What Makes a Good Research Paper? (Taiwan)
Taipei, Taiwan: Enago recently conducted a workshop in Taiwan to introduce doctors and medical researchers to the process of publication in international peer-reviewed journals. The workshop entitled “How to Write English Papers” is the latest in a series of learning initiatives of Enago that aim to help ESL authors increase their chances of publication in well-renowned international journals.
The workshop was conducted at Tzu Chi Hospital in Taipei and the speaker for this event was Dr. Ching-Chi Chi, Director of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi City. In his academic career, Dr. Chi has authored more than 60 articles in many reputed international peer-reviewed journals and has conducted several training sessions for researchers on academic publishing and other related topics.
The event commenced with an introduction that highlighted Taiwan’s attitude and contribution towards academic research. Moreover, the issue about the challenges faced by researchers intending to publish studies in international journals and receiving rejections because of poor language skills was extensively discussed. A general perception among ESL authors is that reviewers expect fluent English, and so authors/researchers who are non-native English speakers find it difficult to get their work published in international peer-reviewed journals. This workshop helped many of the attendees obtain a holistic overview of the overall publication cycle.
In his lecture, Dr. Chi discussed topics such as “How to Select Your Topic and Write a Paper,” “How to Present Tables and Figures,” and “How to Attract Readers.” In particular, Dr. Chi addressed the importance of adhering to a target journal’s specifications and using images/newer techniques to make the study more appealing to reviewers and attract a larger readership. The event concluded with an interactive session between the speaker and audience, wherein the participants were able to ask questions and clarify doubts. The attendees mentioned that they would benefit from additional lectures on topics such as usage of endnotes and other academic tools, presenting statistical data and its interpretation in studies, and accurately structuring and formatting studies.
“This workshop has confirmed our belief that many academic researchers face difficulties in writing papers in English. The participants also expressed a desire to be assisted with editing followed by publication support and translation services,” said William Chen, Director of Operations, Crimson Interactive China. “Understanding and catering to the publishing requirements for academic researchers is what we do best, and these workshops are among the many reasons why Crimson is ranked in one of the top 100 companies in the Asia–Pacific region. We will continue to build on our learning initiative to bring more tools and resources to our global client base.”