PM-Pt2-Prof Robert Faff and close
PROFESSOR ROBERT FAFF:
I'm gonna do my best.I'm gonna be informative.But I plan to be entertaining.So, let's see how we go.I also want to display a very important quality that,I think, will serve a lot of us in our academic careers andthat's passion.Right? So, I'm going to try anddrum up some passion.Late in the afternoon, it's a challenge, but let's see how we go.Because I want to talk on a topic that I am very passionate about,and it does link to many of the things you've heard today, andI am going to stay linked to the topic that was given, which isthe editor's view, but I am going to twist it around a little bit.So you have to bear with me.I could talk about this for a long, long time.I've got 30 minutes and that's what I'm gonna do.But I feel that I'm gonna be so successfully,you won't want me to stop.- [LAUGH] - All right,you won't want me to stop, but there's a verywell-known saying and that is, leave them wanting more.And that's probably where we Will have it.So I warn you, you are going to be entertained.Right.So, I've twisted this.I'm on a mission.I've got an obsession.It's about pitching research.And the target of pitching research is about starting research.Now, I'm gonna twist this around and The title gives it away.So in particularly from an editor's perspective, butreally it's a perspective of someone who has survived, okay?You can tell that I have a few years on me.The colour of my hair, what is the colour of my hair?- Gorgeous.
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Let me see here.Can you catch?All right. I'm the colour of my hair is notgorgeous, all right.Can anyone else wanna have a go at the colour of my hair.- Not black. - That's true.- [LAUGH] - All right, now, sorry?- [INAUDIBLE]
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Aw, nice.- All right, so you're already guessing some of the questions.Now the colour of my hair is- - Grey.- Grey and oh, grey and pink.- Grey and pink.- Right, distinctive, I like that too.My mom told me a long time ago,unfortunately she's no longer with us.But when I was a young whippersnapper, I wasn't small,I was always big.We're not gonna go down that path, butI said...I think I said something like, I'm gonna go grey, andshe said, no it'll be distinguished.With men, you look distinguish, so,um...part of what I want to do apart from entertain you orinform you is to make you so excited that you'll want toread--and I know people in this room have Heard a version of thisand that's good, so you're on board.But if you haven't heard this, I want you so excited that you'reactually gonna go and read the paper that's behind this.And the paper is on SSRN.So, clearly, if I can't convince you that's it,I mean...I'm not gonna be there looking over your shoulder going,go and read the paper, but Do me the favour.If you think there's something here for you,which I think there is, then have a look.All right.So, what's that?- [INAUDIBLE] - Who said that?Can you catch?All right. And we alreadyknow the answer to the next question.Why a baseball It's a rough metaphor analogy andyou can't push it too far but basically my idea is about, ormy passion is about pitching research and telling you about whatI think I can hope you to start research and the sportinganalogy is in baseball you pitch it now you gonna do underarms.And everyone should be safe.I've done this a few times recently andno one has been hurt, no one has been hurt.All right, so it's a baseball but it's not really a baseball.Those of you that have got them.What is a, soif you've already answered you can probably just stay Quite.What is it?It's not a squishy.- [INAUDIBLE] - Alright, sothe average catching ability here is a little bit lowerthan what I've seen, but we can improve on that.Alright, so a stress ball, sothere's a second Metaphor happening here.Bit of gaming but I think good one and a useful one what's the link.We're talking about pitching research, research is stressful.So that's one half of it.
