Jan 7, 9:30 AM Keynote - Publishing Scientific Papers by Roald Hoffmann

Publishing Scientific Papers

Roald Hoffmann, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry,1981, will speak on staying abreast of the literature, publishing, reviewing, and dealing with editors. He is the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters, Emeritus, Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Cornell Center for Materials Research, Cornell University.

Abstract: This is a personal reflection, with practical advice, on the publication process in science. After a nostalgic look at the good old days of real cut and paste, we will examine generally, and through a case study, the details of managing the process of publication that has not changed: submission letters, anonymous review, dealing with editors, inevitable revision of a manuscript. The guiding principle will be keeping the audience (changing, depending on where one is in the process) for new science firmly in mind. We’ll talk about the quality of journals, pecking orders, impact factors, “newsworthiness,” excessive stress on where one publishes. And touch on the ways publication in science is changing with IT and the WWW. Some comments may be made on open source journals, preprint servers, blogs, access to data. And finally some advice will be given on how to keep up with the literature.