Tag Archives: The Scientist’s Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively Throughout Your Scientific Career

Canadian science: a new writing guide and a new open access journal

The book
The Scientist’s Guide to Writing: How to Write More Easily and Effectively Throughout Your Scientific Career by Stephen Heard (professor at the University of New Brunswick, Canada) was published today, April 12, 2016. Heard has written up his book and experiences in an April 12, 2016 posting on his blog, Scientist Sees Squirrel,

It’s been almost five years since I started work on what became The Scientist’s Guide to Writing. I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that as of today, the book is officially published!  The Scientist’s Guide is now available from your local or internet bookseller (links below) or, of course, from your local library. …

All scientists are writers – we have to be, or our work will be lost.  But many of us don’t find writing easy.  I wrote The Scientist’s Guide to tell you some of things I wish someone had told me when I was beginning to practice the craft.  Actually (and somewhat to my surprise), in writing it I learned new things that are helping me even this late in my career.  I think the book can help any writer; as of today, you can grab a copy and see whether I’m right.

I have taken a look at the Table of Contents, as usual with Amazon’s previews (thank you for the preview but sigh), I can’t copy and paste it here. Briefly, the book has 28 chapters and is split into seven parts: What Writing Is, Behavior, Content and Structure, Style, Revision, Some Loose Threads, and Final Thoughts. Should this whet your appetite, the paperback book is priced at $27.67 CAD.

The open access journal

An April 12, 2016 post by Dr. Jules Blais on the Canadian Science Publishing blog announces a new journal,

It is my distinct pleasure to introduce FACETS, an open access, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary science journal that will offer new approaches to publishing original research and perspectives, with a focus on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary science and engineering.

… It is widely recognized that multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches will be increasingly required to face the challenges of the twenty-first century. Developments to improve and sustain essential aspects of modern society, such as health, energy, environment, and technology, will require a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective. Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, multidisciplinary approaches refer to independent research leading to a common goal, whereas interdisciplinary research refers to a sharing of methods or concepts among participants. FACETS intends to promote both of these approaches. We believe FACETS is timely because we anticipate that the major research breakthroughs in the coming decades will be made at the interfaces of traditional fields of inquiry. …

Blais goes on to discuss whys of the open access policy, the types of manuscripts they will be accepting, and the journal’s bilingual language policy,

… Open access is still a relatively new concept and online journals have only existed for 20 years. Before this time, research was printed on paper and hand delivered to libraries, making it an exclusive enterprise accessible to the privileged few. There has now been a seismic shift in the research landscape with open access becoming more prevalent in publishing spheres, and in a growing number of cases, a requirement of funding agencies. Open access can serve to expand the reach, influence, and openness of research, making research accessible to those whose public funds have largely paid for it. Funding agency requirements for publishing open access research are now being seen across much of the world, which should put to rest any questions about the future of open access publishing – it is here to stay.

… We will accept a wide variety of paper types that represent the full coverage of research communication, including Research Articles, Review Articles, Perspectives, Communications, Notes, Comments, Editorials, and Science Applications Forum articles focusing on sound science that advances knowledge. An exciting aspect of our journal will be its Integrative Sciences section, which will feature topics at the interface between science and the humanities, including Science Communication, Science and Policy, Science Education, Science and Society, Conservation and Sustainability, Science and Ethics, and Public Health. … Another novel feature of FACETS is that we will accept submissions in either English or French to serve the research landscape in Canada and other francophone countries. …

You can find FACETS here and there’s a special deal available until June 30, 2016 where you can submit your piece free-of-processing-charge until then.