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Research is stressful,what is it about a stress ball that people like?- Always [INAUDIBLE] - Okay, so that wasn'tactually what I was thinking of but one of the things here is,every genuine attempt is worth - Being rewarded.I don't have a monopoly on wisdom.I know that.But a part of my idea in terms of the pitching research.And it's a template.We're gonna talk about the template.We're gonna reverse-engineer the template in terms ofhow you can think about assisting your own work.That's not really the startingVision that I have in terms of the paper.But it's reverse engineering something that you might be quiteclose to sending to a journal, you're halfway through, whatever.So, people can do that with balls.People can do sort of all sorts of [LAUGH]. Sothere's nothing butwhat do we know about stress balls.They're balls we can jungle.So that's something you can do with stress balls, but they bounce back.Have I given you one? Oh you got one.Basically researchers...Is challenging, is difficult, is stressful buta stress ball actually is there, in general terms, to relieve stress,to make you feel better about whatever.So that's the other metaphor.Okay. What's that?- It's a logo.Yeah, so it's shameless advertising.All right.So, the guide of my talk, and I could talk about this forever, butI want to encourage you to read the paper.I want you to almost fall over your chairs rushing out to get to yourlaptop and get a copy of the paper.I want people to use the template, I know there's some in the roomwho've probably done that And the rest is sort of long-term for me.So the core of the pitching research project forme is this template.And I'm guessing, and I haven't been here the whole day but,probably everything that's on this, you've already heard.All right, would surprise me, absolutely astound me,if you haven't heard it.Today.Maybe I give it some different labels, whatever.
So, is there anything new here?Well, there isn't.Not in the constituents.So, the new bid is the tool.It's bringing it together, andthen providing advice, some of which you've heard today,but my spin on that advice, and that's what the paper is about.so what I want to do is spin this to not starting research orthinking about starting research, but as a diagnostic tool.To self-reflect on where you are in a given project.And I think there's a lot of scope here for that.I, in the in the bag,there's a flyer, and the flyer has this kidversion which is really the starting research angle.And there's some questions here, I pose different questions herebased on my experiences to the sorts of things I think about,and when I'm the on the other side, what I would wantto know to be convinced that you the pitcher have a good ID.All right, and have a look at that, that's your laser and hopefullythat will wet your appetite to wanna get on see, read the paper.But I want to twist this around.I want to convince you that you can reverse engineer this and actuallyassess how well you're progressing on your project, on your research.So, I'm gonna pose a question.What is the hottest thing about Getting research published.And you've heard a lot about this today, sojust about any answer will be okay.But I obviously have an answer, but there's no unique answer.But what's the hardest thing about getting your research published?- Oh, you've already got one.No, innovation? Yes.- [INAUDIBLE] - Selling your ideas well.Anything else? Anyone else want a ball?They're gonna have to say something.- [INAUDIBLE] - Have you get a ball?Look, right handed. Selling to the right audience.- Fitting into the journal.- Fitting into the journal, I like it.Did you get one? - I've got one.- Yeah, you've got one.- Convincing the reviewers,where did that?All right, anything else before we-- Anything else before I reveal mine?Not getting disks rejected.I like it.Doing good research and planning it andthat's what my paper is really primarily about butI'm trying to convince you that - There's other ways of using it,but exactly right.OK, we'll never finish and I know you'll never want to stop.Alright, convincing--so there's no right answer,there's no wrong answer.All those answers were fantastic.Convincing the editor to CARE!That sounds...I loved it when I came up with that,sort of went, yeah...But, it's just, it's one sort of way of thinking about it.What is the second hardest thing about getting published?- [INAUDIBLE] - Sorry?- [INAUDIBLE] - You didn't see these slidesdid you?
