How to get published in IOP

jou a s
journals
Professor Mingfang Lu, PhD, FInstP
Editor in Chief China
Editor-in-Chief,
IOP Beijing Office and IOP Publishing
March, 2013
mingfang.lu@iop.org, China.iop.org, IOPscience.iop.org

Outline

Papers and their qualities from Taiwan

Quality - IOP criteria
What determines your quality
Select the journal and submit your paper
Process at the journal
What referees do for your paper
Responding to referees
Getting published in IOP Journals
Questions

Paper Submissions and Publications in IOP from Taiwan

Year
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012

Submitted
505
731
881
1
1,035
035
1,175
1,078
930
850

Accepted
179
272
303
343
339
303
244
236

Acc rate=Acc/Sub
35
35.5%
5%
37.2%
34.4%
33
33.1%
1%
28.9%
28.1%
26.2%
27.8%

Papers published in 2012: NTWU/51, NTHU/45, ASinica/40, NCTU/20,

NCKU/18, NCU/15, NTUT/8, NTNU/6, TKU/4, FJU/2, CCU/1, CYCU/1, etc.
In journals: APJ/32, JMM/31, JPhysD/30, NANO/23, JPCM/13, JCAP/9,
Jopt/9 SMS/9,
Jopt/9,
SMS/9 APJL/8,
APJL/8 SST/7,
SST/7 JPhysB/5,
JPhysB/5 SUST/5,
SUST/5 JPhysA/5,
JPhysA/5
LP, NON, PhyScr, APJS, Jinst, JNE, NJP, NuclFus, PMB,
PPCF, AJ, CQG, IP, MST, BF, BMM, RoPP, etc

IOP Papers
p
Publications world-wide in 2012
Journals
IOP
AAS
IOP AAS
IOP+AAS
Taiwan (No 19)

Submitted

Accepted

34,566
3,911
38,477
38 477
(850) 2.5%

13,101
3,524
16 625
16,625
(236) 1.8%

Acceptance rate
37.9%
90.1%
43 2%
43.2%
27.8%

Other of the Top 10 Countries in 2012

No.
1 USA 2 GER 3 M China
Subs
5,064 2,386
7,572
Accs
2 962 1
2,962
1,685
685
1
1,453
453
ACCrate 58.5% 70.6%
19.2%

4 UK 5 FRANCE 6 JAPAN 7 ITALY 8 SPAIN 9 KOREA 10 CANADA

1,984 1,548
1,473
1,327
1,004
1,297
856
1
1,318
318 1
1,017
017
821
812
545
464
443
66.4% 65.7%
55.7% 61.2%
54.3%
35.8%
51.8%

http://IOPscience.iop.org/

QUALITY ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR IOP JOURNALS

Q1 Makes major contributions to the advancement of the

subject world
world-wide
wide (top 10%)
Q2 Good quality work - original and internationally
competitive
Q3 Borderline work of limited interest
Q4 Low quality work - adds little or no new knowledge
Q5 Poor work,
work clearly unsuitable

Q1 or Q2 papers are expected

Q3 papers unlikely to be accepted
Q4 or Q5 papers will be rejected

Quality of papers published by authors from Taiwan in 2012

Quality rating

Papers accepted

Q1
Q1.5
Q2
Q2.5
Q3
Q3.5
Q4-Q5

4
16
196
17
3
0
0

((Total

236))

http://IOPscience.iop.org/

Percentage
1.7%
6.8%
83
83.1%
1%
7.2%
1.2%

Accumulated %

Q1.5 better 8.5%

Q2 b
better
tt
91
91.6%
6%
Q2.5 better 98.8%

What determine your quality

Original work, novel and significant

Interest to the community
Have sound motivation and purpose
Not previously published
Not under consideration for publication in
any other journal or any other form
Scientific quality not quantity of papers
Ethical code:

Research results true, properly recorded

Authorship practices who can be your coauthors

Helpful techniques for writing your paper

Focus on new and important research results

Make sure the language is clear and precise
precise,
especially your conclusions
Ensure that figures and tables are clear
Ensure that the paper is of the right length

