• Glad to be here • Enjoyed previous visits• Excellent reputation of UPM• Interesting topic
• Glad to be here • Excellent reputation of UPM• Enjoyed previous visits• Interesting topic• First time spoke on this topic• Tentative opinions• Interested in your opinions
Qualifications• Editor-in-chief, editorial boards, reviewer• Won reviewer awards• Published in about a dozen journals
But …• Every journal is different• Everyone has different opinions• There is no standard approach
Duties of university faculty (and similar public sector employees)
What must they do to justify collecting salaries from taxes on citizens?
Duties of University Faculty • Teaching: educate young people
most visible and most important
Duties of University Faculty • Teaching: educate young people
most visible and most important• Service: help the people of the state
underappreciated and neglectedcombination of research and teaching
Duties of University Faculty • Teaching: educate young people
most visible and most important• Service: help the people of the state
underappreciated and neglectedcombination of research and teaching
• Research: develop new knowledgeduty to help advance societyprovide information for teaching and service
Duties of University Faculty • Teaching: educate young people• Service: help the people of the state• Research: develop new knowledge
Universities need to do all three well
Faculty members should do all three
Duties of University Faculty • Teaching: educate young people• Service: help the people of the state• Research: develop new knowledge
Universities need to do all three well
Faculty members should do all threeBut not divide time evenly(And individuals do not perform evenly well)
Research Emphasized by University Administrators
• University reputations based upon researchExample: Kyoto University counts Nobel prizesExample: USN&WR rankings
Research Emphasized by University Administrators
• University reputations based upon research• Some believe more variation in faculty
research performanceExample: John V. Lombardi (former President of University of Florida,
University of Massachusetts, andLouisiana State University)
Research Emphasized by University Administrators
• University reputations based upon research• Variation in faculty research performance• Difficult to evaluate teaching and service–Research evaluation difficult also–But less difficult, so that is what do
How Evaluate Research?
• Money --- Commonly Done– Gets university money– Priorities from outside university
• Serious Problems– Confuses inputs and outputs– Causes changes in university– What is funded dominates (e.g., defense, health)– Important research neglected
I believe this emphasis not good for university or country
How Evaluate Research?• Publications --- very commonly done• Much better measure– Research not complete unless published---
New knowledge useless unless spread• Problem for engineers– Better in math and science than writing– Humans like to do what they do best– So engineers don’t like to write papers
Publications Take Many Forms• Popular and Trade Press– (e.g., Prairie Farmer, Off-Highway Engineering)– Important and faculty should do more
• Conference Posters and Presentations– Important to share information and get feedback
Publications Take Many Forms• Popular and Trade Press– (e.g., Prairie Farmer, Off-Highway Engineering)– Important and faculty should do more
• Conference Posters and Presentations– Important to share information and get feedback
Problems: –Quality varies widely– Information may not be found easily later
Publications Take Many Forms• Popular and Trade Press• Conference Posters and Presentations• Refereed Journal Article– Experts verify quality–Archival storage
Refereed Journal Articles are the primary basis for evaluating engineers and scientists
University Wants More Research• Assumes more articles indicates more research• Standard procedure has been to count articles– (e.g., Professor with 25 articles better than one
with 24)– So faculty members produce more articles– Break research into least publishable units (LPU’s)– Many new journals to provide venues
Secret Techniques to Get Many Articles
• Hammer --- “to someone with a hammer, everything is a nail”
E.g., if you have a spectrophotometer– “spectral properties of wheat”, etc.– “spectral properties of oats”, etc.,– “spectral properties of rice”, etc.,– If run out of materials switch to a different
frequencies and repeat all these papers
Secret Techniques to Get Many Articles
• Chinese menu --- “one from Column A and one from Column B”
E.g., if you are doing intercropping– Intercropping corn and soybeans– Intercropping corn and wheat– Intercropping corn and oats– Intercropping sorghum and soybeans– Intercropping sorghum and wheat …
Secret Techniques to Get Many Articles
• Salami Science --- “A single sausage (research project) can provide many slices (articles)”
E.g., If you are studying the viscosity of yoghurt“A critical review of studies of yoghurt fluid properties”“A theory of yoghurt viscosity”“Instrumentation to measure yoghurt viscosity”“A standard testing procedure for yoghurt viscosity”“Viscosity of nonfat milk yoghurt”“Viscosity of 2% fat milk yoghurt”Etc., etc.
