Week 7 Discussion Answers
There are multiple steps to make sure the researcher is prepared and has met the requirements to submit research to a professional journal. Here are a few from our textbook.
1. Select a journal that matches the subject of your study and make sure the journal publishes research
2. What is the rejection rate and have similar articles been published lately? Make sure the research paper will add value to the journal to avoid rejection
3. Follow all format rules including any page limitations and make sure the article is of interest to the journal.
4. Assemble all your material such as references, the original proposal, and other pertinent materials before creating the outline. The outline should include an introduction that catches the reader’s attention, the importance and purpose of the study, include a research question such as PICO and a hypothesis, and ask a friend to review and critique the manuscript.
I feel the biggest obstacle would be finding research subject matter that hasn’t already been written about. What could I add to the research that is already out there? Another obstacle would be time and money.
Tappen, R. M. (2015). Advanced Nursing Research (2nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781284132496
Submitting research papers to professional journals can be a competitive and difficult process, and due process must be followed. Typically, the first step is to locate a journal. Notably, researchers should first identify journals that might be the best fit for publishing their findings. Researchers can use the JournalFinder tool to match their research papers and learn more about each journal. The second step is to get the paper ready for submission. Researchers must be aware of the requirements for the specific journal in order to prepare their research papers accordingly (Van Teijlingen et al., 2017). Researchers must follow specific guidelines for authors of the journal to which they are submitting. The following step is to submit and revise your work. Checking the open access options on the journal’s home page, considering the options for sharing research data, being accurate and clear when monitoring proofs, and being aware of copyright and licensing are some of the tips for submitting research. When a research paper is submitted, it is reviewed by editors and, if it passes the screening, it is sent for peer-review by experts in the field.
The fourth step is to keep track of the research. Because most journals have automated their services, researchers can track their papers online. Researchers are given a reference number after submitting their work, which they can use to track their progress. Researchers should share and promote their research once it has been published in order to have a greater impact. Sharing research, accomplishments, and goals with a larger audience increases visibility in relevant fields (Kline, 2018). As a result, the research is cited more frequently, allowing researchers to establish a solid reputation and further their research. The most difficult part of the research submission process is research clarification and editing. This is due to the fact that these steps take a significant amount of time before reaching the final step of the submission process.
References
Kline, W. B. (2018). Developing and submitting credible qualitative manuscripts. Wiley Online Library.
Van Teijlingen, E., Simkhada, P. P., & Rizyal, A. (2017). Submitting a paper to an academic peer-reviewed journal, where to start?. Health Renaissance, 10(1), 1-4.
After reading the article, I believe this is a mixed-method study. The study was more on the quantitative side, however, part of the exclusion criteria was unsafe neighborhoods for the researchers to visit which means part of the research study was conducted in a natural home environment.
The study design is a longitudinal study.
The research question is: Does maternal smoking during pregnancy likely increase the risk of childhood overweight in school-aged children?
The study was strong as the study addresses the mother’s smoking habits if any, one year before the child’s birth. The study results cannot be generalized because of the inclusion/exclusion criteria. This study can not be applied to everyone.
Tappen, R. M. (2015). Advanced Nursing Research (2nd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781284132496
The provided article is a quantitative study whose goals were to examine the impact of mothers’ smoking status within one year of giving birth on overweight school-aged children in the United States using longitudinal cohort data, as well as to identify maternal and offspring characteristics that influence offspring weight during school ages (Wang et al., 2013). A purposeful sample was used in the study. A purposive sample is ideally a non-probability sample chosen based on population characteristics and study objectives. Some of the research questions are: Do mothers’ socioeconomic characteristics influence the likelihood of childhood obesity during school age? Should mothers be encouraged to quit smoking a year before giving birth in order to improve their own and their children’s health? The causal-comparative research design was employed in this study.
A causal-comparative research design is used in a research study to determine the cause-effect relationship between two or more variables, where one of the variables is dependent on the opposite experimental variable (Patten & Galvan, 2019). The researcher does not manipulate an independent variable in a causal-comparative research design, and the impact of this variable on the dependent variable is measured. This study used causal-comparative research specifically to determine the impact of mothers’ smoking status on the overweight of school-aged children. One of the article’s strengths is the amount of time the researchers spent studying their research subjects and drawing their conclusions. The study had several limitations, including the fact that genetic factors of the research subjects were not considered, and the study only focused on a specific group of subjects rather than on mothers who smoked during their pregnancy. Because the study did not focus solely on mothers who smoked while pregnant, the findings cannot be generalized.