Publishing & Reviewing Workshop

"I developed my workshop for those interested in publishing either scientific research or other works in peer-reviewed journals. I created the workshop to aid graduate students and early career professionals, but I believe my workshop is relevant to mid-career or later professionals if they do not have extensive publishing experience. Hence, the workshop should be relevant to a wide spectrum of wildlife professionals.

My workshop covers two topics – publishing and reviewing. The publishing section focuses on the mechanisms and processes of publishing rather than providing specific advice about research design, data analysis, and writing. Therefore, it provides a framework for the process of publishing such that participants will understand what steps are needed to submit a manuscript successfully. The reviewing section provides an overview of the process of reviewing and the responsibilities of reviewers. Although many people who only publish a single (e.g., a thesis), may never be asked to review other papers, anyone who publishes several papers is likely to be asked to be a peer- reviewer. For these reasons, it is important to understand the review process, the ethics of reviewing, and that reviewing is essential to rapid advancement of science.

I intentionally discuss certain sections of the workshop superficially because I assume that everyone has been exposed to certain aspects of writing (e.g., the outline of a scientific paper). Nevertheless, I provide context to those sections as well as sharing a pdf of my PowerPoint presentation with participants so they can use the PPT to review the details of those sections for which I only provide an overview.

This workshop reflects my experience and personal perspectives. Yet there are other strategies one can use to negotiate the submittal process. So, I encourage participants to seek advice from others and to never stop seeking better ways to enhance your publishing skills.