publishing for impact : what it means and how to calculate it workshop presented to the anzam...
TRANSCRIPT
Publishing for Impact:What it means and how to calculate it
Workshop Presented to the ANZAMDoctoral Consortium
Sydney, December 1st, 2014
Neal M. Ashkanasy, PhDProfessor of ManagementUQ Business School, The University of Queensland
Editor-in-Chief (2007-2014) Associate Editor (2011-2014)
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About Your Presenter Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Organizational
Behavior (2007-2014) Published by Wiley-Blackwell First published in 1981 2013 2-year Impact Factor = 3.262 Top 5, Applied Psychology
Associate Editor, Academy of Management Review (2011-2014) Published by the Academy of Management 2013 2-year Impact Factor = 7.817 #1 Journal in Management
Associate Editor, Emotion Review Published by Sage on behalf of the
International Society for Research on Emotions 2013 2-year Impact Factor = 2.903 First published 2009
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Book Series Editor, Research on Emotion in Organizations Published by Emerald, JAI Press
Imprint First published in 2005
Editorial boards (selection) Academy of Management Journal
(1996-2007) Journal of Applied Psychology Academy of Management
Learning & Education Journal of Management Personality & Individual
Differences
http://www.business.uq.edu.au/staff/details/neal-ashkanasyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Ashkanasy
Outline
• Citation Indices• Publishing your work in the top-
tier journals• Concluding Comments
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Citation Indexing
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• Developed in its modern form by Eugene Garfield of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)– Now published by Thomson Reuters Scientific
• The Web of Science (Thomson Reuter Scientific)– Sciences Citation Index (SCI)– Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)– Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI)– Conference Proceeding Citation Index– Book Citation Index (New)– Select “All Databases” (broadest)
• Click the little blue down arrow next to “Web of Science Core Collection” to see the full menu.
Alternatives to WoS
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• SCOPUS– Elsevier– Broader then SSCI– New: SCOPUS “Journal Analyzer”
• Research Gate• Academia• Google Scholar
– See http://www.harzing.com– “Publish or Perish” – Calculates ‘h’ and ‘g’ citation indices
• Authors• Journals
– Quick and easy to use
H- and g-indices• Citations per publication• Hirsch’s “h-index”
– h = no. publications with at least h citations– e.g., h = 6 if six publications have been cited 6 or
more times
• Egghe’s “g-index”– g = no. publications whose combined citation count is
at least g2 (or average citations for the top g pubs ≥ g)– e.g., g = 6 if the average no of citations for the top 6
publications is at least 6.– Gives more weight to highly cited articles than h.
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Meaning of Citations
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• Article is cited in WoS-Indexed journals– Citations in other journals and books do not
count– But citations to non-WoS-Indexed journal
articles, book chapters, and books are counted• WoS is three databases!
– (Source) “Search”– “Cited Reference Search”
• Click the blue down arrow next to “Basic Search”
– “Secret” data based used to calculate IF’s.
Why are articles cited?• Genuine contribution to the literature
– Ideas cited more than data– Books cited more than journal articles (??!!)
• Handy references– Review articles (e.g., AMR, JoM)– Snapshots (e.g., J. J. Ray in the 1980’s)
• ‘Bad’ citations?• Fashion
– Harzing’s study of mis-citations• Harzing, A. W. 2002. Are our referencing errors undermining our
scholarship and credibility? The case of expatriate failure rates. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23: 127-148.
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Boosting Your Citations
• Publish in the top-tier journals• Write quality articles that attract attention and
interest• Advertise• Self-cite (!!??)• Contact Thomson Reuters re. errors• Make publications available in the public domain
– See SHERPA RoMEO database– http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php
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Journal Impact Factor• Calculated as N citations in year y to articles published in
y-1 and y-2 divided by N “citable” articles published in y-1 and y-”2.
• E.g. 2013 impact factor = Number of citations in 2013 to articles published in 2011 and 2012, divided by the number of “citable” articles published in 2011 and 2012.
• “Citable” articles = “Articles”, “Reviews”, and ( more recently) “Conference Proceedings”.
