The MSU Library Research Support Section
The MSU Library Research Support section plays a crucial role in assisting students and academic staff in their research endeavours. The Research Support section facilitates access to information and supports users in navigating the vast print and electronic resources available through the library. Here are some key functions of library research support services:
- Reference and Information Services
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- Assisting users in locating relevant resources, answering reference questions, and navigating library catalogues and databases.
- They provide guidance on effective search strategies and help users refine their research topics.
- Training sessions and workshops to enhance users’ information literacy skills, teaching them how to evaluate information critically, cite sources, and use library resources effectively.
- Helping users with access to a wide range of resources, including books, journals, databases, and multimedia materials.
- Research Consultations
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- One-on-one research consultations to provide personalised assistance, helping users develop research strategies and find relevant sources for their projects.
- Reference Management
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- Assisting students and staff in using and managing their references, including the use of citation management tools such as Zotero and Mendeley.
- Library Workshops and Training
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- Organising workshops and training sessions on a range of topics related to research, academic writing, and information literacy to support users in developing their academic and research skills.
- Copyright and Fair Use Guidance
- Providing information on copyright regulations, fair use, and plagiarism, and assisting users in understanding and complying with legal and ethical standards in their research.
- Assisting Researchers With Finding the Right Publisher
- The Research Support section also assists aspiring writers with identifying the right journal and publisher for their work. It does this by using specialised online tools such as Think-Check-and-Submit and publishers’ journal finders.
- Support is also given for authors to avoid predatory publishers by publishing Beall’s List of predatory publishers.
For assistance with any of the services listed above, please contact the Library Research Support team at researchsupport@library.msu.ac.zw or utilise the Library WhatsApp number – 0717 290 290. You may also visit the Information Desk located at the Main Library for further help.
Steps in the research process
Step 1: Identifying the Problem
The first step in the process is to identify a problem or develop a research question. Choosing a topic that interests you can make the process easier.
Step 2: Review the Literature
Once the problem has been identified, it is time to gather information related to the issue or topic. Gathering literature about the subject will provide you with more insights into what has already been published by other researchers, how they studied the problem, and the results or conclusions they reached. You will need to utilise the library’s resources to access this information. These include the library catalogue, electronic books, electronic journals, and indexes.
Step 3: Research Purpose/Design
This is a practical framework for answering research questions. It involves making decisions about the type of data you will collect, how you will collect it (methods), the time scale, and the location of your research.
Step 4: Collect Data
This step involves gathering data about your research problem from the participants. Data can be collected through various methods, including interviews, questionnaires, and observations.
Step 5: Analyse and Interpret Data
All the activities that were carried out in the above steps now culminate in this step. Here, you will analyse data to answer the research questions.
Step 6: Report and Evaluate
In this stage, you are now writing about the results that you got from the research. What were the conclusions about the problem you were researching? What are your recommendations? What can be done to improve things or avoid negative things?
(Blankenship, Diane. Applied Research and Evaluation Methods in Recreation, Human Kinetics 2010)
SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS TAB
Choosing where to publish
It is crucial to identify the most suitable journal for publication so that your research output receives the recognition it deserves. You should always be able to verify certain key factors when selecting a journal to publish in. Some factors to consider include:
- Scope of the journal
- Peer review process
- Journal Metrics
- Open Access options
- How to spot a predatory Journal
Where is the Journal Indexed?
It is essential to check whether the journal is indexed in major indices such as Scopus and Web of Science. These indexes evaluate a journal’s quality before indexing it, and publishing in journals listed there can make your work more discoverable.
Journal Finders
Several publishers offer tools to help aspiring authors select the most appropriate and reputable journal titles. Below are links to some of the most commonly used tools for choosing a journal.
RESEARCH IMPACT AND METRICS
Metrics assess the significance or influence of a journal or author. Several metrics can be utilised to demonstrate a journal’s importance. Author-level metrics also reflect the impact an author has on the scientific community or their field of study.
Journal Metrics
Journal Impact Factor
The Journal Impact Factor measures a journal’s significance by counting how often its articles are cited in a specific year. You can find the impact factors of journals in Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Citation Reports (JCR).
CiteScore
CiteScore represents the average number of citations recent articles in the journal have received. It is available for journals and book series indexed in Scopus.
SJR – Scimago Journal Rank
The SJR aims to measure the impact of a journal’s subject area, quality, and reputation on citations. It assesses a journal’s prestige by considering the value of the sources that cite it, rather than counting all citations equally. It is useful for comparing and analysing journals within the same discipline, and forms the basis of the subject category ranking.
