Objectives
 developing and improving skills to publish scientific
research in refereed journals
Objectives
 acquiring relevant knowledge on the scientific
publication world and the publication process
Material
 learn about what is expected from a good scientific
article
 practicing technical writing in exercises
Grading
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 but most importantly learning to think about your
own research
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
2
Grading
 Pass/fail based on the “performance” in assignments
and full participation
 One or two assignments per day to be turned in via email at pre-defined time ([email protected], use “P&W-assignment”, #, + last name in
subject of mail)
 Late delivery and copying will be graded as “fail”
Objectives
Grading
Material
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 For most assignments, quality is more based on
sincerity of effort and not on “right or wrong”
 Overall estimated time to be spent on assignments
during course: 15 hours
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
3
Material
 Course material will be provided on
http://www.ilr.unibonn.de/agpo/courses/pw/pw_d.htm
 Some interesting links with background information
and fun reading are given on this site as well
Objectives
Grading
Material
Course
Content
Literature
Search
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
4
Course Content
1. Introduction
Objectives
2.
Literature Search
Grading
3.
Journals / Journal quality / Impact factors and Co.
Material
4. The review process
Course
Content
5. Writing process: structure, content and style
Literature
Search
Note: Many issues in this course are a matter of taste, style,
experience, and are often case specific. Everyone will therefore
benefit from active participation sharing own experiences and
problems in discussions...
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
5
2. Literature Search
A high quality literature search is important for the
quality of own research and later publications because
 nobody is interested in research that is
“reinventing the wheel”
 to identify the state-of-the-art methods to answer
the type of research question posed
 to learn from others about what is most relevant
for the topic under investigation
Objectives
Grading
Material
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 to understand weakness of current scientific
knowledge and identify/evaluate potential own
contributions
 to identify relevant publication outlets
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
6
What literature is relevant?
No single answer to this, but some hints possible:
 Above all: close relation to my own research
question  but what is “close” is not so obvious
(content or methodology…)
 Something cited a lot by others must have
provided a ‘contribution’ of more general interest
 The higher the ‘journal quality’ the more generally
relevant contributions are to be expected
Objectives
Grading
Material
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 Most recent articles often incorporate the
development of scientific knowledge on the
subject (but don’t be too narrow to just stay within
one branch or time period)
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
7
What literature is relevant?
…continued:
Objectives
 Non-scientific sources are ok for data, policy
regulations, motivation of relevance…but not to
motivate own scientific approach or compare own
results to
 Recent peer reviewed (refereed) publications in
internationally visible journals, widely used recent
textbooks, and overview articles (handbooks) are
important for overview on the scientific
knowledge in subject area
Grading
Material
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 But more specialised, regional, and applied
journals can potentially offer significant and more
specific help closer to the own research approach
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
8
Search Tools
A pdf document is provided on ecampus with useful
links for literature searches in agricultural economics and
economics.
Objectives
Grading
Material
Some examples:
 Scientific Search Engine Google Scholar
 Social Sciences Citation Index
 AgEcon conference contributions/working
papers/AJAE extended appendices…:
AgEcon Search
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 German National Library of Economics (ZBW)
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
9
JEL classification system
 The Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) offers a
widely accepted classification systems for economic
literature:
JEL-codes and journal AEA journal list
Objectives
Grading
Material
 Authors need to provide the relevant codes for their
article for most agecon and econ journals
Course
Content
 The EconLit database provided by the American
Economics Association allows searching by JEL
code:
EconLit provided by University of Bonn library
Literature
Search
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
10
Reference management software
 Software for recording and utilising bibliographical
references
 Allows to generate bibliographies (reference lists) in
the format of the book or journal considered for
publication
 Typically integrated with word processor
 Comparisons of existing software solutions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_referenc
e_management_software
Objectives
Grading
Material
Course
Content
Literature
Search
 Online access web pages often allow to import the
citation information of articles. Example:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14629
011
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
11
Reference management software
 In-house system: Citavi
Campus licence often provided. Free test version:
http://www.citavi.com/de/produkte.html
Objectives
Grading
 Zotero – web based (www.zotero.org)
Material
 Hints for use:
Course
Content
 Use it! (ad hoc reference lists are a pain for yourself and
editors…)
 Fill in regularly (no point in having an incomplete
archive)
 Add abstracts (they should summarize the essence)
 Don’t invest in own keyword system (professional ones
are better and you only waste time)...at least use only a
very simple one targeted at your own research
Literature
Search
 Own experience?
Thomas Heckelei
Publishing and Writing in Agricultural Economics
12