How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper

Registration here

Registration is open until August 1st 2010

Program Overview:

Main topics covered in the course are:

1.      How to write a good grant proposal to a competitive fund.

2.      How to write and publish a scientific paper.

3.      Best practice in project management applied to sponsored research projects.

4.      Evaluation of research activity at RU – Annual assessment of research activity and assessment of school.

5.      Dissemination of research activities at universities. 

Dates and Location:

Duration:         20 hours

Dates:             September 13^tn to 17^tn, 2010                

Place:             Reykjavík University | Menntavegi 1 | 101 Reykjavik | Iceland

Leisure:           Excursions will be organised as an option for participants

Price:              500 EUR per person for academic programme, leisure and accomodation is not included. The Course fee is due on September 1^st 2010. The invoice will be sent to you by email.

Registration here

Registration is open until August 1st 2010

Detailed decription of main topics:

 1. How to write a good grant proposal to a competitive fund

This part of the course will teach you to master the art of proposal writing step-by-step, i.e. from the research idea to the conclusion and packaging of the proposal. Writing a good research grant proposal is not easy. The course is an attempt to collect together a number of suggestions about what makes a good proposal.

All the most important elements of a good grant proposal will be addressed such as:

• What is a good scientific idea or a problem to be attacked?
• How to address a well-formulated problem.
• How to place the research within the context of what is currently happening in the field.
• How to summarize relevant prior work in the field – State of the Art.
• How to articulate the goals - originality.
• How to describe a research plan and methodology.
• How to indicate why the research is useful or important.
• How to set up a good budget table and write budget justifications.
• Evaluation of grant proposals.
• Structuring CVs.

2. Best practice in project management applied to sponsored research projects

Research programs must be managed and controlled. To be able to manage the program the researcher must define the scope of the research, the tangible objectives and the constraints. Each program must be segmented into phases, gateways and milestones. On basis of this the work can be scheduled and the budget calculated over the project lifetime. You can only control what you know and hence the project plan is of utter importance to track, monitor and control the research activities and compare them against the planned values when the plan is executed.

• Establishing Project Priorities
• Define the project scope.
• Define the objectives and goals.
• Creating the Work Breakdown Structure
• Establishing the Project timeline
• Find the Project Cash flow
• Defining communication
• Tracking the Project Progress
• Closing down the Project

3. How to write and publish a scientific paper

Every researcher has the responsibility to present his/her research to the scientific community and the society at large. Publishing your work is vital for success. In this part of the course the principles of writing and publishing scientific papers will be addressed. Publishing research work is important because without those there is no project, there is no promotion and the scientists cannot get money from the government, competitive funds or from universities.

The course will address all elements of the scientific paper, e.g.:

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods
• Results (including figures and tables)
• Discussion
• References

4. Evaluation of research activity at RU – Annual assessment of research activity and assessment of school

In consistency with its research strategy and in accordance with an agreement with the Icelandic Ministry of Education and Culture, Reykjavik University carries out annually an evaluation of its research activity. The main objective of the annual evaluation is to examine the quality of the research and research activity of the Schools. The outcome of the annual evaluation is used in distributing governmental research funds between the Schools. Furthermore Reykjavik University has decided to do research assessment of all the Schools every 5^th year. These two evaluations are important part of the Quality Assurance System at Reykjavik University. This part of the course will describe the evaluation system at Reykjavik University, address the importance of such evaluations, how they can be used and the results disseminated.

Following items will be addressed:

• Background and purpose of evaluations
• Organization and coordination 
• Evaluation Panels
• Evaluation material and work plan
• Evaluation reports
• Financing
• Research Reports
• Self-evaluation Reports

 5. Dissemination of research activities at universities

 One of the most important roles of every scientist, of every university, of every research institution is to disseminate research results, not only to the scientific community but also and more importantly to the public and politicians, i.e. to the society. How can that be done effectively and how do you reach these different target groups. In this part of the course an attempt will be done to give some example how research institution can gather, monitor and disseminate research activities to the public and the politicians, how to set up simple processes and structures to be able to disseminate research results effectively.

 Following items will be addressed:

• Research databases and repositories
• Open access policy
• Home pages – How can we use them effectively
• Dealing with media

Teaching material:

The course includes first and foremost lectures, guest lectures, case studies, exercises and group discussions.  Main teaching material will be paper copies of lecture slides and other supporting hand out material. There are no textbooks for this course, but following material can be recommended: Robert A. Day and Barbara Gastel, 2006. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 6^th edition, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. Note that this textbook is only recommended, not necessary.

Academic qualifications required:

The course only requires basic knowledge from subjects like research projects, scientific articles, internet, i.e. being familiar with basic work at research institution. It requires good knowledge in English, both speaking and reading.

Academic responsibilities:

Kristjan Kristjansson, Ph.D.

The academic person responsible for the course is Kristjan Kristjansson, Director of Research Services at Reykjavík University. The Research Service has three main tasks, i.e. financing of research, evaluation of research activities and dissemination of research results. Before Kristjan Kristjansson joined Reykjavik University, he was the Head of Research and Deputy Director of the Icelandic Centre for Research – RANNIS in the period 1994-2007. He has a Ph.D. in biology and is the current president of the International Arctic Science Committee – IASC. His Curriculum Vitae can be reached at http://www.reykjavikuniversity.is/the-university/faculty-and-staff/

Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson, M.Sc.

Thordur Vikingur Fridgeirsson is an assistant professor at the School of Science and Engineering at Reykjavik University. His main scientific field and research interest are within project management,

risk management and decision analysis. Thordur Vikingur is currently working on a research project, in collaboration with Ministry of Finance, Directorate of Transport, Icelandic Maritime Administration and Government Construction Contracting Agency, on forecast model to project risk and a set of guidelines to improve decisions, planning and progress tracking of public funded projects.  His Curriculum Vitae can be reached at http://www.reykjavikuniversity.is/the-university/faculty-and-staff/

Further information:

Halldora Hinriksdóttir, dircetor Executive Education

halldorah@ru.is / +354 599 6573