Russian
On November 13, 2019, the Russian New University (RosNOU) hosted a master class entitled “Preparation of Scientific Articles for International Indexed Journals”.
The master class was conducted by Natalya S. Kireeva, Ph.D. in Economics, Associate Professor of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Logistics of the Russian University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov, Head of the School for Teachers and Graduate Students “Designer of a Scientific Career”, author of the courses “Scientific Article in 7 Steps” and “I am writing a Scopus or Web of Science Article”, the author of more than 100 printed pages of scientific papers, with the Hirsch index of 9.
The master class was attended by teachers, graduate students and members of the student scientific society of RosNOU.
The master class program consisted of several parts. First of all, Natalya Kireeva talked about scientometric systems, where the works of scientists and teachers are published.
“In the scientific community, it is common to evaluate scientists by the Hirsch index. This is a citation index that shows the productivity and effectiveness of a scientist. To increase the Hirsch index, you need to write many articles that are well cited from publications indexed by Web of Science, Scopus, eLIBRARY.RU. The Hirsch index is determined in various scientometric systems (Google Scholar, eLIBRARY.RU, Web of Science, Scopus) based on citations in those sources that are included in these systems. Therefore, the Hirsch index of one scientist may differ depending on the basis on which it is calculated.
Prior to international publication, it is necessary to check the impact factor – a numerical indicator of the importance of a scientific journal. This can be done in the scientometric systems; especially if you only select (or check) the publication and want to submit an article to the journal with a certain quartile (a category that reflects the level of citation of the journal, relevance of the article to the scientific community. – Ed.). Before submitting an article to an international publication, you need to make sure that the magazine is in good faith. For this, for example, it is worth checking the indexing of the magazine using the Scopus system on scimagojr.com (this can be done without registration) or writing a letter to the scientometric database support service. So you will not fall into an unscrupulous magazine that requires money for the publication of your work, but does not increase the credibility and citation of your work.”
Natalya S. Kireeva talked about how to write a scientific article so that it was published in an authoritative publication.
“For scientific work, a special, academic style of presentation is important. First, you need to carefully study the articles in those magazines where you want to publish. Read at least a dozen works, pay attention to how authors write, put forward hypotheses and formulate ideas. When writing work, stick to the IMRAD structure. This is an abbreviation for introduction, methods, results, and discussion. In the introduction, you should indicate why the problem you posed is important, to present hypotheses. When describing the method, indicate exactly how you conducted the study. By the way, counting, measuring or comparing can be used as scientific methods for articles in the humanities. In the results of the paper, you present the data obtained, and in the discussion, you explain how your research can be useful to science, what are the prospects for further research.
Pay particular attention to the title of your article. It should not exceed 8-10 words; be informative and contain keywords by which your work can be found in scientific databases.”
Participants of the master class discussed the procedure for working with articles in scientific journals and the review process.
“In serious publications, the reviewing works before publication is very strict,” – said Natalya Kireeva. “There is a blind peer review when 2-3 reviewers read the work without the author’s indication (to minimize subjective assessment). Of the latest reviewing trends is the inclusion of a person who is not a specialist in the subject area of the article among the reviewers. He/she checks the article for “comprehensibility” to a wide circle of readers. The whole process takes from a week to several months. As a result of the review, the article is finalized globally (changing the material or structure of the article) or superficially (for example, the headings are adjusted).”
Natalya Kireeva also spoke about social networks for scientists:
“Many scientific bases require a subscription if you want to get full access to the articles. Access to the databases can be obtained through binding to a particular scientific institution. If there is corporate mail on the server of the organization that acquired the subscription, then access is possible from the postal address of the university or from a certain number of computers of the university. If it is not possible to subscribe, you can read the works on social networks for scientists – ResearchGate, Mendeley, Academia.edu. In these social networks, you can communicate with scientists from all over the world, share ideas, read works of other authors.”
After the master class, Natalya S. Kireeva told the editors of the site what students who want to write scientific papers should start with.
“Read articles and research papers in scientific databases. Be sure to check HAC’s journals (“HAC’s journals” – the leading peer-reviewed scientific journals included in the list of publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC) of Russia for publishing the main scientific results of a dissertation for the degree of candidate and doctor of sciences, – Ed.), and not those that are simply indexed at the RSCI (Russian Science Citation Index, – Ed.). Choose magazines according to the citation and impact factors. Find leading magazines in your area in Russian and English. For example, I really like the Grebennikov Publishing House. Here many good marketing magazines with serious marketing research are published.
When you read high-quality scientific articles, you understand what you should come to. After you read a certain number of articles, and you will have “watchfulness” and understanding, as it should be done, start writing. If you only read, you cannot learn anything. Participate in student conferences, speak for feedback. It will help you understand in what people are interested in and concentrate on what is important now.”