere. And an article that is cited many times represents a novel and interesting research, raising the impact factor of the journal.

Thus, impact factor forms an important tool for authors to evaluate the journals and submit their manuscript for publication.

However, there is a word of caution! Relying only on the impact factor is a mistake! You must also consider the topic of your research, your target audience, and the time-frame of publication that must match the journal guidelines you are ought to choose. Cognibrain medical manuscript writing service team help you to get your manuscript published in high impact medical journal.

Read the medical manuscript submission guidelines of your target journal beforehand!