Research Article & Conference Paper Preparation for ICE AKN Tarutung 2020

Research Synergy Foundation and Institut Agama Kristen Negeri (IAKN) Tarutung  was conducted a virtual workshop by the theme “Research Article & Conference Paper Preparation for ICE AKN Tarutung 2020” on September 24, 2020. The workshop was aimed to properly prepare all stages of writing manuscripts and related descriptions for International Conference of Education in the New Normal Era (ICE IAKN) 2020. Rector of IAKN Tarutung, Prof. Dr. Lince Sihombing, encouraged IAKN lecturers to make good research that can be published in international journals. The workshop was attended by 25 lecturers with a research background in theology and religion studies. Their research result will enrich global knowledge, and be applied in many other areas as well. Dr. Hendrati Dwi Mulyaningsih as a chairman of Research Synergy Foundation has served as the trainer of the workshop. Dr. Hendrati shared her perspectives and experiences on how to be global researchers and build a better research culture among lecturers. RSF has several established platforms to support the creation of global research ecosystem, including: Scholarvein, RSF Press, Research Synergy Institute, and Reviewer Track. Dr. Hendrati also gave advice on how to make a research design and develop a search strategy for a literature review. At the end of Dr. Hendrati presentation, the participants consulted their research that will be presented in the upcoming conference to the trainer.

In the next session, participants then learned some computer-based tools that can used to improve content and language quality in their manuscripts. The session was guided by Ms. Ani Wahyu as a Director of Research Synergy Institute. Participants were directed to follow step by step in translating, checking the quality of grammar, and paraphrasing. She also emphasized to all participants to keep checking the content and language quality to other expert and native speaker for better result.

The 2nd Universitas Pertamina Scientific & Academic Writing: E-Coaching Clinic Series 2020

Universitas Pertamina and Research Synergy Foundation has successfully conducted a virtual coaching on “The 2nd Scientific & Academic Writing: E-Coaching Clinic Series 2020” on September 17, 2020. This second coaching were designed to help more than 30 lecturers from Universitas Pertamina and STIDKI Ar Rahmah Surabaya continue to work through the research process and get it published in a suitable journal. Prior to the event, participants have undergone a series of assistance paper-writing program from RSF scientific team. The program includes draft submission, content and language review, and journal recommendation from reviewers and journal editors who have been affiliated with RSF.

Source: Participants of Universitas Pertamina Coaching, RSF

Source: Participants of Universitas Pertamina Coaching, RSF

At the beginning of the coaching session, Mrs. Ani Wahyu as the Director of Research Synergy Institute, reminded participants of the steps that must be followed before submitting their manuscripts to the recommended journals. The session then continued by Dr. Hendrati Dwi Mulyaningsih as a Chairman of Research Synergy Foundation, who delivered some key techniques and strategies for author to improve the quality of the manuscripts. Dr. Hendrati shared her experiences based on his point of view as an author and journal editor. She also gave explanations regarding the differences between conceptual and empirical papers. In addition, Dr. Hendrati guided the revision process of the participants reviewed articles. During the session, participants were allowed to consult virtually about their research papers to the trainer. At the end of the session, Mrs. Ani then explained several methods that author can use to choose journals that are suitable for their research. These methods are beneficial for authors so that they can recognize the preferences of each recommended journals and also avoid choosing predatory journals or publishers.

RSF Research Academy Session 5: Quantitative Method I by Dr. Jayson Cham Tat-Huei

Today, on September 9, 2020, RSF Research Academy Day 5 on the theme “Quantitative Method I” was presented by Dr. Jayson Cham Tat Huei. In this webinar, participants learned the characteristics of a good research, how to formulate a research problem, writing a literature review, and quantitative research design. Participants also learned to summarize the literature review in a table format. Before ending the session, the trainer guided participants a method to conduct and evaluate a research questionnaires for a quantitative research. The second session of learning quantitative method will be continued next week.

Webinar #AskEditor3: Learn from Publisher: How to Publish Open Access Scopus/WOS Indexed Journal

Research Synergy Foundation in collaboration with Taylor & Francis organized a webinar on the theme “Webinar #AskEditor3: Learn from Publisher: How to Publish Open Access Scopus/WOS Indexed Journal”. The webinar addressed the publication issues and opportunities in Open Access Scopus/WOS Indexed Journal. RSF and T&F had earlier launch a webinar series ““How to Publish Open Access with Taylor and Francis”. The topic attracted hundreds of participants who were researchers and students from various countries. The organizers then decided to hold more than one session focused on helping researchers develop their skills in manuscript writing based on journal’s editor perspective and understanding OA as a form of scholarly publishing for researchers.

