Publication Venues and Research Management Considerations

1. How do you decide what format of publication is optimal for you area of research?

When I arrived at my current position I was told people do not usually publish until they have earned their PhDs and that it would be good to develop an enjoyment of reading and writing about this international business graduate discipline. So that’s what I do and I have been doing for in excess of seven years and I am in that holding pattern without regrets until the right PhD program and faculty may appear or reveal itself to my recognition of mutual interests and I really like this job too much to leave it before that time anyway.

I joined JIBS the Journal of International Business Studies which is top flight and has mostly provided scope in terms of junior faculty conferences available with an active mailing list of global conferences and journal submission requests which is a daily reminder that the day will come when I will prepare and plan some form of submission to one or another which I would consider within reach. As I was considered a perfect fit for this position I would hope to be considered a perfect fit for a PhD program with a well matched and patient advisor who truly values cross-cultural experience, global learning and self-improvement goals and who would mesh nicely with my sense of progression and reasonable renumeration rewards to desire higher goals. That would be a pretext to publications.

Money is a motivator.

As my classmate described even with proper preparation many of those with the necessary training and skills may never lead or manage a research project. I would agree internal growth and motivations beyond training are required and there can be no transformation from one stage to the next without it being natural, necessary and inherently part of one’s character at present. There's no way to force it unless it becomes an essential requirement to my personal measures of success. I even have a few other course goals I would like to complete before making a PhD leap. But perhaps not until this lily-pad becomes untenable.



2. In your research field, what factors should the RM consider before publishing?

For money or consultant motivated publication: I believe the RM needs to consider the Terms of Research (TOR) as the first factor to review if only because the contract needs to be clarified if, when and how the results may or may not be published, deseminated or shared and if possible the terms need be reviewed to ensure that the RM's best interests are being met in engaging the research management of the project in question. For example our notes referred to a case where researchers were restricted from access to all results in a private funded project. This would feel like working ona puzzle with a blindfold on to me. Misrepresentation of possible results became an ethical question.

Furthermore, if the RM is working as a consultant on a multinational project then the abstracts, background, perliminary resources, methodology and processes, requirements, stages and deadlines will need to be prsented, confirmed and addressed clearly and known from the outset to coordinate with a lead consultant whereby the deliverables are agreed as well as payments schedules and budgetary needs fixed and known all prior to start with changes only by mutual consent following contractual agreement.



As a classmate and our resources indicate in cases of patent clearance procedures, restrictions and requirements need to be maintained to ensure IP protection. However many of the procedures appear to place the researcher in a Catch 22 position. In terms of hinting at a new discovery or product development in publications I remember a lot of viral hype about some new gadget to revolutionize the way we think of transport and it turned out to be the Segway -building hype into a product that does not deliver or worse yet is subject to recalls - might damage a researcher's reputation if the marketing has been overblown.