There has been an exponential increase in the use of social media in recent years. However, while there is often a positive sense of community to be had, it can be equally toxic and destructive. This article outlines some practical steps you can take to ensure healthy, positive use of social media as a researcher/academic.

Sample size can be defined as the number of pieces of information, data points or patients (in medical studies) tested or enrolled in an experiment or study. The larger the sample size, the more accurate the average values will be. Larger sample sizes also help researchers identify outliers in data and provide smaller margins of error. This article discusses the various aspects of studies with large sample sizes.

Desk rejection (also known as summary review, pre-review, editorial triage or similar terms) refers to rejection before a paper is sent out for peer review. This article discusses key reasons for desk rejection and also provides essential suggestions for avoiding it.

About 25%–60% of articles received by a journal are sent for peer review. As an author, how you can avoid or at least reduce your chance of rejection at this stage? This article discusses some common reasons for peer review rejection and some ways to avoid it.

The Conclusion is an important part of your paper where you distil your study and give the paper a sense of finality. This articles explains the dos and don'ts of writing the Conclusion section along with an example.

A paper in conference proceedings is based on a talk or poster presented at an academic symposium or conference. This article explains all that you need to keep in mind and do when working on such a paper.

It takes, on average, anywhere between six and eight years to complete a PhD programme. Therefore, choosing the right PhD topic becomes a very important factor in determining the successful completion of your PhD.

Completing your PhD research project is often a lengthy process that will at some stage almost certainly involve changes in your initial plans. This article outlines some considerations and actions to take if you are contemplating changing your topic or even your field.

Reproducibility is pivotal to research. Researchers from various disciplines must be aware of valid studies to build on, sifting away unreliable methods and data, or worse still, false leads.

Depending on the discipline that your research is located in and your specific research project, there are broadly two different ways in which you can approach organising, reading for and writing your literature review: either chronologically or thematically. This article explores some of the factors to consider as you begin to plan your literature review.

The main focus in a chronological literature review is to trace the development of studies, debates or theories in your subject area, and to identify how a central ‘problem’ or question(s) has been dealt with over a period of time.

In a thematic literature review, you group the literature "as you see it". It is perhaps therefore a more common way to organise your literature review than a chronological literature review. 

The impact factor (IF) is a number, a metric, a ‘way to keep score’ that is based upon the number of citations that articles published in a journal receive over a specific time. This article discusses the benefits and disadvantages of this metric.

The ‘impact’ of a piece of research is difficult to quantify. For that reason, researchers often turn to the impact factor (IF) of journals within which they are published. Unfortunately, there has been an unhealthy overreliance on IFs in the academic space, which calls to question whether this is a useful metric, and is prompting researchers to rethink their take on ‘impact’.

In research, bias means a deviation from the truth in data collection, analysis, interpretation or publication. This article discusses the reasons why biases occur and some steps for avoiding them.

A duplicate publication is the publication of the same paper in more than one journal. It may also refer to the publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published, without reference to the original publication.

This webinar, organised for Peer Review Week 2022, discusses the importance of peer review in enabling research integrity.

The significance of a study refers to the contribution(s) to and impact of the study on a research field. The significance also signals who benefits from the research findings and how.

Many PhD students don’t manage to publish their findings during their PhD, but are encouraged to do so after completion of their project. This articles provides some practical tips for publishing and promoting your thesis.

The PhD prospectus is an academic document usually demanded in American university systems. It is mostly associated with PhD programmes.