In this webinar, Victoria Babbit as Director of Researcher Development & Outreach, Taylor & Francis. Victoria provided information about types of open access journals and insight into how to write a proper manuscript based on editors’ perspective. Victoria shared an overview of F1000 research and ‘How Researcher’ program from Taylor & Francis. She offered some suggestions for authors on the craft of writing an effective manuscript. She also described general rules of writing abstract, discussion, citation, as well as some publication ethics issues. In the question and answer round, many questions from participants were answered very informatively by the speaker.

Universitas Katolik Parahyangan Scientific and Academic Writing: Pre E-Coaching Clinic Series

On August 13, 2020, Research Synergy Foundation in collaboration with Universitas Katolik Parahyangan conducted a webinar by the theme “Scientific and Academic Writing: Pre E-Coaching Clinic Series”. The webinar aims to encourage research productivity among lecturers, as well as facilitates them to use computer-based tools to be applied in every stage of research process. The coaching started by a brief introduction regarding Research Synergy Foundation as a global research ecosystem by Ms. Santi Rachmawati. The webinar was attended by 35 lecturers from Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, STIDKI Ar Rahmah Surabaya, and Universitas Padjadjaran.

The webinar then continued by a presentation from Dr. Hendrati Dwi Mulyaningsih as Founder and Chairman of Research Synergy Foundation. Dr. Hendrati began her presentation by sharing some facts and figures to be a World Class University and what is Indonesia’s position in the midst of world education level competition. Since WUS is now becoming a global obsession, the university must prepare the necessary prerequisites to achieve the status. The notion of World Class University includes some alignment of key factors. There are at least four key factors that are required to be WUS: teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and international outlook. Producing advanced research is one of the key characteristic of the WUS. So, university should have a high concentration to enhance research productivity and provide a number a scheme to facilitate it. Research Synergy Foundation as a global research ecosystem is committed to help universities or institutions to promote research excellence and global outlook with an established system of an extensive network and artificial intelligence. Currently, Research Synergy Foundation have collaborated with many partners and have many members.

Dr. Hendrati also shared some tips and strategies on how to structure a good academic paper to increase the opportunity to be published in any global education forums or reputable indexed journals. In this session, the participants were very enthusiastic in asking questions regarding their development of their respective research. The session then continued by Ms. Ani Wahyu as a moderator with a short training on several tools that researchers could use to improve academic paper quality. Ms. Ani demonstrated on how to use computer-based tools for improving language quality and writing style.

RSF Research Academy: Theory and Framework Development II by Dr. Evan Lau

On August 19, 2020, the online lecture by the theme “Theory and Framework Development II” have been conducted successfully. Research Synergy Foundation and Research Synergy Institute in collaboration with Universitas Islam Bandung (Unisba) continue to invite Assoc. Prof. Dr. Evan Lau as an expert in the 2nd Day of RSF Research Academy. The organizers are committed to encourage all participants to develop their research skill to work towards a better research process.

 

Dr. Evan Lau continued to review and discuss how to design conceptual framework. Dr. Evan gave an explanation about the conceptual/theoretical framework in the first place, then demonstrated an interconnected flow chart that illustrates an example of conceptual framework. He also described several important uses of theoretical framework that can help to strengthen a research and how to develop it. For most researchers, it is sometimes difficult to find the answer to the research question, so the expert reminded all the participants to read and review in depth the literature related to the research, also shared some tips for managing a research process. In this online lecture session, the participants were given to create and present their research conceptual frameworks. Dr. Evan then reviewed all the presented conceptual framework charts one after another in detail. The participants ended up getting a material that was very useful and informative for their research. In the next lecture, we will continue to facilitate the improved management of the research datasets, so we look forward to meeting all the participants in this insightful session!

Publication Opportunities in Scopus and WOS Indexed Journals: Advice and Recommendations from the Editors

For some researchers, publishing scientific articles in high-quality journals have been quite challenging. Publication of a scientific article becomes a stage that must be passed by researchers considering that this is a form of validation of the research done. By publishing an article, researchers are making their knowledge contribution available to a community of scholars and society. There are various reasons why an article is accepted or rejected, and sometimes this makes researchers feel a little bit frustrated with the research they are working on. In fact, the rejection and any kind of challenge when publishing scientific articles in high-impact journals are part of the process. All of the process will become beneficial to improve a research experience.