SNIP
The SNIP (Source Normalised Impact per Paper) measures citations weighted by the subject field. It is useful for comparing journals, not just within the same field but also across disciplines. SNIP is available from Scopus.
ALTERNATIVE METRICS – ALMETRICS
Article-level metrics help researchers understand how their work is being utilised in the digital or online environment through factors like downloads, page views, and mentions on social media platforms. Many publishers such as Elsevier, Oxford University Press, PLOS, and Springer Nature now display alternative metrics on the search results page using the Altmetric bookmarklet or Plum Analytics. You can also see the attention your research receives from other researchers through mentions on Twitter, ResearchGate, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
RESEARCHER IDENTIFIERS AND DISAMBIGUATION
An important aspect of research is to monitor your research output and to identify yourself among many other researchers uniquely. There are several author identifier tools that you can use to achieve this.
ORCID – Open Researcher and Contributor ID
This provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes an author from others with a similar name. It makes it easier for researchers to compile their research output even if they change their affiliation or if their name is spelt differently in other publications. Researchers can compile their profile, research interests, educational qualifications, contact details, and other relevant information.
ResearcherID
Similar to ORCID, this tool is also free and able to provide you with a unique identifier. You can also link your ResearcherID to ORCID so that you can enjoy the benefits of using both systems.
Scopus
Scopus enables researchers to build an author profile that includes all their citations within this multidisciplinary database, even if their name or affiliation changes. Researchers can also receive email alerts when their articles are cited.
Google Scholar
Google Scholar Profiles offer a straightforward way for authors to showcase their academic publications. You can see who is citing your articles, track citations over time, and calculate various citation metrics. You can also make your profile public, so that it may appear in Google Scholar results when people search for your name.
How to Spot a Predatory Journal or Publisher
Predatory publishers make false claims about their peer review process to charge unsuspecting researchers article processing fees. Most predatory publishers spam prospective authors’ inboxes with offers of rapid publication.
Here are some factors you may need to consider:
You can also follow the links below for more information on identifying predatory publishers.
Criteria for determining predatory publishers
6 Ways to Spot a Predatory Journal
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR RESEARCH VISIBILITY
Activities focused on increasing the visibility of research outputs are very important for an academic’s career. Enhancing visibility ensures that research findings are discovered by a broader range of researchers, which leads to greater attention and impact. This also contributes to the success of the researcher.
Here are some methods that can help in increasing the visibility of research:
- Register to get unique author identifiers and create your profiles:
- ORCID
- ResearcherID
- Scopus ID
- Google Scholar
- Share Outputs of Your Research Through Open Access
Evidence of your research output includes research articles, conference posters, presentations, papers, preprints, and research data. Making these publicly accessible enhances the likelihood of your work being discovered and cited. Additionally, many funding bodies and universities now require that both publications and their associated research data be made available through Open Access.
To make your work Open Access, you can use the following:
- MSU Institutional Repository
- Cite Seer– (Computer and Information Science)
- PubMed Central is a repository for US federally funded research outputs in Medicine.
Share Your Research Data
Besides publications, you can also share your research data through various platforms listed below.
- Keep an Updated Online Profile or Web CV
Several platforms allow you to create profiles where you can showcase your research interests, compile your list of publications, and highlight your professional achievements.
ImpactStory is a free online platform that allows you to showcase your research outputs (publications, presentations, data, code, posters, etc.) along with measures of their impact. Impactstory uses ORCID profiles to find and import scholarly works. To ensure that your Impactstory profile includes all your outputs, make sure to import them to ORCID and synchronise your ORCID profile with Impactstory.
This is a relatively new tool that helps researchers promote their research outputs. It is free to use and allows you to showcase your publications by creating links to full text. Kudos will constantly monitor:
- Number of times the publication has been downloaded from the publisher’s site
- Number of times the publication’s abstract is clicked or viewed on the publisher’s site
- Number of tweets posted by the author to promote the publication.
- Number of Facebook posts by each author to promote the publication
- Number of visits to the publication page on Kudos generated by sharing activities through email or social media.
- Number of times the author has sent emails to colleagues or friends containing the link to the publication page on Kudos or the article page on the publisher’s site.
- Total visits to the publication page on Kudos
- A score generated by Altmetric.com (which includes tweets, Mendeley and Cite Like readership)
- Engage and Participate in Social Networking Communities
Another excellent way to disseminate your research and build a reputation is through active engagement in research networking communities. Research networking allows you to create online profiles, showcase your research outputs, discover communities of interest, and participate in discussions by posting and answering questions within your network. All of these activities will also inform you about the impact of your activities in these networks, such as downloads of your publications, views of your profile, and levels of your activity compared to others in the network.
