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Success Story Greater China: Librarians Open the Door to Publication for Students and Faculty
Professor Hsin-Pai Li, one of Elsevier's authors, at
Chang Gung University, asks about criteria used by
referees when selecting papers
Librarians worldwide recognize the importance of information literacy and most library training programs offer courses in this area. But access to the world’s information is only the beginning. Librarians play a vital role in helping their students and faculty become participants in the international publication process. As China in particular advances its role in scientific development, it is increasingly important for Chinese researchers to achieve publication beyond Chinese-language journals. This past fall, teams from nine libraries in Greater China worked with Elsevier colleagues to offer a series of workshops providing library patrons with useful insights into the publishing and peer-review process, and practical advice on how to go about getting published.
With the help of librarians, Elsevier Account Development Managers Siaw Pae Kee and Shuqin He and publishing colleagues led workshops in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai and reached more than 400 scientists including heads of department, faculty members, research fellows and Ph.D. students.
The workshop program covered a range of topics around the publication process. A presentation by newly appointed Elsevier Vice President for Science and Technology in China, Paul Evans, examined developments in STM publishing with specific reference to the Greater China region, including journal development, the peer review process, journal selection, copyright issues and publishing etiquette. Clare Marl, Senior Marketing Manager for Elsevier’s Materials Science and Engineering Publishing Program, focused on practical tips and tricks including ways to improve writing skills and increase the chances of a manuscript’s acceptance.
More than 30 professors
and students attended the
session at Hong Kong
Polytechnic University
Interactive Q&A sessions provided opportunities for more experienced authors, editors and reviewers to offer advice and encouragement to less experienced colleagues. “I think both presentations were well-received. Dr. Evans and Ms. Marl provided remarkable insight into the scholarly publishing process and helped the workshop participants better understand the related issues. During the reception several Ph.D. students mentioned to me that they had found the session informative and enlightening,” said Dr. Samson Soong, University Librarian, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
More than 90% of participants who completed surveys distributed during the workshops reported that they found the content useful. The workshops were praised for their conciseness but many participants also indicated that they would like to have more in-depth discussion on copyright issues, the refereeing process, and practical information on submitting papers and overcoming language barriers. To summarize, the academics left the workshop wanting more. “I hope Elsevier can provide more publishing information and services, just like this one,” commented Wei Zhang, Ph.D. Candidate, Geology and Resource Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
A special "Research Toolkit" was distributed to all publishing seminar participants.
Librarians can order copies for their patrons from libraryconnect@elsevier.com. The toolkit is available in English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.
Institutes who took part in the publishing seminar series:
• Academia Sinica, Taiwan • Chang Gung University, Taiwan • Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong • City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong • University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong • Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong • Tsinghua University, China • Chinese Academy of Sciences, China • Shanghai Jiaotong University, China
Faculty Campaign Has Direct Impact on Usage!
A recent email campaign in Malaysia highlighted ScienceDirect journal titles and articles of particular interest to business and management faculty at a ScienceDirect customer institute. Presenting the availability of this content to faculty members in a context that was relevant to them had a direct impact on usage of ScienceDirect journal titles in this field. Use of the content highlighted increased so much that six additional business titles appeared in the institute’s list of the top 100 most-used titles for the ScienceDirect service that month.
ScienceDirect’s newest service “ScienceDirect TOP 25 Hottest Articles” provides librarians with an opportunity to encourage usage of valuable content. This service shows researchers what their colleagues are reading, which topics are causing a stir, whose work is getting the most attention.
“ScienceDirect TOP 25 Hottest Articles” displays the 25 journal articles that are most frequently downloaded by ScienceDirect users worldwide. Users can view these article-listings for any journal in the ScienceDirect database, or for a particular field of study. They can also opt to receive the list of articles via a free quarterly email service. Clicking on an article in the listing or email alert takes one to the abstract, with the option to download the full-text article, depending on access rights. Librarians can promote this free service by directing users to
http://top25.sciencedirect.com
