Writing and Publishing a Research Paper
General context
To get ahead in science, you need to write papers and publish them in peer-reviewed journals. This online course will help you write journal papers and get them published in the most effective way. You will get insider insights from expert trainers who know academic journals from many angles. You will work together with other participants to experience writing and publishing together. You will have a chance to draft your own abstract and get individual feedback on it from other participants and from an expert.
The course will answer questions such as:
- How can I get myself motivated to write and get the paper finished?
- How should I organize my paper?
- What writing style should I use?
- How can I find the journal that’s just right and that will accept my paper?
- How can I ensure my paper makes as much impact as possible?
- How can I get my paper published more quickly?
- How do I deal with peer reviewers' comments and rejection letters?
The course will take place online in Cofactor’s virtual training centre in Gather (https://gather.town). Gather provides all the functions of other video conferencing programs but also enables participants to talk informally in pairs and small groups by moving around the space. This means the course will be more fun than most online courses, while still being challenging and informative.
The course will include five weekly live sessions in the Gather training centre, of about an hour and a half each, plus work in between. In each live session you will discuss the course material in small groups, answer questions and do exercises together. Presentations will be provided as recorded videos, and they, together with handouts, will be provided in the ‘library’ in the Gather space, and also on Cofactor’s Moodle site, for you to work through at any time. The total amount of time you will need to put aside for the course is about 16 hours (though you can spend longer if you wish).
PhD students and postdocs at VIB who are interested in developing strong scientific writing skills and gaining insights into how to improve their chance of publishing in high quality journals.
- This training is only open for VIB participants and is free.
- Note that upon no show without valid justification a fee of € 100 will be charged and you will be blacklisted for the VIB training program for 1 year. Click here for more information
“This course really demystified the process of submitting to a peer-reviewed journal and I feel much more confident about starting my first submission.”
“This was an excellent course. The weekly materials catered to different learning styles and the workload was more than doable. The use of breakout rooms allowed for fruitful discussions.”
“The course was jam packed full of content and actionable points/ideas that you can do straight away to improve your publication success.”
Trainers
Anna Sharman
This course was developed by Cofactor founder Anna Sharman, an experienced researcher trainer who has been a postdoc, an in-house biology journal editor and a publishing consultant. The live sessions will be run by two of Cofactor’s experienced associate trainers. Cofactor courses aim to inform, include and inspire. See http://cofactorscience.com.
Program
The course includes the following four parts:
1. writing style and writing process
2. the structure, abstract and title of a paper
3. choosing a journal
4. the peer review process and publicising
As additional service, you can have expert feedback on your abstract.
Practical info
You will receive a link to the Moodle and Gather platform a few days before the start of the training.