THE RESEARCH JOURNEY
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You've completed a project, written that paper for class or maybe even presented a poster. What next? One of the exciting aspects of science is that creating a line of research is a dynamic process. First, you come up with a seed of an idea. You test the waters with an initial experiment, and get your results.
Next, you present your findings in class or at a conference where you receive feedback from your scientific peers. You can then you use this feedback to improve your work. You might rework and retest the idea in another experiment, or you might craft a manuscript for eventual publication. |
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You then share this publication online, and have it listed on databases such as PubMed, PubMed Central or GoogleScholar.
This allows an even wider audience to access your work, helping you to
establish a network and inviting potential future collaborations. This
may then give you a nugget of an idea to chase in a different direction,
and before you know it - you've well along your own personal research
journey! Here are some great tips for getting your work published as a graduate trainee.
Haven't performed an actual study yet? Not to fear! There are many avenues towards publication that trainees can take. Consider the following ideas to flesh out the research section on your curriculum vitae:
- You did all that work on that final research paper for your class. Why not flesh the idea out some more and submit for publication?
- Many students submit their introduction for their thesis or dissertation for publication as a literature review. Why not do the same?
- You and your supervisor saw that really interesting patient last year. Why not write it up as a case study for publication?
- Many journals have a "brief report" section for shorter papers (sometimes as little as 500 to 1,000 words). What about this option?
- Consider publication in a student journal, such as GSJP, which may be easier to be published within. Check it out!
- Ask your supervisor if they have any archival data that you can work on for publication.
- Ask your supervisor if you can assist with reviewing journal articles. This is a unique and excellent type of research experience.
Haven't performed an actual study yet? Not to fear! There are many avenues towards publication that trainees can take. Consider the following ideas to flesh out the research section on your curriculum vitae:
- You did all that work on that final research paper for your class. Why not flesh the idea out some more and submit for publication?
- Many students submit their introduction for their thesis or dissertation for publication as a literature review. Why not do the same?
- You and your supervisor saw that really interesting patient last year. Why not write it up as a case study for publication?
- Many journals have a "brief report" section for shorter papers (sometimes as little as 500 to 1,000 words). What about this option?
- Consider publication in a student journal, such as GSJP, which may be easier to be published within. Check it out!
- Ask your supervisor if they have any archival data that you can work on for publication.
- Ask your supervisor if you can assist with reviewing journal articles. This is a unique and excellent type of research experience.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
Our generation of young scientist-practitioners has tapped into social networking like none before. What about taking the same concept as Facebook and Twitter, but applying it to the research community? The membership and usage statistics are fascinating and well-articulated in this 2014 piece by the journal Nature.
In research, networking and collaboration is key and it's now easier than ever. We review two of the most popular websites here: ResearchGate is a social networking site specifically for researchers. You can create a free user profile, follow other researchers and even endorse them for specific skills, interact with other users through public and private messaging, and share your work. On the other hand, LinkedIn is like an online version of your curriculum vitae but with social networking aspects like endorsements, groups, and posting. It's a great way to get your name out there! There are both free and paid account versions. |
ARCHIVING PUBLICATIONS
You've now published and have it listed on your CV. It may even be listed on a directory such as PubMed or GoogleScholar. Are there additional ways for others to access your work? Absolutely! Permission for authors to self-archive their publications varies between publishers and journals. You can view archiving permissions and conditions based on Sherpa/RoMEO data on each publication.
On the Sherpa/RoMEO website, you can search for publication policies for most any journal. In your search results, you'll see a classification color. Green means you're generally permitted to add a full-text. You should be aware, however, that in some cases there are restrictions on uploading certain versions of a publication classified green. Blue or yellow means you should check the conditions, and white means that archiving is generally not supported. Some journals also require a URL or DOI link to the publisher's version. We recommend that you check individual publisher copyright policies and requirements before uploading the full-text. |
RESEARCH METRICS
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Metrics have become one helpful way to identify and compare the ever-expanding number of scientific journals and researchers out there. One such popular metric is the impact factor, a figure that represents the average number of citations in a given period of time per publication in that particular journal.
In the case of journals, a higher relative impact factor suggests that your work would be more likely to be cited by others - but, conversely, that it may be more difficult to have your article published in that journal. You can generally find a journal's impact factor by visiting its home page. |
The RG researcher metric provided by ResearchGate.
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Much like an impact factor for journals, research is beginning to move in the direction of metrics for individual researchers. The h-index is an example of one such metric. Sites like ResearchGate, ResearcherID, and GoogleScholar allow you to input and manage your publications, connect and collaborate with others, and provide metric data that others can use to weigh your productivity, quality of the journals you've published in, and so on. A higher author metric might indicate an individual who has a greater number of articles published, linked online, and/or who has published in journals with higher impact factors.