Successful pedagogical communication in the publishing process

Research and teaching are not different arts. Communicating research in both text and speech is a pedagogical process where we as researchers need to adapt to the target group. In publishing, we must comply with both the editor's requirements and the reviewers' comments. We all know painfully well how much time it takes to finalize a manuscript. Unfortunately, there are far too many manuscripts that could have been published but are not accepted by the target journal because the authors fall short in pedagogical communication during the publishing process.

Shortcomings in communication skills towards editors and reviewers can be remedied by learning the art of successful communication. A deeper understanding of the role and motivation of editors and reviewers is here essential, as well as understanding the pitfalls of asynchronous communication.
We have for example in the cover letter the unique possibility to explain in a modest but clear way the value and significance of our results for the field. Unfortunately, many authors just reiterate the abstract instead.

The workshop begins with an introduction, then we can discuss each other's examples. Feel free to bring an example from yourself (or someone in your research group; anonymize the text if necessary) that we can discuss together.
We will work both with technical questions such as: what the cover letter should contain, which language and layout are optimal for the point-by-point responses to reviewers' comments. But also with psychological reframing: how to really listen to an engaged reviewer and how to prevent our own ego from getting in the way of success.

Course leader: Marcus Schmitt-Egenolf