Facing the challenges of publication, all we need is to keep learning to improve in each process. Writing a research can be considered as an art, it involves skill to express complex ideas in a concise way, communicate with readers, benefit civil society, and contribute to a better life. Thus, we organized a Webinar that might be helpful for researchers to learn and understand a proper research publication from the point of view of journal editors by the theme: “Publication Opportunities in Scopus and WOS Indexed Journals: Advice and Recommendations from the Editors”. The webinar was organized by Research Synergy Foundation (RSF), Research Synergy Institute (RSI) in collaboration with Sarawak Research Society (SRS), Emerald Publishing (East Asia), Ikatan Dosen Republik Indonesia (IDRI), and Pampanga Research Educators Organization (PREO) Phillippines. Presented as trainers are the journal editors from Scopus and WOS Indexed Journal: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ali Memon from NUST Business School Pakistan, Assoc.Prof. Dr. Evan Lau from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Iris Lui from Ming Chuan University, Taiwan, and Mdm. Rozita Gee from Emerald Publishing.

There are more than 1.135 scholars from more than 30 countries across the globe registered to the Webinar. The event is not just a simple Webinar, it is also an opportunity for participants to submit their articles in the high-reputable journals edited by the trainers.

The first session of the webinar was opened with an explanation of Emerald Publishing by Mdm. Rozita Gee. Emerald Publishing was founded in 1967 with only 1 journal published. In this year, Emerald has more than 300 journals with any reputable indexed and 3000 books. Emerald opened its branch in Asia on 1983, located in Singapore, and then in Kuala Lumpur on 1995. Emerald now has 8 regional offices worldwide. All journals in Emerald have been indexed by well-known indexation institution such as DORA, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, EBSCO, and etc. Some Emerald journals currently open its special issued for certain themes.

In the subsequent sessions continued with an explanation of the special issue in each journals and its submission deadline. One of the journals that have a special issue is Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology that later be presented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Iris Lui. The journal is opening a special issue with a theme: Challenges and Prospect of AIoT Application in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing. The journal wishes to expand the knowledge regarding an application of IoT in the hospitality and tourism fields, like the using of Disney Magic Band and West-Western Alexa Deployment.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ali Memon explained the special issue of Electronic Journal of Applied Statistical Analysis by the theme “digitalization and its impact on contemporary marketing strategies and practices”. The topics include digital marketing, cross cultures comparative studies, multi group analysis, marketing analytics, and etc. The journal will prioritize the advanced methodological papers or the research using PLS Path Modelling as a statistical analysis software.

The next journal is International Journal of Business and Society. This session was explained by Assoc.Prof. Dr. Evan Lau as a Journal Editor. International Journal of Business and Society is published by University Malaysia Sarawak and it has been indexed by Scopus from 2009. The journal publish 3 times a year with the main topics are high-quality papers using multidisciplinary approaches with a strong emphasis on business, economics and finance. The theme of special issue of the journal is: the coronavirus pandemic: economic impact, challenges, opportunities, and recovery paths for emerging countries.

The 2nd session of the webinar was 2nd Topic Advice for submission to the special issues and expectation from the guest editors that presented by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Ali Memon and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Iris Lui. The session began with the emphasis from Dr. Iris that as an editor she did not expect a paper like a compile of information from textbook. To start writing a proper scientific article, researchers should consider:  study from recent literature on subject matter, solicit ideas from the practitioners and observation of the real world, read recent papers of each journals and author guideline to know how the manuscript should be prepared.

From the perspective of Dr. Mumtaz, as an editor he expects the submitted articles that are:

  1. Relevance: it means the paper suits the theme and topics of the journal
  2. Quality and Contribution: it is okay not always using PLS, but make sure it contributes a new knowledge.
  3. Complete: complete all parts of the research sections, like implication and discussion of findings which are often incomplete in a research.
  4. Balance: put the same efforts between analysis and other sections, such as theoretical, findings, or background.
  5. Efforts: make your manuscript worthwhile and do not use outdated references.

The 3rd webinar session is Reasons for Manuscript Acceptance, Revision (Major & Minor) and Rejection that was presented by Assoc.Prof. Dr. Evan Lau. In this sessions, the participants learned about crafting an excellent research paper. Researchers should consider what a journal looking for and what should be inside the research. Here are some consideration in crafting a research paper:

  • Solid, interesting and attractive intro (the research should attract the editors in the first reading)
  • Unique dataset
  • Good presentation and discussion of results
  • Solid set of empirical robustness tests
  • Importance of abstract and conclusion
  • Contribution and what is new
  • Localized issue with international appeal

Dr. Evan also showed common issues why the papers are being rejected.

  • Lack of motivation (too outdated reference, not sufficient contribution)
  • Out of scope (easy to reject)
  • Fundamental flaws
  • Topic is dated
  • Key sections are missing
  • Unreadable
  • Unethical practices

He also showed what common major and minor corrections. For major correction, generally caused by several factors: lack of justification of contribution, poor storyline (needs to improve the storyline), lack of theoretical support, underdeveloped hypotheses, key information is missing, key references are missing. For minor corrections caused by linguistic issues, not following submission guidelines, and less recent literature. To improve minor correction, researchers needs a proofreading and improve citations.

