This class will explain how to evaluate the quality of a journal to ensure that it's a suitable venue for your work. Learn about industry initiatives, research misconduct policies, peer review, database inclusion criteria, predatory journals, and other issues related to scholarly publishing. Anyone is welcome to attend, however, having previous or basic publishing knowledge is helpful.
This class will be useful for researchers who are at the beginning stage of project development, researchers who are working on a grant application, and students who are developing thesis, Master’s essay, or dissertation proposals.
Scientific writing and communication are essential for advancing science, translating science and ensuring results reach a broad audience, and are critical to career development for both junior and senior scientists. A well-written manuscript conveys contributions to the field, situates the findings into broader frameworks, and most importantly, creates enthusiasm about the subject matter (Mensh & Kording, 2017). However, most trainees are not explicitly taught the skills necessary for effective scientific writing until they reach graduate school, during which time, they typically ‘learn by doing’ under the guidance of a skilled mentor, becoming more proficient as they gain first-hand experience through the writing, peer review, and publication processes. This seminar will provide guidance on structuring papers in a way that adequately communicates the main ideas of the paper, but perhaps more critically, how to navigate this process as a mentee, and how to support trainees through this journey as a mentor. Dr. Parr will describe her progression as she has learned to write with mentors with a diverse range of preferences and expertise, first as a graduate student (learning phase), next as a postdoctoral scholar (refinement phase), and presently as research faculty where she is finding her voice as an independent writer and developing her role as a mentor. Dr. Luna will describe the essentials for a good paper given her own publishing history, mentoring, reviewing for journals, and as Editor of a journal. She will also provide critical perspective into mentoring in scientific writing, supporting trainees with diverse writing styles, working to balance and adjust to the needs and experience level of each trainee, and how to support mentees through their development as scientific writers as they transition through graduate school to become independent researchers.
Speaker Bios:
Beatriz Luna, PhD is the Distinguished Staunton Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the founder and Director of the Laboratory for Neurocognitive Development, the founder and acting past president of the Flux Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, and the Editor in Chief of the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
Dr. Luna studies brain development, examining the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the adolescent period, from decision-making to vulnerabilities to the emergence of mental illness. Her research uses multimodal neuroimaging methods including: functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The findings from her studies have led to an influential model of adolescent development, which indicates that the brain systems supporting executive processes are available by adolescence, but are driven by neural processes supporting motivation. Her model emphasizes that adolescence is a critical period of brain specialization in which adult modes of operation are determined - underlining vulnerabilities for the emergence of psychopathology. Dr. Luna has published over a hundred peer-reviewed articles describing her innovative studies, in addition to several review papers and chapters discussing her theoretical models of development. She has received numerous awards, notably the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. Her research has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health, and has informed US Supreme Court briefs regarding extended sentencing in the juvenile justice system. Her extensive media history also includes a cover story in National Geographic and a PBS Special with Alan Alda - “Brains on Trial”. Dr. Luna has mentored 15 PhD students from psychology, neuroscience, and bioengineering, as well as more than 10 postdoctoral fellows, and 7 junior faculty, all of whom have had a productive publishing history and successful careers.
Ashley C Parr, PhD is a Research Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research characterizes how developmental changes in reward and cognitive systems support the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Dr. Parr uses multimodal neuroimaging (fMRI, rsfMRI, PET, MTR, tissue iron, and MRS) in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to understand how the brain changes through adolescence to support the transition to adulthood. Her findings emphasize how individual differences in dopamine function contribute to the development of cognitive control and reward systems throughout adolescence, which have implications for the emergence of neuropsychiatric disorders. Dr. Parr is particularly interested in how dopamine interacts with other brain systems, how this gives rise to differences in decision-making across development, particularly exacerbated sensation seeking that is a feature of behavioral phenotypes such as substance use and delinquency behaviors that emerge and intensify during the adolescent period. Dr. Parr has published several peer-reviewed articles describing her innovative studies, in addition to several chapters contextualizing findings within theoretical models of development, and has mentored several undergraduate students throughout the course of her PhD and postdoctoral appointment. She has a particular interest in applying her findings in normative development to high-risk populations and translating her findings in order to inform policy within the juvenile justice system and develop preventative strategies for at-risk youth.
This session will introduce participants to how preprints can fit into their publication workflow. We’ll define what preprints are, discuss the benefits of preprinting, and walk through the process of how to post a preprint to help increase the awareness and impact of your research (subject matter: responsible authorship)
This class is offered through a partnership of the library and the CTSI Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Center.
Data visualizations can be an effective way to tell your research impact story and add value to a wide variety of reports. Whether it’s to illustrate author collaborations, analyze article citation patterns, or explore research trends through text mining, this class will introduce you to techniques for creating your own visualizations with VOSviewer. Participants are encouraged to follow along with the in-class exercises.
A basic knowledge of research metrics prior to the class is helpful, but not required. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to attend.
In this session, we’ll discuss how making informed publishing decisions and managing your online researcher identity are effective ways to increase the visibility of your research. Different types of open access publishing models, including free ways to share your work, will be discussed. We’ll then take a deeper dive into how an Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCiD) helps distinguish yourself from other researchers, keeps your scholarly record up to date, and automates other researcher profile systems to showcase your impact. Students, faculty, and staff are all welcome to attend.
Come to this informal drop-in session with questions about how to make your work open access. Whether you need help finding the right journal, identifying predatory publishers, understanding copyright and licensing, or need help interpreting funder policies—all open access related inquiries are welcome.
No registration required.
This introductory class will explain how publishing works, the common publishing models (including subscription and open access journals), copyright policies, journal matching tools, and how to use journal metrics to find impactful publications in your field.
Keeping track of everything in a project that you should plan for, and write about, is complicated. But what if it didn't have to be? There are tools, i.e. health research reporting guidelines, that are easily and freely accessible that will help you work more efficiently, guide your project development (i.e. your protocol, grant submission, and IRB submission), and improve the transparency of your writing. These tools — health research reporting guidelines — have been around since the mid-1990's but are incredibly underutilized.
This class will introduce how preprints fit in the publication process, cover preprint facts and myths, and address questions such as “Can I still publish in a peer-reviewed journal?” and “Where should I post my preprint?” Anyone who is interested in learning about and discussing the pros and cons of preprints is welcome to attend.