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Objectives

The objective of this course is to provide initial training to postgraduate students on the process of writing, submitting and publishing scientific works, focusing mainly on the publication of scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals. 

It is mainly aimed at first-year doctoral students in natural sciences but can also be taken by other postgraduate students. 

The specific objectives are to introduce the students to the process of writing and publishing scientific works, addressing the following topics: 

- types of articles and other scientific publications
- types of journals and modalities of publication
- how to start writing an article
- the parts of an article and what they should contain
- tables and figures in a paper
- bibliography search and citation
- the process of submission of a manuscript
- revision of manuscripts for final acceptance 

At the end of the course, students are expected to have the knowledge and skills to begin developing autonomous work on structuring and beginning to write scientific articles.

Participants have to be present at 85% of the contact hours (this means that they can miss one half-day), and actively participate in all activities. 

This course can give credits to PhD programmes at CIÊNCIAS or of programmes with partnership from CIÊNCIAS and other institutions with 6h-7h of contact hours per ECT, as a function of specific requirements. For these students additionally to the exercises done during the week the delivery of a written report done after the course is mandatory. The exact exercise for students doing option 1 and 2 will be explained during the course. For option 2, for programmes with less hours of contact per ECT (6h/ECT), getting 6 ECTs from the course, students need to do an additional assignment (summary report). Such report(s) are also advised for other students requesting creditation of the course in their institutions.

Minimal formation of students: degree in biology or related fields 

 Directed to: PhD students in Doctoral programs at CIÊNCIAS and others 

General plan

DAY 1 

Introduction 
Types of scientific publications: articles, books, book chapters, conference papers
Types of articles (Scientific article / Review article / Mini review / Short paper / Data paper)
Presentations at conferences (Oral communication, Poster, Abstract books, Proceedings books)
Length of articles (number of words or pages, etc.)
Types of journals (Open Access / Traditional / Mixed)
Journal ranking (quartiles / impact factor / others)
Payment of open access fees
How to choose a journal 

Starting to write a scientific work 
Objectives
Subject and title
Authors and order of authors
Data to be used
Tables
Figures
Article skeleton
Article writing 

DAY 2 

The parts of an article and what they should contain 
Title / Short title
Authors and corresponding author
Affiliations 
Summary
Keywords
Graphical abstract
Bullets
Introduction
Material and methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Attachments
Supplementary files 

Tables and Figures 
Quantity per paper
In the body of the article or in an attachment
In-text citation 
Location and content of subtitles 
What should a figure have? 
What should a table have? 
Examples of Tables and Figures 

Bibliography 
Bibliographic search on the internet and in libraries 
Selection of articles to be cited 
In-text citation models 
Bibliography formatting models 
Formatting and standardization of bibliography 
Citation and reference organization tools (Mendeley, etc.)

DAY 3 - Morning 

Before submission 
Review by authors 
Correction of structure and inconsistencies 
English correction 
Confirmation Checklist 
Authors' credits 
Authors’ data (emails, ORCID, etc.) 
Cover letter 

Submission of a manuscript 
Files for submission 
Authors' details 
Declaration of conflicts of interest 
Ethics Statements 
Reviewer suggestions 
Submission platforms 

DAY 3 - Afternoon 

After submission 
Confirmation of authorship 
Appreciation by the editor and the peer review phase 
Peer review results 
Minor revision, Major revision, Rejection/Transfer to 
Review: response to reviewers and editors 
MS reviewed and response file to reviewers and editor 
Deadlines for review 
Resubmission to the same journal or submission to another 

DAY 4 

Conferences and Congresses 
Registration and submission of communications 
Oral communications 
Poster presentations 
Books of Abstracts 
Books of Proceedings 
Special issues of journals 

Proofreading, formatting and online resources 
Proofreading and proofreading services 
Online tools (e.g. Swan - Scientific Writing Assistant http://cs.joensuu.fi/swan/) 
Online translators 
Online charting tools 
Spell checkers 
Bibliography tools 
Artificial Intelligence Tools 

DAY 5 

From the Lab or the Field to the published paper - Case studies of publication processes 
Examples of scientific article publishing processes from data collection and bibliographic research to writing, submission, review and final publication. 

Fees

Free for 1st year PhD students in Doctoral programmes at CIÊNCIAS (e.g. Biologia), Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV UL; UP) and Biology and Ecology of Global Changes (BEAG UL, UA), when the course counts credits for their formation, in which case the delivery of  final report(s) done after the course is mandatory; the course is also free for more advanced PhD students of the BIODIV programme (ULisboa or UPorto); for other students fees vary whether option 1 or option 2 is chosen: 

FEE (option 1): 30 € for other PhD students from CE3C of other programmes besides BIODIV (free), 50 € for PhD students from institutions of the PEERS network not from CE3C (CFE); 75 € for CIÊNCIAS Master students, more advanced PhD CIÊNCIAS students and unemployed; 100 € for BTI, BI and other PhD students; 150 € for Professional and postdocs. 

FEE (option 2): 60 € for more advanced PhD students of CE3C of other programmes besides BIODIV (free); 100 € for PhD students of the PEERS network not from CE3C (CFE); 150 € for CIÊNCIAS Master students and unemployed; 200 € for BTI, BI and other PhD students; 300 € for Professional and postdocs.  

When the maximum number of students is reached, 10 vacancies will be available for non-paying 1st year PhD students mentioned above, being, by order of preference students from: 1) CE3C; 2) BIODIV (not from CE3C); 3) CIÊNCIAS (not from CE3C); 4) BEAG (not from CE3C or CIÊNCIAS ). 

How to Apply

Candidates should send an e-mail to Dr. Luís Catarino (lmcatarino@ciencias.ulisboa.pt) with Prof. Inês Fragata in cc (irfragata@ciencias.ulisboa.pt) with a short cv and motivation letter. The cv and letter should be named as 1st-lastNAME-CV.pdf and 1st-lastNAME-ML.pdf (that is personalize the name of each file with your first and last name).

In the email please add the following information: 

OPTION CHOSEN (1 or 2):  

Full Name: 

E-mail: 

Phone: 

Professional activity: Professional/Postdoc, BTI, BI (or other non-post-doc research grant), PhD student (with/ without scholarship), Lic. (Bachelor) / Master student 

PhD student of the 1st year of a Doctoral programme at FCUL, BIODIV (FCUL/FCUP), or BEAG (FCUL or UA)?  

If yes to the above question, PhD student doing the Course to count credits for 1st year?: 

PhD student of cE3c or CEF (Centro de Ecologia Funcional)?: 

Name of the PhD programme:  

 

For any doubts please contact the Coordinator of the CE3C courses, Prof. Inês Fragata (irfragata@ciencias.ulisboa.pt), and Dr. Luís Catarino (lmcatarino@ciencias.ulisboa.pt).