This is based on a presentation given before the Gwalior Association of Management Teachers and Researchers . This is based on experience as a researcher, reviewer and a reader .

1. How to write good
research paper in a
target journal
S G Deshmukh
ABV-Indian Institute of Information
Technology & Management , Gwalior
13 Dec 2015

2. acknowledgements
 This presentation is based on previous
presentations made and inputs by
 Dr Jitesh Thakkar (IIT Kgp) at IIT Kgp
 Prof R P Mohanty (ICFAI, Hyd),
and discussions with
 Prof N K Sharma (IITK),

3. Disclaimer …
 This presentation is based on compilation
from a variety of resources (available on
google, and other open sources )
 The purpose is for illustration only
 There is no commercial intent

4. Publications.. How it happens…
 There are too many ideas requiring outlets in
the form of journals
 100s, sometimes 1000s of papers received
each year in a typical good journal
 Acceptance rates typically 5%-30%
 Papers are rejected at three stages:
without review (50%)
after review (45%)
after revision (5%)

5. Published paper…
A. Prakash a, Felix T.S. Chan a,, H. Liao b, S.G. Deshmukh ,Network
optimization in supply chain: A KBGA approach, Decision Support Systems
52 (2012) 528–538
 Journal
 Impact factor: 2.313
 http://www.journals.elsevier.com/deci
sion-support-systems/
 Rating : A* in ABDC
classification
 Paper
 Citations: 9
 Reads : 19

6. Publication Process
• Submission
• Acceptance of submission
• Reviews submitted
Accepted for publication as written
Accepted if revised
Rejected
• Response to reviews
• Re-submission of edited manuscript
• Repeat the process till it gets published
/rejected

7. Some generic points..
 Read many papers, and learn from good ones ,
bad ones & not-so-good ones !
 Write frequently: practice, practice , and
practice
 Review frequently, ask someone else to review
 Learn to be objective and critical about your
work: Ask others to be critique about your work
 Learn to expect and accept rejection

8. Some generic points..
 Good work
Novelty/Uniqueness of idea
Comprehensive/critical review of literature
Strong data; strong analysis/stats input
Thought provoking discussion recognizing
limitations of one’s work and practicing guidelines
 Good writing
Good organization/Layout
Good use of tables & figures/diagrams
Good length & breadth

9. Some more generic points…
• Read and follow all formatting guidelines
• Be sure the journal is suitable for the
research you want to disseminate
• Keep in good communications with co-
authors and peer group
• Keep the paper clearly organized and
place information in the correct location
• Ensure that you know the existing
research and cite it correctly

10. Target your paper at a particular
journal
 Familiarize yourself thoroughly with potential
target journals
 Get in touch with peer authors
 what sort of papers do they publish? (original
articles, book reviews, commentaries, letters ?)
 What is the “publishing culture” of the journal?
 Submit a paper for that journal

11. Journal Impact factors
 Impact Factor indicates how often articles in a
certain journal are cited within the two years
following the publication date. For example, the
ISI Impact Factor for ABCD in 2015 is
calculated as the sum of all 2015 citations of
articles published in Ecology in 2013 and 2014
divided by the total sum of all articles published
in ABCD in those two years.

12. Quality Journal list
 ABDC List (Australian Business Deans
Council) http://www.abdc.edu.au/
 JOURNAL QUALITY LIST Fifty-sixth
Edition, 27 November 2015 Compiled and
edited by Professor Anne-Wil Harzing
Source:
http://www.harzing.com/download/jql_jour
nal.pdf

13. Some good journals..
 http://www.journals.elsevie
r.com/omega/
 http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/
tppc20/current
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-and-
operations-research/
http://www.journals.elsevier.com/decision-support-
systems/

14. IEEE Trans. Recommendation
Code Recommendation
A Publish Unaltered
AQ Publish in Minor, Required Changes
RQ Review Again After Major Changes
R Reject (A major rewrite is required; encourage
resubmission at a later time.)
R Reject (Paper is not of sufficient quality or novelty to be
published in this Transactions.)
R Reject (Paper is seriously flawed; do not encourage
resubmission.)

15. Typical causes for rejection :
1. General
 Research issue not important
 not original/no novelty
 not appropriate for journal
 data old & now irrelevant
 practical difficulties/doubtful results
 no relevance /thematic
 Too general

16. Typical causes for rejection :
2. Technical
 unclear hypotheses/poorly worded
 poor or weak design/
 no research methodology
 sample biased or too small
 statistics inappropriate or misapplied
 conclusions unjustified
 Too specific/not to be generalizable
 references outdated

17. Typical Causes for rejection :
3. Style/ Presentation
 poorly organized, no structure !
 badly written(english !)
 Verbose
 Too many errors
 terrible tables, poor captions
 needless figures, nor visible
 outdated or improperly cited references