Something
g to avoid

Presenting new but trivial or obvious results

Making unsubstantiated conclusions
Burying new results beneath too much scene-setting
scene setting
Recapping of findings already published
Presenting incremental research
Being long winded keep short
Flowery language
Abbreviations and jargon
Speculation or anecdotes keep to the facts
A gimmicky title
makes wild, unjustified claims
Poor or incomplete references
Poor quality figures
Incomplete data
Dont cover up
p or fudge
g the data

More helpful
p tips
p

Allow time for rewriting

Use figures instead of tables
Ask a colleague to read and comment on an
early
y draft
Check the structure of the paper:

Title proper and complete

Abstract more details, key words, PACS
Introduction history, why, what you have done
Method details and standard
Results and Discussion fact and more
Conclusion what you have achieved
References objective and up-to-date

Selecting
Se
ect g tthe
e jou
journal
a

Choose the right one for you

Electronic
ect o c Submission
Sub ss o _O
Online
e

O li submission
Online
b i i

For all IOP journals - simple,

simple fast
fast, reliable!

More than 98% authors choose to submit

online!

Online submission _ Online

Electronic Submission _ by email

For all IOP journals

mingfang.lu@iop.org

esub@iop.org

In the subject line, state, say,

Subject: Electronic submission to JPCM

Paper as attachment
attachment, plus a Cover Letter stating
the reasons and the significance of your paper
Again, Simple, Fast, and Reliable!

Electronic
ect o c Submission
Sub ss o _FAQs
Qs

Attention:
Temporary ID obtained immediately after submission not
for status track. Formal ID will be available shortly later

Download
D
l d the
th PDF file
fil and
d check
h k carefully.
f ll If you find
fi d any
error there, contact the editor immediately

Editors only contact with the Corresponding author! If you

are not, check with your corresponding author first

No specific templates required by IOP journals save

authors time in the submission stage

For further check: mingfang.lu@iop.org

Process at the journal

j

Via esub@iop.org or Online temporary ID, but

your p
paper,
p , e.g.
g CM/T468752/FTC
unable to track y
Editor acknowledges your paper, assign a ref
number, e.g. CM/567233/PAP/276041
(Check with your corresponding author first!)
Pre-screening process
Editor selects referees for the paper
Referees send their reports
p
back to the Editor
Editor makes decision based on referee reports
Adjudicator
j
is selected if the reports
p
are conflicting
g

What referees do for your paper?

Independent assessment by experts in the field

Referees provide constructive criticism and
feedback on your paper
A filter for scientific q
quality
y control
Publishing a paper in a peer-reviewed journal
gives more credibility to your work than if you
post it on your own web site
Peer review is an essential part of publishing in a
journal or obtaining a grant

Referees assessment: Scientific Qualityy

Scientific merit: significant new results and

originality
Accurate and correct
Sufficient discussion of the context of the
work, and suitable referencing
Suitable material for the Journal

Referees assessment: Presentation

Title: is it adequate/appropriate?
Abstract: is it complete by itself and suitable
for direct inclusion in an abstracting service?
Diagrams,
ag a s, tab
tables,
es, a
and
d capt
captions:
o s a
are
e tthey
ey c
clear
ea
and essential?
Text and mathematics: are they brief but still
clear?
l ?
Conclusion: does it summarise what has been
learned and why it is interesting and useful?
References: objective and up-to-date
Clear writing and communication of ideas,
readability and discussion of concepts

Introduction to refereeing and Guide for authors

Introduction to refereeing

http://referees.iop.org
htt
// f
i
http://images.iop.org/referees-chinese/

Introductory guide for authors

http://cms.iopscience.org/3205ba4f-d278-11e1-9b7a-4d5160a0f0b4/index.html

Responding to referees comments

Read referees report and put away for a day!

