Bearing in the mind sentence “publish or perish” the HES-GEO research teams chose to survive and participated in the course “How to Get Published: Scientific Writing” between the 6th and 7th June 2022. During two days we learned how to make good publishing success and hold on in the tough world of science.
Our guide through the world of publishers, journals, and indicators was Anton Froeyman. Anton worked at the Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science at the Philosophy Department of Ghent University in Belgium for about nine years. Now, he teaches others how to put thoughts down on paper and shape them into simple and professional sentences. Task, which is easier to say than do, as we have witnessed during the workshops.
How to start?
Okay, once we have a great idea for an article and we feel that the results of our research can shake up the world of science, we are ready to kick off. Every young scientist faced a difficult choice of how to show the world his achievements.
How to pick your journal?
The question Anton asked during the first part of the training as he continued showing us a bunch of tools and tricks on how to match journals to our research.
After that, we worked on our paper and abstract. We tried to improve it so the final version is more clear and engaging. Here, Anton gave us a lot of suggestions and priceless advice about academic writing. Hirsch index and impact factor have no more secrets from us!
Paper written! What now?
Everyone who has tried to publish their results in a scientific journal knows that writing is just the beginning. Fortunately, Anton guided us through the publishing process and gave us some tips on how to achieve the goal without losing hope our paper won’t ever make it out. We also learned the secrets of publishing books.
After hard work – a field trip!
After a busy first day, we deserved a little break. With our host Anton Van Rompaey from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Leuven, we went for a geographic excursion in Dijle valley. Anton Van Rompaey told us about land-use change, river geomorphology, and sustainable development in this area.
Thanks for a really interesting trip! We were amazed at how many problems are similar to those in Poland! We learned a lot not only about geography but also about the social aspects of Belgian life.
HES-GEO 