bigghostdini_tha_don
Junior member
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« on: December 28, 2011, 10:44:34 PM » |
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Hello,
I'm a first year PhD student, preparing to begin my second semester of course work in January. Last year, prior to applying to grad school, I submitted a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. Over holiday break, I received notice that the journal is interested in publishing, pending some fairly minor revisions. This submission is a revised version of my MA thesis that I haven't so much as glanced at it over the last six months, so it is completely separate from my work and faculty in my current program.
Should I ask my advisor (who seems not that into me, but a great scholar) or some other faculty member for help or advice? What kind of advice should I expect to receive? Am I going to feel any negative blowback down the line for publishing on my own at this point?
A little extra info: I'm in social sciences, at a top 30ish program. Based on the stats I found, I would say the journal is midlevel (I don't exactly know how to tell). I think they like my article because it is well organized and has a nice theoretical twist, but the methods are amateurish and really I'm sure it is amateurish in other ways as well.
So... thoughts?
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« Last Edit: December 28, 2011, 10:46:05 PM by bigghostdini_tha_don »
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lohai0
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« Reply #1 on: December 28, 2011, 10:50:42 PM » |
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Everyone is embarrassed by their first article. If you aren't continuing on with that line of research, I'd publish it and move on. (I published my first two articles between my first year and second year).
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This semester's going to call for an increase in my liquor budget.
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watermarkup
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« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2011, 10:52:28 PM » |
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I would recommend mentioning this to your advisor and giving him or her the option of getting involved. "Hey, Dr. Advisor, by the way, I just found out that a paper I submitted to Journal B a year ago has been accepted once I make a few revisions. Would you prefer to look it over first, or should I just make the changes and send it off?"
Some faculty members won't care, while others will get prickly about grad students publishing articles or giving conference papers without faculty vetting. The only way to find out is to ask.
Congratulations on the article acceptance!
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betterslac
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« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2011, 11:18:50 PM » |
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I would recommend mentioning this to your advisor and giving him or her the option of getting involved. "Hey, Dr. Advisor, by the way, I just found out that a paper I submitted to Journal B a year ago has been accepted once I make a few revisions. Would you prefer to look it over first, or should I just make the changes and send it off?"
Some faculty members won't care, while others will get prickly about grad students publishing articles or giving conference papers without faculty vetting. The only way to find out is to ask.
Congratulations on the article acceptance!
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kron3007
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« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2011, 08:06:24 AM » |
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As with most things in Academia this might be field specific, but if I were in that position I would contact my MSc advisor and have them go over it. The work was done at your masters institution with your masters advisor (assuming you had one), so they would be the correct one to review it IMO.
Congrats!
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« Last Edit: December 29, 2011, 08:06:54 AM by kron3007 »
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anon99
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« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2011, 10:15:32 AM » |
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As with most things in Academia this might be field specific, but if I were in that position I would contact my MSc advisor and have them go over it. The work was done at your masters institution with your masters advisor (assuming you had one), so they would be the correct one to review it IMO.
Congrats! +1 If you wrote it on your own without help from your previous advisor, you can probably do the revisions on your own. Having said that, a second set of eyes is always good. |
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polly_mer
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« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2011, 04:05:06 PM » |
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As with most things in Academia this might be field specific, but if I were in that position I would contact my MSc advisor and have them go over it. The work was done at your masters institution with your masters advisor (assuming you had one), so they would be the correct one to review it IMO.
Congrats! +1 If you wrote it on your own without help from your previous advisor, you can probably do the revisions on your own. Having said that, a second set of eyes is always good. Yep to all that was written. The master's advisor is the one to help on the article and your doctoral advisor should be happy that you are being mentored on that first publication so that the next publication will be easier and require less mentoring. |
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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bigghostdini_tha_don
Junior member
Posts: 95
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« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2012, 10:47:20 PM » |
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Thanks for the comments, this is a great forum. I've been reading about this online a bit and seems like some people advise grad students to hold off on publishing and only approaching top journals, but maybe they only do that at the top schools.
