Helping early career researchers with essential publishing skills

For early career researchers the journey from results to published article can seem like a path of hidden obstacles. As Silvia Sheffield from the North Carolina (NC) State University Libraries sees it, “there are a lot of different elements: not only where to submit, but where not to submit. Should I share this research through a conference or a journal? How should I think about open access?” “It’s intimidating, confusing, with a lot of unknowns” adds Shannon Gordon, who supports libraries including NC State as a Customer Success Manager at Elsevier. Where can new authors go to learn tips and perspectives to navigate this path?

Collaborations with Elsevier and IEEE have given NC State researchers the opportunity to hear directly from publishers and editors on how to move through the publishing process. In autumn 2024 the library finished its 4th series of publishing workshops with some solid insights into what works, which Silvia and Shannon recently teamed up to present at the 2024 Charleston Conference. Below they discuss the needs of early career researchers and offer tips on how libraries can collaborate with publishers to address them.

The library advantage

Generally, department mentors and faculty play an important role in guiding new researchers, but Silvia believes the library offers additional support. “We always say that faculty mentors or colleagues are going to be the best source of discipline-specific advice. Our role is advising on functional areas of publishing where senior researchers may or may not have expertise.”  

Shannon also points out that “a real strength [of the library] is being able to offer a neutral perspective – it’s helpful when you have a different space removed from the advisor-student dynamic where you can seek support.” 

Focus on early-career challenges

A publishing workshop series can address areas that often cause concern for more junior researchers. Shannon notes one aspect is “figuring out where to try to publish, which is also tied to concerns around how reputable the journal is, and the concept of research integrity.” NC State addresses this in another workshop focused on identifying and avoiding predatory journals and conferences.  

An additional aspect Shannon points to is “while the processes & [submission] portals are designed to be user-friendly, at the same time, everyone is juggling a lot – so they can come across as being complicated.” The workshop developed with Elsevier, Fundamentals of Crafting a Scientific Article + What Journal Editors are Looking For, focused on best practices for preparing a manuscript and reviewed the steps that a manuscript goes through on its way to publication. To co-teach the workshop for NC State, Shannon recruited Adam Fraser and Dale Seaton, Executive Publishers with Elsevier, as well as Meghan Jendrysik, PhD, an Elsevier Scientific Editor. 

The library’s second series offered workshops on creating visualizations, publishing data, and understanding peer review. “We also try to include topics that early career researchers may not know they should care about,” noted Silvia, such as a recent workshop on how to negotiate author rights in publishing contracts.

Organizing and managing workload

The workshop program is separate from the organizers' main responsibilities, so “what helps make the series sustainable for us is that we're not doing both the administrative work, which is a lot, and then also the content of the workshops,” explains Silvia. So far, 11 NC State librarians outside of the organizing team (currently Silvia, Bertha, and Anna Cohen) have taught or co-taught workshops for the series. Silvia adds, “our colleagues have taken on the bulk of developing the content for their respective workshops. It’s been easy to recruit instructors when we say we’ll do all the promotion and administration, and they've all done a really nice job creating workshops with a balance of lecture and hands-on activities.”

Silvia’s tips for organizing workshops:

• Cluster workshops close together and promote as a series – NC State has done 3-5 publishing workshops per semester with ideally one workshop per week for the duration of the series.      

• Virtual workshops can be a great option – NC State tried two in-person workshops and found that virtual workshops were more accessible for their user base. Using NC State's default web conferencing platform also keeps things simple for the organizers.  

• Provide resources for attendees (and no-shows) to reference later – NC State sends out a copy of the slides, usually with speaker notes, and a recording of the workshop that has been edited with participant privacy in mind. 

• Use internal polls during the workshop to collect feedback and learn about the audience.

Communication insights

With an average of 65+ registrations per workshop, NC State’s library team also employs a good communication strategy.  

Silvia’s communication tips:

• Announce the series no more than 3 weeks in advance of the first workshop – people are less likely to forget or overcommit. 

• Reach out to past registrants and highlight future offerings.      

• Share outcomes of the workshops with library colleagues – it can generate more ideas or offers for future workshops.

Leveraging publisher relationships 

The idea to collaborate on workshops came through conversations with customer reps like Shannon. She suggested the idea to Silvia’s former colleague Hilary Davis, who was instrumental in organizing the first iteration of the workshop series. Shannon recalls, “we had conversations about what would be a good fit for the group based on the team’s vision for the overall workshop series.” 

Shannon’s awareness of researcher needs arises through regular contact with the libraries she’s supporting. She sees opportunities for publishers to offer “value-added” support through educational events that are tailored to the local situation, emphasizing that it’s “important to offer something that is as widely applicable as possible” both to maximize the workshop value and empower researchers. Along those lines, she says libraries should leverage many of their publisher relationships to lend variety and depth to the perspectives offered. 

From Silvia’s perspective, there are a few things that make a collaboration work well. Number one was having a single point of contact on each side. “Shannon was a clear and timely communicator,” which for Silvia meant that “we didn’t have to figure out which editors to invite or track them down.” After discussing topics, it helped to “just have someone who could run with that and herd the right people.” Shannon adds: “How we go about creating publishing webinars is identifying who really are the smartest people to talk about these topics” and give an up-to-date view. Silvia also thinks that “having an Elsevier publisher and editor advertised as speakers in the workshop description probably hooked some attendees; early career researchers are eager to hear advice directly from these industry professionals.” 

Reflection and future plans 

Silvia and her colleagues are pleased with how the workshops have evolved. It’s “rewarding to provide a fairly direct service that is connecting with early career researchers at a critical point in their career.” Because her primary role as a collections librarian is often behind the scenes, the workshops are “a way of keeping my finger on the pulse of campus life and gaining a better understanding of researcher needs.” With the successful collaboration outcomes so far, the NC State team plans to invite additional publishers to contribute new workshops in the coming year.