The topic of the next session was Editorial Decision to Accept and Reject a Manuscript that presented by Dr. Iris. She showed a chart of decision process and important dates so that Authors can understand the journal publication process and see how the editors work together to accept or reject manuscripts (you can see the chart in the webinar recording).

Mdm. Rozita also shared tips for writing more effectively. All Emerald journals does a double blind review, so make sure to craft a high-quality research and find a suitable journal.

She highlight five important things:

  1. Structure your journal submission
  2. Writing a literature
  3. Writing simply
  4. Proofreading
  5. Writing collaboratively with your peers

Dr. Evan also advised 3 golden rule:

  1. Read and explore the literature
  2. Do not write a murder mystery – adopt KISS method
  3. Do not rush your article for publication – select the right journal

The last advice was given by Dr. Mumtaz

  1. Attend all comments
  2. Prepare response sheet and highlight revisions/changes
  3. Be polite, honest, and appreciative

When a reviewer give a comment, Authors must understand that the reviewers also given a lot of time and efforts to suggest your manuscript. So, we need to appreciate each other, even author can ask their peers to make sure that the social writing in response to a reviewer comments is a good-enough.

The last topic was presented by Dr. Iris regarding 3 criteria to determine a manuscript publishability. It includes more attention to originality of the research, findings, and rigors.

The webinar was closed by concluding remarks from the moderator. After the webinar, make sure as researchers we do not rush to publish our manuscripts, make it worthwhile, also put a learning-mindset when we revise a manuscript. So we hope there should be no particular difficulty if Authors can match the high quality manuscript and high-reputable journal.

For more complete lecture access, please check out the link below:

Designing Quantitative & Qualitative Research towards Publishing in Scopus/WOS Journal Workshop

Research Synergy Institute in collaboration with Universitas Padjadjaran conducted a two-day workshop themed: Designing Quantitative & Qualitative Research towards Publishing in Scopus/WOS Journal. The workshop was held in Universitas Padjadjaran, Bandung, from 26 to 27 February 2020. The workshop targets lecturers, postgraduate students, researchers, and academic staff who are designing to improve research methodology. The goal of the workshop was to encourage research productivity among Indonesian Researchers and support them to publish manuscripts in high-impact journals. On the 1st day, the workshop was officially opened with a welcome remarks from Dr. Hendrati Dwi Mulyaningsih as a Chairman of Research Synergy Foundation.

 

The workshop was being delivered by Assc. Prof. Dr. Hiram Ting from from UCSI University, Sarawak, Malaysia and Dr. Cheah Jun Hwa (Jacky) from Universiti Putra Malaysia. At the beginning of the 1st workshop session, Dr. Hiram Ting shared his publication success experience. He explained his experience based on 2 different points of view; 1) as a researcher, and 2) as a Scopus Journal Editor. His explanation includes several important points that must be considered by the author so that the article can be accepted by Scopus/WOS Journals. He also revealed how a research can have a broad and beneficial impact on society.

In the afternoon session, participants learned about how to design a quantitative research with Dr. Cheah Jun Hwa (Jacky). The learning session has been very interactive. Dr. Jacky also taught step by step on how to process data using Smart PLS in quantitative research. Along with the workshop facilitators; Dr. Cham Tat-Huei from Universiti Tunki Abdul Rahman, Dr. Bibiana Lim from Sarawak Campus, and Dr. Leong Choi Meng  from UCSI University, they helped participants install the software and complete the data process. The trainers also provided free license of Smart PLS for all participants.

In the 2nd Day of the workshop, Dr. Hiram Ting provided a rich understanding on how to conduct a qualitative research design. Dr. Cham Tat-Huei and Dr. Bibiana Lim also shared their practical experience in qualitative research. The trainers also helped to guide and develop participants’ skill on interviewing styles. With the help of workshop facilitators, two participants were allowed to practice interviewing on two interviewees. The practice was intended to show on how to get data from various interviewee characters.

Furthermore, participants were given a training on processing a qualitative data with Quirkos software. Participants used their laptop to analyze sample qualitative data using Quirkos during the exercise. All workshop facilitators were actively guided each participants to ensure they could use the software properly.

This two-day training workshop was very successful. Participants have learned a myriad of ways to become more productive researchers and better known for quantitative and qualitative research. Research Synergy Institute (RSI) and the trainers who are part of Sarawak Research Society (SRS) will continue to work together to provide the next scientific writing workshop and international conference in Bali on August 2020.

We look forward to welcome all Global Researchers in our upcoming events!