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Getting the referees to care.Yes.- Yes, getting our referees to care.But, again, there's no right or wrong answer.But, I wanna ask some questions where I can get some interaction,and some crowd participation.So, I wanna give you something to get your teeth into.So, what are our editors, and referees looking for?And, we've heard all aspects of this in different angles, andhoe, whoa, sorry?[INAUDIBLE] - Yeah, okay,I mean that's just, oh, look at that.Yes, something they can care about but that's almost answeringthe question- - Contribution to theory.- I beg your pardon?- Contribution to theory.It could be that, the knowledge is okay.Yeah, yeah, theory's important.Definitely important.All right, well, what the heck did I say here?Well, a lot.- [LAUGH] - They're looking for a lot.I mean, we've heard it all and as sort of Neil said,the D-word a few times, depressing.And it is depressing but you've gotta lift yourself up.You've gotta put yourself in a position andthink of strategies, and I could talk about Neil and everyone,anyone that's been around and got grey and pink hair could do that.I could tell you about strategies, but that's for another day.A lot of this was covered earlier and I don't dwell on this, butI'm just trying to sort of, want to give more balls away.What are the editor's objectives?When you think of So,now we're trying to get inside the editor's head.I think that's probably a pretty good idea up to a point.There comes a point with any of this, you can over think it, andactually, the year's gone by, and you've done nothing.But, what do you think some of the editors objectives are?Increasing the ranking of the journal.Like it. Beg your pardon?–
[INAUDIBLE] - Getting the peopleto read the journal?I like it.Because you think about,you need to self-reflect on your work to figure out where you'regoing to get the editor The correct path of the brainactually tripping over all these things, going yeah, yeah, yeah.Other things?- The citations of a journal.- Yep. You've got a ball, I like it. Thank you.The citations of a journal.Anything else?- Impact factor.All right. Let's see what I came up with andI think a lot of these have been covered.Again, no unique right answers, but gee,I think some of these are really getting over the top ofthis psychology we're trying to do of the editor.More readers, more excited readers,more journal citations, higher impact factor, avoiding griefI think as a researcher you want to avoid grief andI think that'd be another label I put to some of the things thatNeil mentioned and then I believe Steve would have as well.In other words, saying in terms of the writing, you've got the sametheme in mind and you can write it in a way that gets the backup oryou can write it a way that's actually engaging.And does, it serves your purpose.So, avoid the grief.Managing scarce and fickle resources.So, editors are reallyworried about the time factor of their best reviewers.They don't wanna waste their time.That's why new, Was 60%, now he's down to 40.They're doing that exactly for that reason and possibly a few others.Protecting referees a bit like that, butprotecting them in a broader sense, matching referees to papers.And in my role as editor of the county.And I'm a little bit different in terms of an editor, I believe.I felt that was my most important job andI agonised over that on some papers for longer than I should've.And my view was, once I had figured that out, the rest was quite easy.So I am and was a very hands off Editor.That was a critical decision for me.I've picked the referee.They have agreed I trust them.They are the professional.I don't need to do too much else.Maintaining enhancing quality.Okay, what are the referees objectives do you think?I heard something, so I think that was something that, oh.You can't have another one, no.Learn something, yeah?Give constructive feedback.Anything else comes to mind.- Same research - I havethe same research interest, look at that.We got to pick up our catching ability.Anything else before I reveal what crossed my mind?I don't have many things here actually.- [INAUDIBLE] - Yes, that one was mentioned.Alright, so I don't have many things butwe've heard a lot of this today I'm sure.So, community service, serving the journal and the editor.Basically he or she is the boss, and sothey're trying to be a servant andhelp the editor do all the things the editor wants to do.Quality control and whatever.Okay, so how can we convince editors and referees to care?I can't remember the answer to this.I don't know what I thought, so it's gonna be interesting for me.How can we convince them to care?Any? Any ideas?- [INAUDIBLE] - Okay,professionalism, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.Professionalism, sort of that polish.- [INAUDIBLE] - Yeah, and it should come throughin the way you write, and the way you research, you execute.
