The cross-industry initiative Think Check Submit lists questions that researchers can ask when navigating journal websites in order to identify trustworthy peer-reviewed journals. The checklists are useful for not only researchers but all stakeholders, including institutions, funders, and peer reviewers. The Think Check Submit team now want to hear from you from now to 28 September 2018, in a 10-minute online survey, so as to further improve its worldwide campaign.
Today, 1 July 2018, is the day that the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has made it compulsory for all journals using ICMJE guidelines (the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals) to include a statement in clinical trial reports saying if and how the study data can be accessed by readers. Many journals and publishers (including non-medical ones) have also recently introduced data accessibility policies, ranging from encouraging the inclusion of data accessibility statements to requiring data uploads as part of manuscript submission and even compulsory data peer review. Researchers need to know what this international trend is about and how it affects them.
Last month, the 2018 Asian-Pacific Conference of the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors was held in Singapore. One of the sessions on day 1 was about online preprint platforms. On day 2, I was one of three Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) representatives to host an interactive workshop, where preprints were mentioned again. In fact, COPE has a new discussion document on preprints and is welcoming feedback from all stakeholders. Today is World Intellectual Property Day, so it is an appropriate day to look at preprints.
Each new year brings new resolutions, and for researchers this may mean a vow to learn more skills, attend more conferences, or finish writing up a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. While your intentions are good, those of others may not be and there are companies that prey on early-career researchers, using spam email and websites to lure and cheat them. Make sure you trust the sources of any offers and websites, and check with your colleagues and supervisor(s). Train your critical thinking skills and ask some key questions.
A year ago, I was invited to give a presentation on author services at a publishing workshop of the International Association of STM Publishers, in Hong Kong. A year later, I am back in Hong Kong to give a talk to postgraduate research students and early-career researchers at The University of Hong Kong about ethical peer review and publishing, and to warn them against scam publishers and companies offering fake peer review. Editorial and publication support services for researchers and academic authors are now abundant, so how do you know they are trustworthy?
On behalf of Edanz Group, I would like to welcome you to this first post of the new Edanz Academy Blog!
I hope you find this new blog useful as a source of information, advice, and tips for publishing your research findings, communicating your research to the world, and enhancing your professional skills and career. This blog complements the new Edanz Academy webpage, which provides free eductional and online tools (Edanz Author Academy, Edanz Author Path, and Edanz Journal Selector) to help you on your path to publication success.
