Scientific publications of graduate students

The choice of postgraduate study for further studies after receiving a diploma of higher education indicates the applicant’s intention to devote his life to science. And if you decide to choose science, then you are inevitably doomed to “writing” it. This is the destiny of all for whom science has become a profession. Whether a novice scientist likes it or doesn’t like it, he will certainly have to learn it and do it all his life until the end of his scientific career. By the end of graduate school and defending a thesis, a graduate student must already submit at least two to three articles of the Higher Attestation Commission . Some universities, such as the Higher School of Science, require PhD students to publish in Scopus or Web of Science.

Unfortunately, we pay little attention to teaching the skill of writing scientific articles, and therefore you can often encounter a situation where a talented researcher cannot correctly present his thoughts and results of work on paper. You can often hear: “I don’t like to write letters”, “I don’t like to write articles”, “scientific reports” and so on. In fact, the problem is that he does not know how to do it well, and therefore does not like it. And, of course, the main thing is to make sure that these skills are needed. For example, foreign scientists spend 2/3 of their time not on research, but on the presentation and description of the results, writing scientific articles and substantiating projects. These are indicators of scientific work and qualifications of a scientist, not to mention material benefits. And this should be studied by our scientists.

Organization of work on the article

The writing of a scientific article for a graduate student should be divided into stages. The first stage is the study of primary sources on the problem under study. After getting acquainted with them, you proceed to the second stage: the search and thorough acquaintance with the literature on specific scientific issues. And the third stage is to create an article plan that will determine the general perspective of the study and its methodology.

A big difficulty for many novice authors is to overcome the psychological barrier, which comes down to lack of confidence in their abilities, in the ability to write something new that has not yet been written and published by someone. These torments begin when the author finds himself in front of a blank sheet of paper. Few people find writing an article easy and effortless. Even experienced authors experience difficulties in writing a scientific article. The sooner an aspiring researcher starts writing, the sooner he will become a science writer. Ideally, scientific work should have a triune nature: reading scientific periodicals, researching and writing articles.

Secrets of a scientific article

First of all, this is mastering the academic style of writing. The main secret lies not only in the value of the content of the article, but also in its design, in the style of presenting the material. The informative nature of a scientific article requires the author to be able to write concisely and clearly. But at the same time, as far as possible, avoid clichés and bureaucratic words in order to maintain credibility and reliability when presenting the opinions of other scientists. And we must remember that the task of a scientific article by graduate students is not so much a presentation of facts as a presentation of new views. What are the features of the academic style:

1. The exact wording of your ideas. The results of scientific research are described in professional scientific language. However, the readership may not understand the specific terminology, and the author is obliged to clearly and clearly explain the main basic concepts. At the same time, the accuracy of the wording should not be confused with the categorical conclusions of the author.
2. Use formal writing style with impersonal sentences. This will help smooth out the harshness of the negative reviews of dissenting opponents. At the same time, researchers who have previously engaged in research on this topic are not ignored. This style suggests the absence of abbreviations, different jargon and “simplified” grammar.
3. A thorough review of the literature on the stated problem. The academic style makes it a prerequisite for reviewing the works of predecessors, with the mention of at least 50-60% of foreign sources. The number of cited literature should be within 15-30 references. The bibliographic list is evidence of your erudition, the degree of study of the topic under discussion, familiarity with modern research (mandatory inclusion of sources two or three years old). Don’t unnecessarily inflate the bibliography.
4. There should be a sense of proportion regarding references to one’s work (so-called self-quoting). But they should not be excluded, especially if they are a continuation of previous works, even if they are published only in Russian.

Review article

You can often encounter a situation where young authors do not know how to properly respond to the comments of editors and reviewers. Firstly, the author should take a positive attitude to all the comments made and be grateful to seniors in rank and position that they took the trouble to read your work and write a review. Secondly, the comments made will help improve your work, may suggest some new angles and directions of scientific research. If a reviewer has spoken too harshly in a review, this in no way applies to you personally. Thirdly, all comments must be responded to as quickly as possible, and most importantly, on time. Contact the reviewer, trying to find out all the unclear points. And remember that the chances of publishing a work are much higher if you take into account all the comments of the reviewer and editor. This is especially true for the publication of HAC by graduate students.

If your work is rejected, try to find out the reasons for the rejection. As a rule, the editors will point out in detail all the shortcomings. Try to include them as much as possible and submit the manuscript to another journal. Do not give up! Half of the articles on management and business are denied publication. Journals with high ratings in the Scopus and Web of Science databases reject up to 80-90 percent of manuscripts.

When the deadlines are running out and there is no time left before the defense, it is advisable to contact the Ru-Science publishing house, which will help solve these problems. The publishing house specialists will help you choose a journal suitable for your specialty from the list of the Higher Attestation Commission, edit and publish an article for a graduate student in accordance with the requirements of the selected publication. When it comes to international journals, you can get comprehensive advice and assistance in publishing postgraduate articles.

You might be interested:

Publications in HAC journals

Publication in Scopus journals