All right, let's see what I, if only I really knew,[LAUGH] - What would I know?I seem to be going through a purple patch of rejections.So, and I heard just as much as I did 10 years ago,20 years ago when any other number that you would want to suggest ifyou really want to get on my wrong side.But, You know, I sort of know, but in the end,I...so it's very challenging, it's an exasperating, annoying,and sort of a few other negative thoughts could be thrown here.So, what I have, what I want to express to you andconvince you in a very short time, Just whet your appetite andthink about whether there's something here for you.A diagnostic, so thinking of this template,that really captures all these things that we know about.A diagnostic tool that I think can help.And think of it as reverse engineering The pitch template, asfar as the way a wrote the paper, which was pretty new research.Now we're at the middle stage, or the end stage.The end in terms of, hey I wanna send this to a journal.Reverse-engineer and see what sort of answers you can get forthe different parts of the template.So, reverse-engineer this he says.And there are things that quite make sense so much, or are soimportant, as they would be in terms of the pitching a new idea.But what if we get to the nuts and bolts, the working title, so.In terms of the title you have, my experience, andreally I've made every mistake and continue to make, andyou try and learn, But in terms of titles and some of those bits andpieces of the paper, um...they're often forgotten orleft to the end, and you know, almost given no thought at all.So, this is sort of a nothing question, butI've got a few more balls I want to give away.Think of the length of title.Other things equal, Would you prefer to see,as an editor let's say, a very long title or a very short title?What do you think and why?- Short. - Short, short and snappy.I've you got- - I've got one.- Someone else said short and snappy over here, did they?Short I know that you've got a ball.And I think a lot of people will go for that.I wanna tell you about the fact that I'ma current world record holder.Never to be beaten.The world's shortest title paper.So, there will be some people that know the answer to this for sure.So, if you do don't say.But what, how long is this title?What do you think would be the world's, it can never be beaten.
- [CROSSTALK] - One what?- [CROSSTALK] - One word, that's too long.- [CROSSTALK] - One letter, right.Anyone wanna guess what letter it is.I.- It is beta, it's a Greek.You knew it George, you wrecking everything.So, that's ridiculous.I wouldn't try and win that with a big journal.So it was more, actually, it was a pretty good journal.We won't go into the details, but - You know, you just start to findways of making your academic career more interesting as you go on andI just sort of thought that was a cute thing to work for.But that is not what I am saying.So the message here is think about your title.It is the first thing The editor's gonna see.The referee's gonna see.And it's already starting to make an impression.So I'm sure you've seen titles yourself before, andI've got a few that you can read of my own earlier papers.Where you're fallen asleep before you've gotten to the end ofthe third line of the title.It just goes on and on and on.It's got a colon, it's got a dash.It's got everything in there, and you think [SIGHS].And you can almost never come back from that.So, sorry. Is there a question?- Yes. - It's not a question, it's a comment.- Sure.- From the librarians point of view. - Yep.- When we're searching the database, we want a really activesearch, when we search in database, we want a really accurate search.- I know. I had a big argument with Wileyto convince him they had exactly that.And I said here is the chance, this is the chance you've got that,okay, you're gonna miss out on that - But, you are going to bethe publisher that it's published the world's shortest title.Curiosity, or whatever.What is the down side?Anyway, I won the bet, but I'll take your point.So, I only mentioned it because I thought it was a bit strange, andinteresting, entertaining.The message there is actually, don't do that.Absolutely, in fact,I could tell you a lot of things not do just by going through my CV.I could tell you all sorts of things.Don't do what I've done mostly, because I've probablysomehow gotten away with it, but I don't think it's for everyone.The basic research question, well,It's just a discipline on you to pull in a very short sentence,if you like, what the basic research question is.The key papers, why do you think, I might have thought about havingthat as an item in the pitching a new idea, andwhy might it also still be a good thing to think about?When you're assessing, you're re-engineering.What is it about identifying key papers that is quite insightful,quite helpful?- [INAUDIBLE] - Maybe.It's not really what I'm thinking about.I think you've got a ball, I'm not gonna give you another one.- [INAUDIBLE] - Sorry?- So you can continue the conversation?- Yes, maybe.Yes, but there's something else, I think.- [INAUDIBLE] - Well, you don't want to berepeating, you want something you were normally going to be talkingabout there, but it's not really, oh, have you got a ball?- No.- Well, there you go.- [INAUDIBLE] –