Authors

Researching the Value of the Impact Factor

Impact factors were released this week. The impact factor has long been a measure of a journal’s research output, but in recent years there have many attempts to find alternative ways to expand how research is assessed. This excerpt from Diversity, value and limitations of the journal impact factor and alternative metrics in Rheumatology International explores some of the many other measurements available today.  Over the past decades, there have been many attempts to overcome limitations of the popular JIF and to propose new citation metrics bearing more comprehensive information on citable sources and their scientific value. The latter has become … Read more…

How important are open access books to academic authors?

By: Christina Emery How important are open access books to academic authors? To kick off Academic Book Week in April, Springer Nature held a free event for researchers exploring open access (OA) books, discussing topics such as why academics publish OA books, how the impact of their research can be tracked, and the future of OA book funding. Researchers in the hard sciences are more familiar with the concept of open access article publishing, but we were interested in talking to researchers across various disciplines, including the Humanities and Social Sciences, specifically about OA books. You can read what the … Read more…

Researching the Choice to Publish Open Access

Interested in publishing open access, but have your mind set on publishing in a subscription-based journal? Our Open Choice option allows you to publish open access in more than 1,900 Springer Nature journals, making your research more visible and accessible, immediately on publication. Learn more about Open Access in this excerpt from Open access, social norms and publication choice by Matteo Migheli and Giovanni B. Ramello from the European Journal of Law and Economics. Find out more about the Open Access options available to our authors, including our OA funding options. The full article can be read via the SharedIt … Read more…

Why Publish a SpringerBrief

Is publishing your next book as a SpringerBrief the right format for your research? SpringerBriefs offer readers cutting-edge research in compact volumes of 50-125 pages. Published across a wide assortment of disciplines it may be an ideal option for your work. What types of content are published as SpringerBriefs? SpringerBriefs typically consist of information that would not be suitable as a full book, but would be useful to the research community. This may mean it is: A report on state-of-the art analytical techniques A bridge between new research results published in journal articles and a contextual literature review A primer … Read more…

Why I Published an Open Access Book

On April 23rd, Springer Nature is participating in Academic Book Week, a global awareness event that aims to champion and showcase the evolution of academic books. Authors Prof. Owen Davies (History, University of Hertfordshire) and Dr. Roseli Pellens (Macroecology, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, Paris), who are participating in a panel discussion share their experiences of publishing an open access book. “Publishing is about communication beyond academia.” – Prof. Owen Davies Prof. Owen Davies has been interested in open access for more than ten years, having personally experimented with creating and uploading his own PDF online. There was interest in … Read more…

The Story Behind Springer Nature Experiments

We asked Robin Padilla, the Product Director of Springer Nature Experiments to share the story behind this new and exciting product at Springer Nature. This one-stop platform combines portfolios across all of our research publishers to make searching for experiments across the life sciences easy and effective. Read on below for more details 1) What is Springer Nature Experiments? Springer Nature Experiments is a research solution allowing researchers to quickly find and evaluate protocols and methods in the life sciences. This platform covers the content from the entire Springer Nature Protocols and Methods portfolio, namely: Nature Protocols, Nature Methods, Springer … Read more…

Advice From an Editor: Translating an Idea Into a Book

Charles Glaser, Editorial Director (Applied Sciences) at Springer sat down with Helen Burbank, Marketing Manager (Engineering) at a conference in Germany to discuss the best ways researchers can translate an idea into a publishable book. Read on for some insightful tips on how to approach the process. By: Charles Glaser, Editorial Director Applied Sciences & Helen Burbank, Marketing Manager, Engineering Helen: At which stage of a book do new authors tend to reach out to you? Chuck: It varies widely, from the idea stage to nearly completed manuscript. Helen: In a perfect world, when would you like people to reach … Read more…

Researching the Use of ORCID

Do you have a common name that makes it difficult for others to pinpoint which research is yours? You’ve probably heard about ORCID, the not-for-profit organization that established the ORCID identifier. With an ORCID ID, it’s easy to ensure that your work is always properly recognized. At Springer Nature we ran an ORCID mandate trial with much success, which mandated that authors use ORCID IDs when publishing in 46 journals across our portfolio. We’ve decided to keep those requirements, and plan to further expand the requirement.  Learn more about the background of ORCID in this excerpt from Tracking researchers and … Read more…

The Book Manuscript Submission Portal Celebrates its First Year

During Springer’s 175th anniversary celebration in 2017 we launched the Book Manuscript Portal for authors and editors of all Springer Nature imprints, making it easier than ever to submit your work online. By the end of the year we’ve received almost 1,000 manuscripts. How do I get set-up using the manuscript submission tool? When your book manuscript is ready to be published, you will receive an email from your publishing editor with a URL that directs you right to the submission portal. What formats should I use for my upload? Any file format can be uploaded. In the past book … Read more…

Researching February’s News with SharedIt

Interested in learning more about the facts behind the stories you read from the media? Each month we’re pulling some of the major headlines from the news, and pairing them with research articles related to the topic. With the power of SharedIt, you’ll be able to read full journal articles and share them with others! The drought in Cape Town, South Africa has worsened, resulting in a limit of 50 liters per day of water. Learn more about the phenomenon in the region in Dimensions of drought: South African case studies from GeoJournal. Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, launched the most … Read more…