18. Preliminaries: Abstract & Title
 VITAL! VITAL!
 May be all that is read
 structure abstract if so required
 make it tell the whole story
 tell it well; may be all that is seen
 will influence editor
 title: choose with care (not too clever)

19. Importance of Documentation
 It is important to understand the importance of documentation.
 One must be comfortable in documentation. You must be in the
habit of writing.
 A regular habit is to be formed wherein writing skills are to be honed.
 The writing could include: summary of a paper, some observations
about a phenomenon, a critique of the literature, etc.
 The following could be opportunities to hone such skills:
 Minutes of the meeting between guide and you
 Minutes of the proceedings between an expert and you
 Observations based on a recent Ph D viva voce attended
 Summary of the proceedings of a conference /workshop
attended.
19

20. Proper Articulation
 In the end, what matters is proper articulation of
ideas and work in the form of paper
 The paper cannot be built upon unless its
components such as background, literature
review, methodology, discussion, conclusions,
etc. are formed and woven properly.
 Intermediate findings must be communicated-
may be through conference papers/social
media/notes/journal papers .
20

21. 21
Life Cycle of “Ph.D Student”
1
Be
Proactive
2
Begin with
the end in mind
3
Put First
Things First
4
Think Win- Win
Seek First to
understand ------Then
to be
understood
5
Synergize
6
7
Sharpen
the
Saw
Dependence
Independence
Interdependence
PRIVATE
VICTORY
PUBLIC
VICTORY
Source: 7-Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey

22. Visualizing the End First
 Taking a clue from Stephen Covey’s habit of “Visualizing
the End First”, one must visualize how his paper is going
to look like and then start preparing for the same.
 One must write a tentative outline of the paper to say he/she
visualizes sections in the paper .
 The tentative titles of these sections must be written and
one should start preparing folders for each of these sections
 Keep revising the contents of these folders as you mature. A
thumb rule could be : revise every week !.
22

23. 10 Tentative Titles
 Based on the outline of the broad topic of the
paper , one must write at least 10 tentative
titles of the paper.
 Keep revising these titles, as one proceeds.
 These titles could be : Some studies on ,
Some Investigations into ----, Development
of a model: A case of …… etc.
23

24. Define the Goal, Timeline and the
Deliverables
 One must define the goal , timeline and the
deliverables that are expected from the paper.
 He/she may browse through the past work done
by the students of his/her guide and /or work
submitted in his/her
department/institute/university.
 This will help in understanding the expectations
from his/her work.
24

25. Collect Relevant Papers
 One must collect as many relevant papers as
possible for his/her research.
 These could be downloaded from a variety of
sources.
 The date and source must be written in the
folder.
 One should also not forget to take a regular
back –up of these folders.
25

26. Tentative Classification
 A tentative classification scheme of the
literature /taxonomy must be designed.
 Accordingly, start analyzing and criticizing
the literature by highlighting the
contribution in each of these classes.
 Develop a mental habit of
revisong/reviewing
classification/categorization: This helps in
understanding the literature
26

27. Prepare a list of 25-30 possible key
words
 One must also prepare a list of 25-30
possible key words in the broad area of
research.
 Then start collecting (downloading) paper
based on these key words.
 Keep updating this list
27

28. Prepare a list of 25-30 tools/techniques
 Based on the broad are, prepare a list of 25-30
tools/techniques that are going to be used.
 Prepare a write up on each of these tools/techniques
based on the fundamental paper on that particular
tool/technique.
 These techniques could include: AHP, ANP, GA,
Regression, Factor Analysis, SEM etc.
28

29. Use Proper Vocabulary and Terminology
 Befitting to his/her areas of research.
 A thumb rule is that a write up on the
Glossary of at least 50 concepts which are
going to be used in the research must be
prepared.
 Prof NK Sharma is very particular about this !!
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30. List of at least 25 Good Journals
 A list of at least 25 good journals along
with their impact factors must be prepared.
 This list must be utilized in communicating
the research work.
 The editorial policy and a sample of at
least 2-3 papers in these journals must be
filed.
30

31. Visualize Contributions
 In any research work, the contributions are sought after. One
must visualize these contributions (from the eyes of his/her
examiners) first. These contributions could be:
 Methodological contribution (devising a new
method/algorithm)
 Critique of the existing literature (wherein an objective
assessment o the literature is done)
 Borrowing concepts from one domain to another (like
Genetic algorithm borrowed from biology and applied to
engineering)
 Combining apparently dissimilar ideas (from multiple
domains and synergizing these to one’s advantage)
 Visualize a bigger picture and be able to work on one or many
of the above. This will strengthen the research . 31

32. Learn to interpret & digest
rejections
 Rejection is part of the research process:
don’t get upset !
 Take it in proper stride
 “Unacceptable” or “Unacceptable in its present
form”; seldom is the harsh word “reject” used
 First, remind yourself that you have a lot of company;
most of the good journals have reject rates
approximately (or exceeding) 50%.
 Second, read the reject letter carefully because there
are different types of rejections.
32

