There are several steps you can take as an academic to pave the way for a successful publishing career. One of them is to serve as a peer reviewer for a journal and experience the review process. 

The methods section is very straightforward to write, but it does require a lot of technical detail, so writing this section can be time-intensive. In this section, you describe how you conducted your study, and making sure that this section is clear and complete is of utmost importance to readers and reviewers. Journal reviewers will weigh this section heavily during the peer-review process, as will journal editors.

In the results section of your academic paper, you present what you found when you conducted your analyses, whereas in your discussion section you explain what your results mean and connect them to prior research studies. In other words, the results section is where you describe what you did, and the discussion sections is where you describe what this means for the field.

There are many ways to share the results of your research. Building a profile as a researcher can help you to become more well known in the field, enhance the visibility of your work, and increase the number of researchers who read your work when it is published in journals. You can share information about your research through a professional website, Twitter, social media platforms such as LinkedIn and by maintaining a research blog.

It is no secret that academia has become a more and more challenging career choice and the academic sector is far from the secure employer it was for some decades ago. Careers are shortening, competition over positions is intensifying, and the number of researchers who never appear as the first author of a publication is on the rise, according to a paper written by Milojević, Radicchi, and Walsh (2018). Whether you decide to play the game of academia or are on the lookout for a non-university job, you are facing the challenge of learning to package and market your skills and make some well-planned choices.

Now you have written your article, received feedback from colleagues, and carried out editing, it is almost ready for submission. However, there are still several important factors to consider ahead of submission. In this article we will cover several key things you need to do and check.

Choosing an appropriate journal for your paper is a very important process in your research publication journey and worth your time and effort. If you submit your article to a journal that is not a good fit it will likely be sent back to you and often without any peer review. 

When you work hard on a paper, it is often discouraging to receive the news that it has been rejected. However, it is important to remember that more papers are rejected than the number accepted. The questions and answers that follow in this article can help you decide what next steps to take with your paper.

The budget and budget narrative are key components of your grant application packet. The budget is very important for the review process. The review panel will want to see that your research project is cost-effective, but also that your research project is properly resourced. You may have support from your institution to help you develop a budget and complete any budget forms that are required by the funder. Here are some useful tips to help you when developing your project budget.

As a researcher it is important to build a reputation and name recognition in your field. You want to share your research with others, and you want to demonstrate the impact of your publications. There are many reasons why researchers build a profile including, building their CV, networking with colleagues, sharing the results of their research, and being invited to participate in academic events and activities like keynote talks and serving on boards. For academics today having an online presence is very important. So here are some tips for building a research profile.

One of the most common scenarios in which academic writers inadvertently plagiarize is when they are constructing the literature review part of their paper. Because this section involves synthesizing and reporting on others' research studies and articles, it is easy to plagiarize here if you do not know all the requirements for citing and quoting.

When you begin your research career, there are many challenges that face you. Balancing all aspects of your new role can be overwhelming. But there are also many supports that exist to help you be successful. Knowing what supports to look for and where to find them is key.

Imposter Syndrome is the feeling that you are not good at your role, that you are an imposter and have only achieved your status and role via default when other colleagues are much more experienced and knowledgeable than you. However, rather than a syndrome, it is an experience or a phenomenon. A clinical psychologist elaborates in this article.

The few years you spend working on your PhD are an excellent opportunity for personal development and for cultivating additional skills beyond the PhD. In fact, you are probably already picking up new skills that you aren’t even aware of, but which will be extremely valuable for both your PhD and your future career.

It is not unusual for PhD candidates to sometimes feel so overwhelmed and demotivated that they feel unable to continue with their research. If you find yourself in this state, take comfort in that fact that you are not alone. Also, take heart that there are ways of dealing with these blocks and stressors that can help you begin to feel better about your research again. This article provides some suggestions for reviving your PhD mojo.

When you are conducting research there are a number of ethical principles that should be taken into account, especially if your research involves human subjects. One basic principle all researchers should follow is ‘do no harm’.

This module explains what ethical research is and how to conduct ethical research. Here we also discuss the elements of an IRB Proposal and the questions that guide the review process.

Tune in to our bitesize webinar to learn more.

Module 4 answers very important questions on authorship. It talks about the types of authorship, order of authorship and what should your acknowledgements include.

Module 2 talks about why ethical standards for publication exists. It discusses about COPE, and details out publication ethics for Authors, Journal Editors and Peer Reviewers. 

Tune in to our bitesize webinar to learn more.

Module 3 discusses what plagiarism is and how to avoid it in your academic work. It elaborates on what is considered as direct plagiarism, self-plagiarism, image plagiarism and accidental plagiarism.

Tune in to our bitesize webinar to learn more.