Let me ask you all another question:
What do you think about publishing outside of the academic press? Like essays and other pieces of writing that may or may not be related to my field but are short, not scholarly, and not all that serious. I have one that I'd like to submit to some kind of magazine or something.
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hegemony
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« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2012, 11:04:42 PM » |
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You're free to publish non-scholarly work, but make sure that it's not something you'll be embarrassed by when a search committee googles you and finds it.
You're also free to publishing in non-top journals, but realize that this may be the only thing you have published by the time you go on the market. I know everyone says they'll publish more, but sometimes things don't work out that way. So this will represent your capacity and aspirations to some extent when you're on the market. Obviously you're better served having an article in Top-Flight Journal of Baskets than in The University of Podunk Satellite Campus Grad Student Basket Journal. Of course I'm exaggerating for emphasis, but you get my drift. A professional should always aim high (not impossibly high, but genuinely high) and work down. Search committees will assume that your publication represents the best you could do. So if you could do better, it will be helpful to demonstrate it.
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Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight.
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bigghostdini_tha_don
Junior member
Posts: 95
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« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2012, 11:31:03 PM » |
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What does it mean to say a top-journal? Like the one in question is in a pretty specialized area, such that there are only six or seven major journals that I know of in this area.
I know the rankings and impact score, but I don't quite know what to make of either, especially with this being a specialized area.
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hegemony
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« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2012, 12:25:13 AM » |
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Your advisor, or faculty in your field, will be able to give you a sense of which journals are highly regarded and which (if any) are considered mediocre or worse.
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Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight.
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totoro
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« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2012, 12:32:56 AM » |
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If it has an impact factor then that means it's in the Web of Science and isn't a bad journal. If you are not at a top PhD program then having an article in an OK journal is better than none in my opinion. Given that the paper has been "accepted" rather than "will consider a resubmission" it is bad form to withdraw it. If you withdraw you'll annoy this editor and the referees if you send it somewhere else and it is sent back to the same referees. So I think you are stuck with publishing it, if it is really an accept.
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polly_mer
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« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2012, 08:02:44 AM » |
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Your advisor, or faculty in your field, will be able to give you a sense of which journals are highly regarded and which (if any) are considered mediocre or worse.
This. I didn't publish in top journals as an graduate student, but I did publish a lot in solid journals. Being a solid performer is better than being a non-performer due to severe rejection. As for non-academic publications, the question is whether they will be embarrassing (political rants, erotic fiction) or whether they will be interesting tidbits (a bird-watching novel, a funny children's book, your field for the non-specialist). I know lots of people who have published novels and science-for-the-non-scientist books as well as several people who have regular newspaper columns and parlayed that into a science-writing career when research turned out not to be their life path. |
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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kron3007
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« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2012, 10:50:50 AM » |
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Personally I would not hold back on publishing unless there were unusual circumstances. Chances are that this paper written during your masters will never be the seminal paper in your field, and no one would expect it at this stage. I dont see investing a lot more of your time to try to bump it up to a higher ranked journal as a good investment of your time, just get it out and move on to the next one.
Many people will tell you that quality is more important than quantity, but actions speak louder than words. From what I have seen, the numbers are at least as important, provided that they are in decent journals. It obviously helps to have some top tier publications, but at this stage I think you just need to get something on your cv.
For perspective I am coming from a STEM field where you would be expected to have several publications by the end of the PhD. You really need to look around at others in your field. Review some CVs of recent hires in your field to see what would make you competitive.
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totoro
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« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2012, 04:44:14 PM » |
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For perspective I am coming from a STEM field where you would be expected to have several publications by the end of the PhD. You really need to look around at others in your field. Review some CVs of recent hires in your field to see what would make you competitive.
This is great advice and what I did myself. |
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