Secret Techniques to Get Many Articles
• Many Roses --- “A rose by any other name is still a rose”• E.g., If you change the title and some written material you
can publish the same knowledge in• Computers and Electronics in Agriculture• Precision Agriculture• Biosystems Engineering• Applied Engineering in Agriculture• Transactions ASABE• Agricultural Engineering International• Etc., etc.
I don’t like this!!!• Information is scattered in many articles• I can’t keep up with all the articles in my field• Quality of individual articles is low• Many resources (financial, time, paper, etc.)
are wasted
But it doesn’t matter what I like, because …
University Wants More Research• Assumes more articles indicate more research• Standard procedure has been to count articles– (e.g., Professor with 25 articles better than one with 24)– So faculty members produce more articles– Break articles into least publishable units (LPU’s)– Many new journals to provide venues
• Net result: Many, many articles are published– Many are seldom or never read– Faculty promoted on research that has no impact
University Wants More Research• Assumes more articles indicate more research• Standard procedure has been to count articles
– (e.g., Professor with 25 articles better than one with 24)– So faculty members produce more articles– Break articles into least publishable units (LPU’s)– Many new journals to provide venues
• Net result: Many, many articles are published– Some are seldom or never read– Faculty promoted on research that has no impact
Problem: How judge quality?
Count Citations• If somebody refers to a researcher’s article,
perhaps the article is significant• Counting citations (either total number or H-
factor) has become very important• Good in that it has some (very imperfect)
relationship to readership, impact, and (maybe) quality
Count CitationsBut it is very imperfect because• Hurts topics of local interest (e.g., first person
to find terahertz properties of durian vs. rice)• Hurts smaller fields (e.g., ABE vs. MechE)• Discriminates to famous people and institutions• Tendency to cite friends• Leads to excessive citing (not needed in Google
age)
Count Citations• Journals also want to have good citation
statistics to increase prestige• High impact factor increases number of
submissions• Is it affecting journal behavior?– Editors request submissions cite own journal?– Editors select articles based upon citation
potential?
Result of Citation Mania• High Impact Factor (HIF) journals are flooded with
submissions• It is becoming very difficult to publish in HIF journals
due to competition
• But UPM administrators (for faculty) and future employers (for students) want you to do so.
• I will try to help. (But, I only have limited knowledge, others have different opinions, …)
Most Important Is To Do Good Research
• Must contribute to advancing knowledge and be significant
• Must provide useful knowledge• Generally smaller subject done well is
better than larger subject done poorly
Most Important Is To Do Good Research
• Must contribute to advancing knowledge and be significant
• Must provide useful knowledge• Must be accurate (accurate instruments,
proper procedure, controlled conditions, etc.)• Must have statistical validity (replications,
randomization, restriction errors, inference space, etc.)
Must Advance State-of-the-Art•What is new and novel?
Hard to determine what is significant
Must Advance State-of-the-Art•What is new and novel?
Hard to determine what is significant•Some things which are now common
SimulationsExpert systemsNeural networksSpectral responsesEtc., etc.
Must Advance State-of-the-ArtExamples of how to justify publication:
• New technique (e.g., unique expert system or neural network structure)• Fundamental understanding (e.g., why light reflection varies)• New application (e.g., detect spoilage in closed carton by spectral response)
Be in appropriate category
• Original Research Article• Technical/Application Note• Review• Book Review
Example Requirements: Transactions of the ASABE
Your manuscript must meet the following requirements:• The material represents original, important contributions to research or design literature
of interest to the Society.• It clearly represents the design or development of technology, or research into problems
of direct interest to the profession.• The manuscript must clearly state the scope and purpose of the research. The information
must be objective and well organized, and the conclusions must be adequately supported.Your manuscript should also contain at least one of the following elements:• Original data, analysis or design, or synthesis of existing information.• Research information for the improvement of design, construction, or manufacturing
practice.• Significant and convincing evidence that confirms and strengthens the findings of others,
or that revises ideas or challenges accepted theory.• A critical review of research or design information of comprehensive and well-defined
scope.
