SideLines, June 2005
Many academic meetings In Japan are organised in haste with invitations being sent out at the last minute to local and international participants. This haste often reflects budget-balancing efforts in administrative departments around the end of each financial year. The academic organisers do not know exactly what money will be available until very shortly before their spending deadline.
The result is that many participants do not have time to prepare full papers for presentation, and this in turn means that the work of writing, editing and translation must continue after the meeting in order to produce a set of publishable papers.
The whole process is rather back-to-front, and not cost-effective. More importantly perhaps, it gives the Japanese academic world a bad image locally and internationally, and makes it less likely that good people will be found to attend academic meetings.
Research is not a just-in-time factory process, and the presentation and publication of academic results is not like putting food into cans to fill orders for a supermarket chain. A lot of good research is done in Japan, and there are many good meetings. It is a pity that the funds that are available cannot be managed more flexibly and efficiently.
If you have had any experience of this, as a Japanese or as a guest in Japan, please tell me. I would like to collect some relevant reports (contrary reports are welcome). Please contact:
Dr Peter Matthews, Research Develepment Center, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka 565-8511, Japan (email pjm at gol dot com).
Friday, June 03, 2005
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Research writing in New Zealand
SideLines, May 2005
Research writers - and especially academic research writers - are often unwilling to part with money for help with editing or translation, or do not have anything other than their own pocket money to pay for it. If writers are lucky, journal referees will do some editing, but this partly explains why journals have trouble finding good referees. Referees do not want to lose time reading rubbish.
The end result is that academic editing payments are less on average than commercial payments. Fortunately, the volunteer spirit of many researchers, and promises of mutual assistance, mean that most research papers are given at least some reading by a second person, before going to a journal.
Volunteer and mutual assistance have long been important New Zealand research. Through good teaching, volunteer efforts, and a sense of professional obligation, our small research population has been maintained relatively high standards of research, writing, and publishing - despite very limited budgets for these activities.
Research writers need help in a very wide range of subjects, and there is also a general need - worldwide - for paid professional editing and translation. Volunteer and professional editors or translators can usually find work that is close to their own interests, and valuable for their professional development.
When a good match is made, then the writer, editor or translator, and reader all benefit. The aim of this website is to help make the triple benefits more common.
Contact: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Research writers - and especially academic research writers - are often unwilling to part with money for help with editing or translation, or do not have anything other than their own pocket money to pay for it. If writers are lucky, journal referees will do some editing, but this partly explains why journals have trouble finding good referees. Referees do not want to lose time reading rubbish.
The end result is that academic editing payments are less on average than commercial payments. Fortunately, the volunteer spirit of many researchers, and promises of mutual assistance, mean that most research papers are given at least some reading by a second person, before going to a journal.
Volunteer and mutual assistance have long been important New Zealand research. Through good teaching, volunteer efforts, and a sense of professional obligation, our small research population has been maintained relatively high standards of research, writing, and publishing - despite very limited budgets for these activities.
Research writers need help in a very wide range of subjects, and there is also a general need - worldwide - for paid professional editing and translation. Volunteer and professional editors or translators can usually find work that is close to their own interests, and valuable for their professional development.
When a good match is made, then the writer, editor or translator, and reader all benefit. The aim of this website is to help make the triple benefits more common.
Contact: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Academic societies in crisis
SideLines, April 2005
In November 2004, the Business Center for Academic Societies Japan (BCASJ) was declared bankrupt (International Herald Tribune, 26.11.04). One role of the Center was to collect membership fees used by academic societies for their conferences and publications. This financial crisis has affected some 300 academic societies in Japan, and may have continuing consequences for academic writers, editors and translators (fewer publishing opportunities, fewer editing contracts?). It may also be a wake-up call for improvements in academic publishing and distribution. Please send comments on this matter to:
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
In November 2004, the Business Center for Academic Societies Japan (BCASJ) was declared bankrupt (International Herald Tribune, 26.11.04). One role of the Center was to collect membership fees used by academic societies for their conferences and publications. This financial crisis has affected some 300 academic societies in Japan, and may have continuing consequences for academic writers, editors and translators (fewer publishing opportunities, fewer editing contracts?). It may also be a wake-up call for improvements in academic publishing and distribution. Please send comments on this matter to:
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Reaching out to research writers
SideLines, March 2005
Help is needed to encourage research writers to make active use of our forums. Anyone can help by mentioning this site to writers they know, or by posting notices about the site on university noticeboards (any city, any country). Copies of notices prepared for this purpose can be obtained by contacting Peter Matthews at the email address below.
Thank you.
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Help is needed to encourage research writers to make active use of our forums. Anyone can help by mentioning this site to writers they know, or by posting notices about the site on university noticeboards (any city, any country). Copies of notices prepared for this purpose can be obtained by contacting Peter Matthews at the email address below.
Thank you.
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
SideLines, February 2005
Research writing conferenceA Conference on Research Writing in Japan was held at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, 15-16th March, 2003. The conference report, a fully edited book published by the museum, can be obtained for free by contacting Peter Matthews at the email address below.
See http://www.researchco-op.net/conference.html for details about the conference and publication.
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Photo: an 11th C. Syriac text (Wikimedia Commons, 2005). Maybe the maker needed a layout editor.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
SideLines, November 2004
Training needed for PhD supervisors?
How is it possible for PhD students to submit entire pages of text that is obviously not their own, that is from no acknowledged source, and that can be easily located on the internet? How can PhD supervisors let their students devalue their own work, and make this kind of mistake? There is not just a knowledge divide in the world, but also a divide in how to report knowledge, in basic writing skills, and in attitudes towards previous texts and their authors. Perhaps, for some writers, it is an honour to be quoted at all, even without acknowledgement, and perhaps some people believe it is a right to bestow such an honour on others. Or is it no honour at all, and no right at all, from any perspective, no matter how philosophical or relativist one tries to be?
These are questions I direct to any students, teachers, and research writers who may be reading this column. If you have an opinion on the matter, or experience to report, please contact me. In my role as an occasional PhD examiner, I need moral support. I would also like to report back to this Cooperative on what I learn from this call for the Defense of Good Writing and Self Respect.
How is it possible for PhD students to submit entire pages of text that is obviously not their own, that is from no acknowledged source, and that can be easily located on the internet? How can PhD supervisors let their students devalue their own work, and make this kind of mistake? There is not just a knowledge divide in the world, but also a divide in how to report knowledge, in basic writing skills, and in attitudes towards previous texts and their authors. Perhaps, for some writers, it is an honour to be quoted at all, even without acknowledgement, and perhaps some people believe it is a right to bestow such an honour on others. Or is it no honour at all, and no right at all, from any perspective, no matter how philosophical or relativist one tries to be?
These are questions I direct to any students, teachers, and research writers who may be reading this column. If you have an opinion on the matter, or experience to report, please contact me. In my role as an occasional PhD examiner, I need moral support. I would also like to report back to this Cooperative on what I learn from this call for the Defense of Good Writing and Self Respect.
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