Academic-Capital

Great research and strong academic papers often get rejected from journals because they do not fit the editor’s interests or are not from the right credentials in terms of university affiliation or brand of degree. When good papers are rejected and gibberish papers make their way through the system into public consumption that is even more concerning. A computer scientist by the name of Cyril Labbé ran a program to detect spam SCIgen papers in academic journals and found 100 published between 2008 and 2013 by the Electrical and Electronic Engineers and Springer( 1 ).  The purpose of SCIgen is to publish spam papers and send them to conferences to determine whether they are bogus ( 2 ). In this case their papers were in many different locations indicating that some of the conferences and publications were accepting papers that they were not readable and had no contribution. The editor process was lacking and papers were accepted wholesale without a review.  Journals should

An introduction to Scientific Research by E. Bright Wilson gives an overview of the modern scientific method. The book focuses more on experimental laboratories, useful formulas, and commonly used instruments than on social research. The book seeks to collect in one place the general principles, techniques, and guides for proper procedures. It is a necessary read for those interested in conducting hard-core research. The book is written through the eyes of a physical chemist and this helps to explain its detailed and hard scientific approach. The concepts offered in the book are valid and it is worth reading even if one is not working in a physical laboratory. It will provide an understanding for graduate students that may work in biology, medicine or other physical sciences.  It also provides a strong overview of pure science and some of the issues it faces. It moves into other concepts such as cost, morality, scientific literature, observation, cause and effect, hypoth

Research Methods The Basics by Nicholas Walliman packs a lot of information into a 190 page little book. The information is easy to understand and provides a strong theoretical understanding of the different types of research available and its methods. Research is a term that helps to describe any type of investigation that is intended to uncover facts. The quality of the results often determines the quality of the research itself. Research methods are tools that are used to help better analyze and separate the facts from confounded fiction.  Within the book you will find information on research theory and practice and the main research methods. The book will provide some information on the basics and then move into ethics, structure, literature, data, analysis of secondary data, quantitative and qualitative methods, and writing the following proposal. It is a strong book for those who desire to understand a basic overview before moving into specifics.  The scientific met