getting published

Have you recently been approached by Research Features?  Research Outreach? Or Science Animated perhaps?  These are just some of the latest author services which are cold-calling researchers, offering to “craft a message for the world” or “bring your science to life” - often for a substantial fee.  

This is an example of one of the growing list of ‘author services’ that have sprung up to help authors improve their chances of getting published (by proofreading manuscripts or polishing the expression in the text) or help with magnifying impact of a published paper by scaffolding the drafting of a plain language summary

Research Futures and Research Outreach, although purporting to be separate entities, have virtually the same address [next door to each other] and their websites and service catalogues appear to be clones.

That aside, these two do appear to offer bonafide services, however they are expensive.  For example Research Futures will charge between £792 - £1716 to create promotional materials for your research and while you could post to their “Researcher Blog” for free, it is questionable who will see it.

Check to see if these particular services are worth the time (free option) or the money (fee-based options) for your project. 

QUT already offers support to researchers to enhance their profile and disseminate their research, and partners with respected platforms such as The Conversation which offers free editor services and author support, a detailed analytics dashboard, and has a global reach. And as their tagline says, “Academic rigour, journalistic flair.”

QUT Library is currently investigating an artificial intelligence-based tool designed to extract a plain language summary from a research article. 

Experts from QUT Library’s Office for Scholarly Communication, the Office for Research Ethics and Integrity, and GRE+D recently delivered a two-part online seminar series which helped break down some of these barriers. Aimed at researchers, HDR students and research staff, the sessions covered hot topics such as authorship, publishing strategies, the submission process, copyright, as well as responding to peer review and promoting one’s research.

The innovative format of the program provided participants with the concepts, tools and resources to navigate the options, traverse the stages, and manage the aspects of the manuscript subscription process, followed by an opportunity to ask questions of the presenters.  

Missed the session? You can find the find the presentation recordings, and resources from the Authorship, Peer Review and Publication sessions here:

• Presentation website (Information module)
• Session recording: Presubmission (YouTube video)
• Session recording: Postsubmission (YouTube video)

The resources can also be accessed from the QUT website anytime from here.

Subject: Selecting journal for publication publish tools find journal ms manuscript match

JANE: https://jane.biosemantics.org/

Springer Journal Suggester: https://journalsuggester.springer.com/

JournalGuide: https://www.journalguide.com/

Web of Science WoS Manuscript Matcher https://mjl.clarivate.com/mjl-beta/home

This presentation by a Canadian Librarian looks at the offers of services by professional writers to create high-quality articles on the academic's  research in accessible language for a general audience. 

Faculty encountering these publishers are understandably wary. There has been extensive concern and discussion in academia about so-called “predatory” publishers for the last decade, so much so that any unfamiliar publishing model is treated as suspect - especially those sending unsolicited emails and asking for publishing fees. However, the entities I have investigated appear to be offering a legitimate service with transparent costs. But what needs the service is fulfilling, and what the motivations of their clients are, is debatable. Is it for knowledge translation or mobilization purposes (increasingly required by funding agencies)? Is it for increasing the reach or impact of a researcher’s work? Or is it driven by vanity or ego?

QUT's plagiarism detection software for higher degree research (HDR) candidates is iThenticate. All HDR candidates are required to submit their thesis through QUT's plagiarism detection software prior to lodgement for examination. The resultant report must be provided to the Principal Supervisor for review. Candidates are encouraged to take this opportunity to discuss the findings in the report with their supervisory team. On the Lodgement of Thesis for Examination form, the Principal Supervisor will be asked to certify that they have received and reviewed a copy of the report and that the thesis is now ready for examination.

Note that iThenticate is a tool for researchers. It is not to be used for coursework assignments or non-research documents (instead use Turnitin).

Link to iThenticate:  https://app.ithenticate.com/en_us/login

User name = your QUT student email address (for HDR students) or your QUT staff email address (for staff)

All higher degree research candidates will be confirmed as having access to iThenticate within a six to eight weeks of commencing their course at QUT. You will be sent a welcome email to your QUT student email address (from iThenticate) with details of your user name and temporary password.

All QUT supervisors registered as being accredited to supervise HDR candidates will have access to iThenticate. New staff will be granted access to the software after confirmation of their accreditation level. A welcome email will be sent to your QUT email address (from iThenticate) confirming your access and providing you with your user name and temporary password. Please refer to your Client Services Officer via hdr@qut.edu.au if you experience any issues

Click on the green "Forgot password" link if you forget or cannot access your password.

Never click on "Don't have an account? Sign up" as it invalidates your original login by creating another account and you will be asked to pay for additional iThenticate access. If you have clicked on the "Don't have an Account?" please contact your Client Services Officer.

Note that you should not contact iThenticate directly as your logon is under the QUT corporate account and consequently iThenticate cannot assist you. Your Client Services Officer is the contact person for all iThenticate queries at QUT.

The library can provide an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for QUT staff and higher degree research (HDR) students who are independently publishing a monograph or report.

Application Criteria
Applications for an ISBN must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• The work must be solely published by QUT.
• The person requesting the ISBN must be a QUT staff member or HDR student.
• You are encouraged to make the work available as Open Access.
• You are encouraged to make the work available under a Creative Commons Licence.
• The publication must be published via QUT ePrints, QUT Digital Collections or a QUT web page

University academic staff can apply for a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). A DOI is a unique alphanumeric string to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the internet.

Application criteria
Applications for a DOI must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• The person requesting the DOI must be a QUT staff member.
• The item-type must be a book, report or conference proceedings.
• The work must have an ePrint ID or Digital Collections ID.
• The work must be open access (or will be after a temporary embargo).
• The work must be made available under a Creative Commons Licence.
• The work must be solely published by QUT or jointly published by QUT and one or more other entities.
• Any co-publisher must agree not to mint an additional DOI for the same work.
• While the work may be disseminated via multiple sources and in multiple formats, the persistent source (where the DOI will point to) must be either QUT ePrints or QUT Digital Collections.

Wiley and Hindawi

The CAUL open access publishing agreement with Wiley is predicted to reach its annual article allocation by the end of September. CAUL is taking steps to actively manage the agreement for the rest of 2024.

For the remainder of the 2024 (October – December), open access publishing in Wiley’s hybrid journals will no longer be possible through the CAUL agreement. To determine your options and view all the changes to the open access approval process, refer to the Read and Publish agreements page in the Digital Workplace (scroll to Wiley and refer to the 'Intro and cap status' tab). 

Springer Nature

The CAUL open access publishing agreement with Springer is predicted to reach its annual article allocation by the second week of October. After this date, there will be no further article approvals. The cap is finite. If authors wish to publish open access, they will need to pay the APC themselves.

Changes to the open access approval process are outlined in full on the  Read and Publish agreements page in the Digital Workplace (scroll to Springer Nature and refer to the 'Intro and cap status' tab).