Read them again!
Respond to each and every comment specifically
Keep a list of your changes
Wh
Where
you disagree,
di
explain
l i why
h
If referee misses a point it is not necessarily his/her
fault
Be polite!
Prepare a detailed covering letter with your
response
Usually only one chance for author to respond
referees and revise his paper!
p p

If your paper is rejected

Do not despair: treat referees comments

as a free expert advice
You may be able to re-write your article
taking
ta
g into
to accou
accountt tthe
e suggest
suggestions
o so
of
the referees and re-submit it
Note: If you re-submit the paper to any
IOP journal,
j
l you need
d to
t add
dd enough
h
significant new results in it
If you think the review was unfair
unfair, appeal
to the journal by sending a letter and
explaining why you think your work did
nott receive
i a fair
f i treatment
t t
t

If yyour p
paper
p is accepted
p

Great - celebrate!
The journal will expect you to check your proofs
rapidly
Nominate another person if you are unavailable
Give one copy of proofs to somebody else to
read
Reply to editors queries

IOP Flagship
g p Journals

Journal
J
l

off Physics
Ph i series
i

Journal of Physics IOP flagship journals range

J Phys A: Mathematical & Theoretical (2011 IF: 1.564)
1. Quantum field theory
2. QFT/BEC overlap
3. Quantum information
4. Foundations of quantum mechanics
5 Open quantum open systems
5.
6. Quantum condensed matter physics
7. Computational physics
8. Mathematical methods for materials and biology
J Phys B: Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics (2011 IF: 1.875)
1: Quantum optics and quantum information processing
2: Ultrafast science
3: Cold atoms and molecules
4: Novel light sources for atomic and molecular physics studies

Journal of Physics IOP flagship journals range

J Phys CM: Condensed Matter (2011 IF: 2.546)
1. Surface, interface and atomic-scale science
2 Liquids,
2.
Liquids soft matter and biological physics
3. Nanostructures and nanoelectronics
4. Solid structure and lattice dynamics
5. Electronic structure,, 6. Correlated electrons
7. Superconductors and metals, 8. Semiconductors
9. Dielectrics and ferroelectrics, 10. Magnetism and magnetic materials
-- All on fundamental CM physics, experimental, theoretical or simulation!
J Phys D: Applied Physics (2011 IF: 2.544)
1. Magnetism and magnetic materials
2. Applied
pp
interfaces
3. Photonics and semiconductors
4. Spintronics
5. Biomedical optics, biophotonics and biomagnetism
6 Tribology
6.
7. Nanostructures and nanoelectronics
8. Terahertz physics

Journal of Physics IOP flagship journals range

J Phys G: Nuclear and Particle Physics (2011 IF: 4.178)
1. Quark Matter / QGP / Relativistic Heavy-Ion
y
Collisions
2. Cosmic Rays & Particle Astrophysics
3. Hadronic Physics
4. Neutrino physics
5. Nuclear Structure
6. Lattice QCD
7. Underground Lab Physics
Formula for SCI Impact Factor:
A=Papers
A
P
published
bli h d in
i 2009,
2009 B=Papers
B P
published
bli h d in
i 2010
C=Papers (A+B) total citations in 2011
2011 Impact Factor=C/(A+B)
As announced by TR/ISI on: 28 June, 2012

All 69 IOP Journals (1-7)

Journal of Physics the flagship journals series

(
(2011
Impact
p
Factor,, published
p
on 28 June 2012))
1. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical & Theoretical
(1.546)
2. (1) Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular & Optical Physics
(1.875)
3. (2) Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter
(2.546)
4 J
4.
Journall off Ph
Physics
i D:
D Applied
A li d Physics
Ph i
(2 544)
(2.544)
5. (3) Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
(4.178)
6. Journal of Physics: Conference Series

7. New Journal of Physics

(4.177)

Notes:
1
1.
No page charge except OA journals
journals, such as NJP
NJP, ERL etc.
etc
2.
For journals marked (1) - (8), IOP Beijing Office provides free pre-refereeing and English
polishing services.
3.
For journals marked *, authors should submit their papers directly to the journals'
editorial offices, please check IOPscience.iop.org, China.iop.org