• E.g., AMR 2013 Impact Factor calculated as …– Total citations in 2013 to articles published in 2011 and 2012 = 469
• Cites in 2013 to articles published in 2011 = 315; in 2012 = 154
– Total citable articles published in 2011 and 2012 = 60• Number of citable articles published in 2011 = 30; in 2012 = 30
– AMR’s 2013 Impact Factor = 469/60 = 7.817
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5-Year Indices
• WoS recently introduced 5-year indices, more applicable to the social sciences where the review process is typically 18-30 months rather than 6-12 months typical in the sciences
• 5-Year Impact Factor– Same as 2-year, but calculated over 5 years
• Article Influence Score– Takes account of the quality of the citing journals
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2013 Management JournalsRanked by 5-Year Impact Factor
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Rank Title No. cites 2-Year IF 5-Year IFImmediac
y Half-life Eigen Influence1 ACAD MANAG ANN 778 7.333 10.154 0.6 15 4.4 0.00713 6.56
2 ACAD MANAGE REV 17707 7.817 9.698 1.414 29 >10.0 0.01441 5.317
3 ACAD MANAGE J 19426 4.974 8.443 0.541 74 >10.0 0.02533 5.239
4 MIS QUART 8705 5.405 8.157 1.103 58 >10.0 0.01039 2.785
5 J MANAGE 9110 6.862 8.027 0.657 70 >10.0 0.01798 4.134
6 J OPER MANAG 5596 4.478 7.718 0.525 40 8.3 0.00697 2.062
7 ADMIN SCI QUART 11897 2.394 7.057 0.471 17 >10.0 0.00784 5.386
8 J APPL PSYCHOL 22440 4.367 6.952 0.471 70 >10.0 0.02853 3.538
9 STRATEGIC MANAGE J 17225 2.993 5.929 0.419 86 >10.0 0.0188 3.087
10 PERS PSYCHOL 4560 4.54 5.845 0.464 28 >10.0 0.00746 3.459
11 ORGAN RES METHODS 2727 3.525 5.713 0.308 26 7.9 0.00825 2.954
12 J INT BUS STUD 6676 3.594 5.534 0.87 46 9.8 0.01136 1.991
13 ORGAN SCI 10499 3.807 5.512 0.319 94 >10.0 0.02303 3.595
14 J MANAGE STUD 5473 3.277 5.196 0.824 51 8.6 0.01174 2.294
15 J SUPPLY CHAIN MANAG 1072 3.717 4.946 0.621 29 5.8 0.002 1.078
16 J INF TECHNOL 1282 3.789 4.917 0.476 21 6.4 0.00376 1.872
17 RES ORGAN BEHAV 2236 1.25 4.87 0 7 >10.0 0.00272 3.538
18 J ORGAN BEHAV 5999 3.262 4.734 0.551 69 >10.0 0.01003 2.126
19 INT J MANAG REV 1066 2.673 4.468 0.52 25 6.1 0.003 1.615
20 LONG RANGE PLANN 1588 2.111 4.365 0.591 22 >10.0 0.00291 1.382
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Publishing in the top-tier journals• Acceptance rates typically less than 10%
– AMJ: 80 acceptance out of 1200 submissions– JOB: 50 acceptances out of 800 submissions
• Reviewers have zero tolerance for flaws– And action editors too!
• Articles must be impeccably presented– Fully copyedited– Follow journal style guidelines TO THE LETTER– English writing must be high quality
• Content must be highest quality– Significance of contribution must be clearly established at
an international level– Must be logically sound– Empirical papers must be methodologically very strong
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Publishing in the ‘A/B’ Journals• Acceptance rates 10% - 20%
– JMO: 50 acceptances out of 250 submissions• Reviewers have little tolerance for flaws
– But action editors sometimes have to be patient• Articles must still be impeccably presented
– Fully copyedited– Follow journal style guidelines TO THE LETTER– It helps if English writing is good quality
• Content must be high quality– Significance of contribution should be clear– Should be logically sound– Empirical papers should be methodologically strong
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Tips for publishing in Journals
• Appropriate training– Mentors must have a record of publishing at this level,
otherwise …• Attend workshops
– At major international conferences– Doctoral consortia– Visiting scholars
• Workshop drafts– Present at major international conferences– Circulate to qualified scholars for (honest) feedback
• Be persistent– Try, try, and try again– Generally fast (<90 day) turnaround
How not to get published at this level• Don’t do you homework
– Journal mission– Editorial guidelines
• Don’t bother with copyediting• Submit a ‘virgin’ paper• Fail to make your contribution clear• Miss important bits of the literature• Have obvious methodological flaws
– Small sample– Simplistic design (common methods bias)– Flawed measures (low reliability alpha)
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Empirical Articles• Qual vs. quant
– Quant: Theory-based deductive research– Qual: Interpretive/inductive theory-building– Mixed methods?
• Method must be impeccable• Innovation may be an asset
– Quant: Method must flow from theory– Qual: Method must flow into theory
• Contribution must be clear regardless of methodological approach
• Writing must be impeccableANZAM Doctoral
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“Publishing today is more difficult than ever”
• Ashkanasy, N. M. 2010. Publishing today is more difficult than ever. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31: 1-3.
• Low acceptance rates = Type II Error rate rises• Peters and Ceci (1982)
– “Peer-review practices of psychology journals: The fate of published articles, submitted again”
• JOB no longer accepts studies based on single-administration self-report survey data
• Contribution– So what?– Uh huh!
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Theory/Review Articles
• Substantial contribution must be established at the outset
• Contribution must be demonstrably an advance on knowledge
• Theory must be clearly set out, logical, and intuitively sensible
• Critical argument is essential• Clear delineation of boundaries• Writing and logic must be impeccable
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Some additional tips• Read past issues of the journal
– Amazingly as an editor and reviewer, it is obvious that many authors have not read the journal
• Read the follow the editorial instructions to “T”– Again, it’s amazing how many authors fail to follow the
guidelines. Reviewers know that authors who fail to follow the guidelines are likely to be sloppy in other areas.
• Read the journal’s statement of scope (or mission)• Never resubmit an unchanged article to another journal
following rejection• Don’t be afraid to contact the editor if in doubt
– Include a covering letter only if necessary.
• Try to meet the editor when the opportunity arises
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Closing Comments
• Citations count more than ever as an index of impact
• Already the primary criterion in the sciences – Now a criterion in the social sciences – Later (but inevitably) to the organization
sciences• What is the meaning of a CV full of articles
that are never cited in the mainstream literature?
• Academic careers are made or broken on publications (“Publish or Perish”)
