4. Module: Publishing

In this module you will

  • Become familiar with the scientific publishing process and the practices of publishing a doctoral thesis at UEF.
  • Acquaint yourself with UEF publishing policy.
  • Become aware of different publishing alternatives (e.g. open access).
  • Evaluate scientific publishing channels with different tools.

To complete this module

  1. Register yourself to this module in WebOodi.
  2. Read all the study material and watch all the linked videos.
  3. Complete the module assignment and quizzes in Moodle (see Module 4).

NB: This module is 100% self-studying. Optional tasks (in addition to obligatory Moodle assignments and quizzes) at different sections of the course material will help you to deepen your learning.

This module includes themes of open science, which are also part of the Open Science online course (8022030, 1 cp). Notice this if you are planning to take the Open Science course as well.

Introduction

Scientific research papers are among the most prestigious documents (Fig. 1) produced today and each paper is counted as a product of knowledge. They are the means by which scientists report their scientific contributions and establish their credibility.

The five-part structure of research papers (Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion) serves as the conceptual basis for the content. English serves as the current language of science and collaboration in research and writing-up is now the norm in science. The number of papers authored by teams and number of authors per paper is increasing. Team-authored papers are generally noticed to be cited more frequently, indicating greater influence in the discipline.

Fig. 1. An example of research documentation chain of occluded documents (light blue boxes) and public document (dark green boxes).

Fig. 1. An example of research documentation chain of occluded documents (light blue boxes) and public document (dark green boxes).

Nowadays more and more publications are available online either open access (OA) or via subscription-based journals. Open science and research (e.g. OA publishing) have become an internationally significant method to promote visibility and impact of science in the society. Methods of open science have become more frequent, and this has led to an increase in OA journals, OA publications and publication and data repositories.

For a graduate student, generally the most important forms of publications are scientific articles and a doctoral thesis. Doctoral and licentiate theses at UEF are usually published at the publication series of faculties. The UEF researchers and other experts produce more than 2000 scientific publications each year and approximately two thirds of these are published internationally. Scientific research results are primarily published on international forums, whenever this is suitable for the discipline.

(7/2020 KH)