All IOP Journals (8-22)

(
)

(2011 ISI Impact Factor)

8. The Astronomical Journal
(AAS, 4.035)
9.
9 The Astrophysical Journal
(AAS 6
(AAS,
6.024)
024)
10. The Astrophysical Journal Letters
(AAS, 5.526)
11. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (AAS, 13.456)
12. Biofabrication
(
(3.480)
)
13. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics
(1.952)
14. Biomedical Materials
(2.158)
15. *Chinese Physics B
(CPS, 1.376)
16. *Chinese Physics C
(CPS, 0.272)
17. *Chinese Physics Letter
(CPS, 0.731)
18. (4) Classical and Quantum Gravity
(3.320)
19. * Communications in Theoretical Physics
(CPS, 0.747)
20. Computational Science & Discovery
(new)
21. Environmental Research Letters
(3.631)
22.
22 European Journal of Physics
(0 823)
(0.823)

All IOP Journals (23 - 39)

23. * EPL (Europhysics Letters)

(2.171)
24. Fluid Dynamics Research
(0.673)
25 IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
25.
(new)
26. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (new)
27. Inverse Problems
(1.880)
28. Journal of Breath Research
(
(2.541)
)
29. *Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
(5.723)
30. Journal of Geophysics and Engineering
(SGRI, 0.634)
31. *Journal of Instrumentation
(1.869)
32. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
(2.105)
33. Journal of Neural Engineering
(3.387)
34. (5) Journal of Optics
(1.924)
35 *Journal
35.
*J
l off Radiological
R di l i l Protection
P t ti
(1 388)
(1.388)
36. Journal of Semiconductors
(Semi of CAS)
37. *Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
(1.727)
38 * Laser Physics
38.
(3 605)
(3.605)
39. * Laser Physics Letters
(9.970)

All IOP Journals (40 56)

40. Measurement Science and Technology

(1.494)
41. Methods and Applications in Fluorescence
(New)
42. *Metrologia
Metrologia
(1.750)
43. Modelling and Simulation in Materials Sci. & Eng.
(2.298)
44. (6) Nanotechnology
(3.979)
45. Nonlinearity
y
((1.386))
46. * Nuclear Fusion
(IAEA, 4.090)
47. * Physica Scripta
(1.204)
48. Physical Biology
(2.595)
49. Physics Education
50. Physics in Medicine and Biology
(2.829)
51. Physiological Measurement
(1.677)
52 Plasma
52.
Pl
Ph i and
Physics
d Controlled
C t ll d Fusion
F i
(2 425)
(2.425)
53. * Plasma Science and Technology
(IPP, 0.407)
54. Plasma Sources Science and Technology
(2.521)
55 Reports on Progress in Physics
55.
(14 720)
(14.720)
56. * Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics
(NAOC, 1.320)

All IOP Journals (57 69)

1.
2
2.

57. SciDAC Review

(DOE, new)
58. * Science and Technology of Advanced Materials (NIMS, 3.513)
59. * Science Foundation in China (NSFC)
60. (7) Semiconductor Science and Technology
(1.723)
61. Smart Materials and Structures
(2.089)
62. (8) Superconductor Science and Technology
(2.662)
63. Surface Topography: Metrology and Properties
(New)
64. *Izvestiya: Mathematics (Turpion)
(0.488)
65. *Physics-Uspekhi (Turpion & UFN)
(2.154)
66 *Quantum
66.
*Q
t
El t
Electronics
i (Turpion)
(T
i )
(0 832)
(0.832)
67. *Russian Chemical Reviews (Turpion)
(2.644)
68. *Russian Mathematical Surveys (Turpion)
(0.526)
69 *Sbornik:
69.
Sbornik: Mathematics (Turpion)
(0 567)
(0.567)

Notes:
No page charge except OA journals, such as NJP, ERL, etc.
For journals marked (1) - (8),
(8) IOP Beijing Office provides free pre
pre-refereeing
refereeing and
English polishing services. 3. For journals marked *, authors should submit
their papers directly to the journals editorial offices, check IOPscience.iop.org

What IOP
W
O Jou
Journalss O
Offer
e to
o You!
ou! IOPscience.iop.org
O sc e ce. op.o g

Dual referees - fair, rapid and more opportunities for authors

World prestige thanks to >1,000 world class editorial board members

Wide visibility EJs cover > 4,000 top institutions in over 180 countries.
Over 90m web accesses and 22m full-text downloads in 2012

Free to publish, except OA journals like NJP, ERL, JPCS, etc.

