Publish or Perish 2025 - Outline

Submission of abstract: 6 January 2025

Module 1: 22-23  January 2025 

Guidelines - Module 1
At the workshop you have to present your deliberations concerning the article you want to produce. You should elaborate your abstract and set the scene for the prospective article: how will you convince the audience (fellow students and research community) that this article is worth writing and reading. The presentation should include one slide for each of the following elements:

1. Name a target journal and give the scope of this journal
   a. Provide short reasons for your choice of journal
2. Explain what the aim of your research is
   a. Research questions and possibly theory questions
3. Clarify the novelty/topicality of your research to create an interest in your work.
   a. Why should we want to read this article?
4. Identify the literature/perspective(s) in which the article is anchored – what is the literature used to describe and justify your approach?
5. Qualify your choice of method(s) and data
6. Outline your expected findings/results
7. Identify your specific contribution to the field
   a. What gap are you addressing?
8. Evaluate how well your paper is aligned with the scope of the target journal and current papers published in it

Submission of paper: 10 April 2025

Submission of review report: 5 May 2025 (12 noon)

Module 2: 15 May 2025 

Guidelines - Module 2

Please submit your paper no later than 10 April 2025 (to this email). Remember to include the name of your target journal in the submitted version.

The reviewers are to return their reports by 5 May 2025, after which date the reports - and the papers - will be made available/forwarded by email to all participants.

Please prepare the following for Module 2 (15 May 2025):

•      A short presentation of your paper as it has developed (10 minutes, max.) and

•      how you intend to respond to the reviewers’ critique (15 minutes).

Feedback on your ideas for response from the other participants and the course coordinators will then be given (15 minutes).

Participants are required to have read all papers and review reports and to partici­pate actively in the discussion.

Submission of final paper and response document: 18 August 2025

Module 3: 26 August 2025 

Guidelines - Module 3

Resubmit your revised paper and the response document (= a two-column table with the headings ‘Reviewer comment’, ‘Author response and action’) by 18 Au­gust 2025 (to this email).

All participants will receive the revised papers along with the response docu­ments by email shortly after. At the seminar, each response will be commented by a reviewer from among the fellow students, who will act as discussant. For each paper, there will be:

•      15 minutes for paper presentation (7-minute conference-type short presentation and 8 minutes with a focus on the revisions)

•      10 minutes for the discussant (who is expected to have read the response document and the revised paper)

•      10 minutes for general discussion and “editor’s” comments

Objectives

This course aims at

• introducing researchers to the process of publishing research through peer-reviewed journals
• improving participants’ writing skills for academic outlets
• preparing researchers to receive and to respond to critique in a constructive way
• engaging the participants in a real-life writing situation

Key issues to be addressed

• What to consider before doing the research (from a publishing point of view)/ journal ‘method’ style
• How to assess different journals as potential outlets for one’s research; issues such as prestige and likeli­hood of getting published
• Good vs bad writing techniques
• The publishing process
• The (theoretical) contribution of the paper
• Technical adequacy (method)
• Visualization and communication
• Other writing practices and publication
• Approaches to refereeing papers/reactions to referees comments
• The review process (examples of different criteria used by the reviewers).

During the course (part one), the participants are expected to address questions such as: “Which outlet is rele­vant for my research? “Which journals do I read/review on a regular basis”?, “Which journals do I see as my obvious target journals”? Answering these questions will be part of the preparation for Module 1 in January 2025.

For Module 2 in May 2025, participants have produced a first draft of their paper and, as part of their prepara­tion for Module 2, they will address questions such as: ‘What’s my contribution’, ‘do I answer the questions I set out to answer’ and ‘have I presented my method and data in appropriate detail’. During this module, par­ticipants will receive suggestions for improving their paper.

Participants will complete their revised papers in August 2025 to get the final feedback before handing them in for a relevant journal immediately after.

During each module, participants will receive intensive feedback on their work from their fellow students and from the faculty in small groups of 4-6.

It is part of the overall pedagogical approach to the course that participants play an active role (based on their own research) and that they give and receive constructive feedback.