33. Learn to interpret & digest
rejections (Cont.)
 Third type - you probably should consider the
necessary repairs/damage control
 Second type - you should probably not resubmit
the same manuscript to the same journal, unless
you can make a convincing case to the editor.
 First type - if the manuscript is really bad, you
probably should not resubmit it anywhere, for
fear that publication might damage your
reputation : revisit your concepts /models .
33

34. Most common reasons for rejection of a
manuscript
34
MOST COMMON REASONS FOR REJECTING ARTICLE MANUSCRIPTS
(Cited by 85 Editors of Scientific and Technical Journals)
Reason
Number of
Respondents
Subject
Not suitable for journal
Not timely
63
4
Coverage
Questionable significance
Questionable validity
Too shallow
Too exhaustive
55
39
39
8
Length
Too long
Too short
26
4
Presentation
Bad organization
Ineffective expression
Ineffective or unusable illustrations
Failure to follow style guide
35
33
11
4

35. Dangers!
 Lack of patience
 Expectation for quick outcomes
 Isolation/sole worker
 Suspicion about quality/quantity
 False comparison and JEALOUSY!
 Pressure of peripheral issues – Emotional Drain!
35

36. Remedy
 Be Proactive
 Be Sympathetic
 Be Courageous
36

37. Remedy 1: Be Proactive!
 Go through OLD THESIS
 Entrepreneurial THRIVE
 Interaction with GUIDE/MENTOR
 Interaction with PEER-RESEARCH scholars
 Learn from the mistakes of others – Attend
pre-synopsis , synopsis seminars
37

38. Remedy 2: Be Sympathetic!
 Failures and Fear are part of publications
 Feeling drained of energy is OBVIOUS!
 Receiving rejections is LEARNING!
 Little irritation and agony are OBVIOUS!
 Be sympathetic to yourself!
 Celebrate each small achievement!
 Share pain and gain !!
38

39. Remedy 3: Be Courageous!
 Learn to DARE!
 Think novel ideas and convert into
application!
 Challenge/ Criticize views of other
researchers!
 Assertively support your work during
your presentations!
39

40. Key!
Standardize (the process)
Reduce(waste)
Consolidate(your perspective)
40

41. UNDERSTAND YOUR RESEARCHING
TEMPERAMENT
41
Patience, Hardwork, Determination
Process, Humbleness, Diligence
Perseverance, Heart, Degree
Pressure, Heat, Dissipate
Passion, Humility, Dedication
One is encouraged to enlarge this list !!

42. Perspective ..
 “There is no way to get experience except
through experience”
 You will master swimming only after start
swimming by yourself !!
 Keep writing, writing and writing !!
Source: dor.umc.edu/.../WritingandpublishingaresearcharticleAdair.ppt

43. Enhance citations
Your audience no longer skim journal contents
lists: they use internet searches
Search engine robots search for KEY WORDS
Include them in your title, repeat them in the
abstract, and in section headings, all in as
natural a way as possible.
Also, cite your related publications and those
that cite your work. Make a practice to cite work
of fellow students from your dept/inst

44. How to Prepare a manuscript:
Elsevier Author workshop
 http://www.powershow.com/view/3a246-
YjE3M/Elsevier_Author_Workshop_How_t
o_Prepare_a_Manuscript_for_an_Internati
onal_Journal_powerpoint_ppt_

45. Writing in English as a foreign language
W.Strunk and E.B.White The Elements of Style

46. Recommended book…
 Book by Stephen
Covey
 Management guru
 Systems orientation
https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits.php

47. Interesting course..
 Crafting Research
Output [Executive
Fellow Program in
Management (EFPM)]
Instructors: Probir
Banerjee∗ , Abhradeep
Maiti
 At IIM Kashipur
 http://www.abhradeep
maiti.com/uploads/3/7
/2/8/37286347/cro_20
15_syllabus.pdf

48. Create your digital Identity
 Scopus Author Code : 17181009
 ORCID identifier code: 0000-0002-7043-6948
 ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-based effort to provide a
registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of
linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers
 http://orcid.org/content/about-orcid
 Research gate/Academia

49. Online presence considerations
 Use social media for your online identity
 Lots of tips available (e.g. Online Research
identity blog post)
 Google scholar citation profiles
 Understand the meaning of “Stand on the
shoulders of giants..”
 Submit to open source journals to get
feedback ?

50. Mendeley : Useful tool
 Mendeley is a free reference
Manager and academic social network that can help
organize research, collaborate with others online, and
discover the latest research.
 Automatically generate bibliographies
 Collaborate easily with other researchers online
 Easily import papers from other research software
 Find relevant papers based on what you’re reading
 Access your papers from anywhere online
www.mendeley.com
50

51. Thanks a lot and
Wishing you a productive publishing
career!
deshmukh.sg@gmail.com
http://www.slideshare.net/SanjeevDeshmukh/presentatio
ns?order=popular
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