Convenient all-e service: esub, eStatus, eSearch, eAlert, RRS, iPad

Fast publication: for JPCMReceipt to First Decision = 20 days, Receipt

to Acceptance = 45 days, Receipt to Web Publication = 90 days; even
much faster records within 24h,, but quality
q
y top!
p

Free to add multimedias, database links, colours, video abstracts, etc.

Full-text of back issues dated back to 1874 are accessible online, over
470,000 papers and 2.9m pages of physics!

Email
a Alert
e t at IOPscience.iop.org
O sc e ce op o g

IOPs Open
p Access ((OA)) and Copyright
py g Policy
y ((I))

OA - free to read online and with additional usage rights.

IOP support OA
OA, Gold
Gold OA paid by authors/institutions sustainable
securing the peer review, editing, production and publication.
Green OA free to post.
Green

IOP have 7 OA journals including NJP, ERL, JPCS, MSE, EES, etc.

IOP have another 27 Hybrid OA journals - subscription journals

authors can choose OA publishing by paying a publication charge.
The follow
follow-up
up subscription rate will be reduced accordingly.

OA articles can be posted to institutional websites etc. immediately.

O articles have an embargo
g of up
p to 12 - 24 months.
Non-OA

IOPs Open
p Access ((OA)) and Copyright
py g Policy
y ((II))

From 25 October 2012, IOP has changed its copyright policy for OA
articles and related references and metadata to CC
CC-BY
BY 3.0,
30
allowing users to re-use the content in any way they like, provided it
i accurately
is
t l attributed.
tt ib t d C
Copyright
i ht stays
t
with
ith th
the agreed
d copyright
i ht
owner. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Starting from April 2013, UK government funded researches have to

be published OA.

SCOAP3 - a consortium to facilitate OA publishing in High Energy

Physics including particle physics. (http://scoap3.org/)

More Information: http://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/openaccess

Where to read and use IOP journals

j

http://iopscience.iop.org
http://iopscience iop org

IOPscience.iop.org

Current Journals at IOPscience

IOPscience.iop.org

For internal use only

Where is IOP based?

IOP has recently moved to new offices in
Bristol Temple Circus
This is a bright modern building and will allow
us to offer a good environment for our future
growth
IOP currently employs about 250 people

IOP is based in Bristol, a city in the south west

of England
It is famous for its Suspension Bridge,
Bridge its
trading history and was the home town of
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Paul Dirac
It is a nice place to live!

IOP Beijing Office

Established on 7 July 2000, now 13 years.

Mission: contact and liaise with research institutions,, researchers,,
authors, librarians, and physical societies in the region
Serve for authors, referees and BMs from the region
Provide free pre-refereeing and English polishing services
Currently 7 full-time staff based in Beijing
Contacts:

Editorial: IOP Beijing Office, Room A512, 8 Zhong-Guan-Cun Nan-San-Jie

Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100190 (in IOP OF CAS)
E: mingfang.lu@iop.org

Sales:

Webs: http://china.iop.org, http://iopscience.iop.org

Room 1804, The Exchange Beijing, B-118 Jianguo Road

Chaoyang District, Beijing 100022 (CBD area of Beijing)
E: rick.liu@iop.org

Questions?

Welcome to submit more quality

papers to IOP journals

Please contact:

mingfang.lu@iop.org
i f
l @i
More at: China.iop.org, IOPscience.iop.org

GOOD LUCK!! - OA & CC-BY 3.0

Thank you!