Prof Dr. Rajni Hatti-Kaul Public Lecture - UTM

Towards high quality research
and publications
Rajni Hatti-Kaul
Lund University
UTM, Johor, 29 November 2012

Requirements for high quality research
• Infrastructure for performing research
• Capable ”driver” of research
• A good team
• A good network

Quality measures for excellence
• Impact factor
• Number of publications
• Citation frequency
• h-factor

Research funding in Sweden
• Externally funded
• Obtaining grants highly competitive
• Trendy areas
• Trend towards larger projects - Interdisciplinarity
• Project leader as a scientist and manager
• Impact factor of the journals and citation index
play important role
• Open access journals in increasing demand

PhD education in Sweden
• 4 years research work and courses (40 weeks)
• Minimum requirement: 4 papers out of which
at least 2 should be published or accepted for
publication in international peer reviewed
journals
• Thesis: summary with papers

A good researcher
asks the question ”why”

Literature
Problem
Filling
the
gap
Need
Understanding
Filling
the
gap
Literature

From idea to product
Idea
Work
Product –
Paper, patent
Hot topic or a crazy idea
Do good homework!
• Facilities
• Required
manpower
• Patentable
• How much to reveal in
publication

Best ways to get ideas and follow global trends
• Reading – information readily available today
• Attend conferences
• Discussions with colleagues
• Journal clubs – choose high impact journals

Novelty of research is the prime factor for high
quality research
• Can you be the first one to report a finding
• Even if you want to work in an area that is
popular, start with finding out what is already
known
• Thorough review of literature
• No point in repeating what is already
published
• Take the published work as a starting point
and look for the knowledge gaps

Duties of researchers in a university
Third task
Demonstration
Communication
Teaching
Research
Increasing and conveying knowledge

Balance between research excellence and
contribution to society
• Difficult
• More you move towards using your research
for the benefit of society the lower becomes
the novelty and impact of publications
• Useful to have two parallel tracks – research
and application
• Alternatively find a side track for continuing
research at a high level

Example of impact factors as the work progresses
• S-H Pyo, P Persson, S Lundmark and R Hatti-Kaul (2011) Solvent-free lipasemediated
synthesis of six-membered cyclic carbonates from trimethylolpropane
and dialkylcarbonates. Green Chemistry 13, 976-982 (IF: 6.32)
• S-H Pyo, K Nuszkiewicz, P Persson, S Lundmark and R Hatti-Kaul (2011)Lipasemediated
synthesis of six-membered cyclic carbonates from trimethylolpropane
and dialkyl carbonates: influence of medium engineering on reaction selectivity. J.
Mol. Catal. B: Enzymatic 73, 67-73 (IF: 2.701)
• A Bornadel, R Hatti-Kaul, K Sörensen, S Lundmark and S-H Pyo (2012)Optimization
of a two-step process comprising lipase catalysis and thermal cyclization improves
the efficiency of synthesis of six-membered cyclic carbonate from
trimethylolpropane and dimethylcarbonate. Biotechnology Progress In press (IF:
2.34)
• S-H Pyo and R Hatti-Kaul (2012) Selective, green synthesis of six-membered cyclic
carbonates by lipase catalysed regio-specific transesterification of diols with
dimethylcarbonate. Advances in Synthesis and Catalysis 354, 797-802 (IF: 6.048)

DISCUSSION

Remember that you are on a global
scene when you are publishing in
an international journal
– even if you are working on a
problem of national importance

Kind of publications
• Original papers
• Rapid communications
• Reviews
• Book chapters
• Books
Potentially high
impact and
citation More frequency widely read
Meritorious
Time consuming

Journals for different research areas have
varying impacts
• Fundamental research > applied research
• Molecular biology > fermentation
• Polymer technology > biotechnology
• Material science > chemical science
• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical - Tissue engineering, Drug delivery

Give equal importance to writing as to the
laboratory work
Good results not communicated well dont
make a good publication

Prior to writing
• Put together all your data and evaluate it
• Are you confident of your data
• Or is there some experiment that needs to be
repeated
• Do you have standard errors of deviation wherever
required
• Is there something missing to make it a complete
story
• Do you have the facilities to perform the missing work
or can you collaborate with someone or outsource it

Choosing the journal
• Short list a few journals that fit your work
• Check their impact factors
• Open access journals
• Check the papers published in them and their
quality
• If possible get information on how fast they
are in processing the papers

Writing a paper
- is like telling a story. Make it interesting and
convincing
Keep the literature up to date when starting to write the paper
You may sometimes be surprised
• Introduction
• Materials and methods
• Results and Discussion (or Results followed by
Discussion)

Writing skills
• We are all not gifted writers
• Reading and practicing is the best way to
improve writing skills
• Linguistic skills can also be acquired, possible
to get language corrected
• No plagiarism - Do not copy directly from a
published source or internet. Form it in your
own words

How I write the paper …
1. Materials and methods
• The easiest part since you know what you have
done
• Start writing the paper with this section with all
experimental details and required references

2. Results
• Write the results you have obtained along
with the figures
• The data should show standard errors of
deviation wherever possible
• Dont put too many figures and tables
• Lot of optimization results can be given as
supplementary data

3a. Introduction
• Provide a good background of the field
• Add enough references – better more than
less
• Set a ground for your work
• Finally, define the objectives of your work
clearly

3b. Discussion
• The most difficult and also the most interesting part of
the paper
• Provide logical explanation/theory for the data
obtained. Refer to papers with similar observations.
• If you can confirm your theory, do that. Dont speculate
too much
• Compare your data with the literature reports
• Highlight the novelty
• If Discussion is separated from Results, dont repeat the
results – only discuss them

4. Conclusions
• This is not a summary!
• State briefly what the findings are from the study.
HIGHLIGHTS!
• Write also the challenges if necessary
• Suggestion on how the work should be continued
or if you are already doing something

5. Abstract
• Just a summary of what the paper is about.
• Introduce the subject in the first sentence (or
two) to lay a ground for why the study is
important
• Then some sentences on what was done and
the observations
• Perhaps a final sentence indicating the novelty

This is what I tell my students
After the first draft
• Be critical on your own writing
• Remember the paper should be improved
continuously for language, discussion, introduction,
etc.
• Take a pause for a couple of days after writing the
first draft.
• Ask your colleagues to read the paper and give
honest comments
• Keep sending back and forth to your supervisor for
continuous improvement and polishing (5-10 times)
You should feel proud of the paper you produce

Publications – view of a reviewer

Accepting to review
• Interesting subject
• Close to my area of work
• Abstract
• Journal

Presentation
• Language
• Following the journal format
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Quality of figures and tables
• Research highlights

Introduction
• Has sufficient background literature been
provided in the Introduction
• Have the objectives been clearly stated
• Are the objectives significant, novel

Materials and methods
• Is the description of methods given in
sufficient detail and with appropriate
references
• Are the methods used suitable and sufficient
for fulfilling the objectives

Results & Discussion
• Most crucial part
• Do the results add significantly to new
knowledge
• Are the claims supported by data
• Is the work complete

Recommendation
Accept/Minor revision
• Short review
Major revision/Reject
• Detailed review with all the
points that need to be
improved

To improve the standard of publications
• Monetary award for publications in journals of
certain impact factor
• Evaluation of research and staff by an international
committee and get their recommendations
• Sending staff and students to international
laboratories for short periods (6 months)
• Facilitate purchase of chemicals and equipment
and their maintenance

Thank you for your attention
& good luck!