Must Be Well-Written• Organization: Biggest writing problem for both
native and non-native speakers– E.g., Must have easy-to-follow structure
• Only relevant information: Tendency to include too much– E.g., Experiments that are not useful and pertinent
• Must have details with parameters of software, instruments, raw materials, equipment, etc.,:– E.g., 1966 John Deere 4020 wide-front, eight-speed
powershift, tractor rated at 91.7 HP
Must Be Well-Written• Stylistically Readable: Problem for non-native
(and some native) speakers. – Sentence structure– Example of BAD: “Before recording data, we bought
the equipment and set it up after calibrating it.”• Keep in Proper Sections– E.g., Introduction, Previous Work, Equipment and
Materials, Procedures, Results, Discussion, Conclusions
Must Be Grammatically Correct
• Not the most important–But still very important
Must Be Grammatically Correct
• Not the most important–But still very important
• Fortunately, the easiest to fix–Must get help if needed–Must put in time, whether get help or not
Which is WORST section heading ?
1. Malaysian flag colors are red, white, yellow, and blue
2. Malaysian Flag colors Are red, White, yellow, And blue
3. Malaysian Flag Colors Are Red, White, Yellow, And Blue
4. Malaysian Flag Colors are Red, White, Yellow, and Blue
OK Heading, Bad Sentence
Malaysian flag colors is red, white, yellow, and blue
The Malaysian flag is red, white, yellow, and blue.
Common errors:Inconsistent capitalizationArticles (a, the, …)Singular/plural (toe/toes, arch/arches, foot/feet, …)Possessives (John’s, its, …)
Common Grammatical Errors
• Unclear pronouns (it, they, them, he, she, …)• Sentence fragments (e.g., “Ran experiments.”)• Runon sentences (e.g., “Before field experiments, first we
did tests on apples and then oranges followed by tests on limes and lemons and then tests on pears and peaches and finishing later with tests on grapes, bananas, and more oranges, after calibrating the instruments.”)
But there should not be too many short sentences either. Perhaps a figure or table here instead.
Always Follow Journal Guidelines
Especially pay attention to directions for:• Section headings• Figures and tables• References (A very common problem is
incomplete references.)
Title is First Impression• Clear and about subject matter or
conclusion of the paper• Not too short (“Citrus juice”)• Not too long • No “Research about” or “Investigations
of …” or “Studies on …” or other words which don’t contribute
Abstract is Real First Impression• Absolutely crucial• Not too long• Little or no literature review
“Although the electromagnetic properties of citrus have been extensively studied, knowledge of the terahertz response has been lacking.”
• Very brief methods and equipment• Summarize main results and conclusions
Hint: Write after the paper is done
Some Figure Concepts
Bad Figure
Bad Figure
What Happens to Your Submission?
• Varies depending upon journal, editor, and your manuscript
• You read journal website • You edit your manuscript to conform• You upload your manuscript to journal
website• Technical review (by nonengineers)• Editor handles (or passes to Associate Editor)
What Happens to Your Submission?
• Editor reads manuscript• Increasingly may reject without review– Off-topic or Poor Quality (Research or Writing)
• Select Reviewers• Invite Reviewers• Wait for Reviewers to Respond• Invite Replacement Reviewers• Send Manuscript to Accepting Reviewers
What Happens to Your Submission?• Wait for reviews• Remind reviewers with late reviews• When all reviews are in, read the reviews• Make decision (reject, revise, accept)• Ask authors for revisions• Authors revise and resubmit• Repeat review and revise until article is acceptable• Process article for publication• Wait for article to get space in an issue
Remember Reviewer Dependence
• Many more manuscripts now• Volunteer effort – few institutions value
reviewing• Budget cuts at many institutions• Inexperienced reviewers now reviewing
Note: You have a duty to help review
Dealing With Low Acceptance Rates
• Don’t get discouraged• Do high quality research• Most articles being revised eventually
get published (May take many revisions)• There are many journals now
Choose Target Journal Correctly
• Respected journal• Aim to educate readers–Appropriate subject matter coverage–Appropriate target audience– Large enough audience
Unfortunate Example
Schueller, J.K., and T.M.P. Wall. 1991. Transverse impact of fruit on beams to determine modulus of elasticity. Experimental Mechanics. 31(2):118-121.
•Excellent journal•But target audience did not read it
Publish in HIF Journals
• Do good, complete research
Publish in HIF Journals
• Do good, complete research• Spend time on writing
Publish in HIF Journals
• Do good, complete research• Spend time on writing• Submit to appropriate journals