Editorial Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 909−910
pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Keeping It Scholarly: Citations in Submissions Norbert J. Pienta* Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2556, United States ABSTRACT: Submitting and publishing a scholarly work in the Journal requires the appropriate review of the literature to help situate the new work into what is already known. The need for that literature review and the appropriate citations are discussed. KEYWORDS: General Public, Communication/Writing
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lthough the Journal has published a variety of manuscript types over almost a century, much of the content has been scholarly and subject to external peer review. What makes a potential submission scholarly? In a broad sense, the Journal publishes material about the teaching and learning of chemistry so a scholarly publication should have or show knowledge related to these academic pursuits. For JCE, the current manuscript types include articles, chemical education research articles,1,2 commentaries, communications, laboratory experiments, activities, demonstrations, technology reports, editorials, letters to the editor, announcements, and reports. With the exception of reports and announcements, the remaining types are all expected to be scholarly. In fact, all items in the Journal are subjected to both an internal and external editorial review, the latter comprising the peer-review portion. The various steps of our evaluation process all reflect how a submission considers and conveys scholarship. After an author clicks the submit button, a staff editor checks the materials against a list of required components using a rubric.3 At that point, the editor-in-chief and managing editor continue the internal review process to decide whether a manuscript qualifies for external review. In spite of our diligent efforts to educate authors, a substantial set of submissions are outside the scope of the Journal. This category often includes papers entirely about scientific research or just the science involved in some topic, a personal perspective on some subject (equivalent to a blog), or some information that is so basic that it would not be useful to our readers. For science-focused submissions, there are many journals in which one can publish scientific research, yet few about chemistry education. A submission does not make it through this initial triage stage without referring to the teaching or learning of chemistry. Virtually all chemistry educators have strong opinions about a variety of subjects, but the Journal is not able to document all of those and therefore does not publish any of them. Of course, editorials and commentaries must extend beyond personal empiricism and contain content that makes them scholarly. Scholarly works involve academic pursuits that often have precedent or at least related information. In fact, it is highly unusual that a submission is so different or novel that it has no precedent. Of course, situating one’s work in the existing literature depends on the topic and purpose. At the least, such a summary of the literature should enable readers to better understand what is already known while also allowing authors to point out what is novel, interesting, and useful. Thus, the © 2018 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
literature review provides context, and the success in doing so certainly defines the minimum requirements for the section. Of course, it is not the number of citations, but instead their quality and thoroughness, that is valuable. Tying together the new with the old optimizes the utility of the published item. Additionally, a successful literature review enables the external reviewers to better judge a work’s value. With recognition of the critical importance of defining the minimum requirement, it also makes sense to consider the other extreme. Some topics in chemical education are expansive, and a complete review of the primary literature of such a subject is equally inappropriate from the perspectives of both length and usefulness to the readers. In this case, authors should endeavor to highlight the major developments, represent the predominant perspectives, and provide a reasonable breadth of examples. The Journal has published articles about scholarly writing and guidance about citations,4−8 and a special issue on chemical information.9 However, let us consider information about deciding what to include. The Journal is evaluated on a criterion called the cited half-life: “By definition, half of a journal’s earned citations are to items published before the Cited Half-Life, and half are to items published after the Cited Half-Life.”10 For JCE, the cited half-life is >10 years; this means that our authors (and presumably readers) value previously published material spanning a considerable duration. In other words, the scholarly work is likely to persist for a long time. In reviewing the previous literature, simply considering papers published in the past few years is likely to provide incomplete coverage. One could interpret a lengthy cited half-life as a resistance (or worse, inability) to change. Our editorial view is considerably more positive: examples from the teaching and learning of chemistry retain the perspective that brought the topic to its current understanding. We expect that readers should be interested in the evolution of a topic as a means to document the success of this change and a better understanding of the newest contribution. Of course, selecting 10 years as the limit to citations is not likely to be successful either. The editorial process ensures that each submission that goes to review has met at least the minimum standards for scholarly work and includes an appropriate review of the existing literature. However, the review process and diligence of the reviewers11 cannot ensure that ALL of the appropriate literature Published: June 12, 2018 909
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00364 J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 909−910
Journal of Chemical Education
Editorial
is cited. Thus, it is critical for JCE authors to perform their due diligence in submitting their best scholarly work. It is equally important for reviewers to hold authors to the appropriate standards.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Norbert J. Pienta: 0000-0002-1197-6151 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. Norbert J. Pienta is Professor and Director of General Chemistry at the University of Georgia, where he teaches and conducts research and scholarship about the teaching and learning of chemistry, devising methods, instruments, and analytics to characterize student learning and increase student success. He currently also serves as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Chemical Education.
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REFERENCES
(1) Chemical education research articles have special guidelines and are prescriptive about other necessary components: http://pubs.acs. org/paragonplus/submission/jceda8/jceda8_CER_Guide.pdf (accessed May 2018). (2) For some metrics about citations in chemistry education research articles, see Pienta, N. J.; Towns, M. H. Measuring Value and Real Impact. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (5), 539−540. (3) Author Guidelines for the Journal of Chemical Education. http:// pubs.acs.org/paragonplus/submission/jceda8/jceda8_authguide.pdf (accessed May 2018). (4) Ogunsolu, O. O.; Wang, J. C.; Hanson, K. Writing a Review Article: A Graduate Level Writing Class. J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95 (5), 810−816. (5) Paulson, D. R. Writing for Chemists: Satisfying the CSU UpperDivision Writing Requirement. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78 (8), 1047− 1049. (6) McCarthy, B. D.; Dempsey, J. L. Cultivating Advanced Technical Writing Skills through a Graduate-Level Course on Writing Research Proposals. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (6), 696−702. (7) Cole, K. E.; Inada, M.; Smith, A. M.; Haaf, M. P. Implementing a Grant Proposal Writing Exercise in Undergraduate Science Courses To Incorporate Real-World Applications and Critical Analysis of Current Literature. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90 (10), 1316−1319. (8) Schepmann, H. G.; Hughes, L. A. Chemical Research Writing: A Preparatory Course for Student Capstone Research. J. Chem. Educ. 2006, 83 (7), 1024−1028. (9) Baysinger, G. Introducing the Journal of Chemical Education’s “Special Issue: Chemical Information. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (3), 401−405. (10) For a definition and explanation of cited half-life, see: https:// clarivate.com/blog/science-research-connect/research-management/acloser-look-at-cited-and-citing-half-lives/ (accessed May 2018). (11) Information for Reviewers. https://pubs.acs.org/page/jceda8/ submission/reviewers.html (accessed May 2018).
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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00364 J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 909−910
