Category: research

Webinar: How to write an excellent review article – an editor’s guide

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By My Pham

Writing a compelling review article is an opportunity to contribute to the development of your field by creating a synthesis of the best resources available and potential new research areas to explore in the future.

Webinar How to write an excellent review articleYet, writing a review article is not at all an easy task. How to best structure it? Is an editor’s invitation a must to write reviews? How to distinguish an adequate review from an excellent one? Those are among many questions that researchers often have in mind when it comes to writing review articles. To help address these concerns, Lindsey Drayton, Editor at Trends in Cognitive Sciences, and Matt Pavlovich, Editor at Trends in Biotechnology, will offer their editorial perspective on what they’re looking for in a review in Researcher Academy’s upcoming webinar on June 27th, 1pm (UTC). The experts will discuss how to both conceptualize and write a review, how to distinguish your review by making a strong statement, and why writing a review is worth your time. They will also dispel some common myths about review articles and give advice for how to propose a review to an editor.

You can now send the speakers questions in advance by joining the Researcher Academy Mendeley group and post your queries there.

Register for the webinar here

Staying healthy while you research: Live webinar on mental health, imposter syndrome and dealing with the stress of research

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By Priyanka Kalra

impostorEver had the feeling that you have faked your way into your career and you don’t deserve to be where you are? Well, to prove that you are not the only one, there is actually an entire psychological concept called imposter syndrome devoted this feeling. According to Hugh Kearns, an expert on self-management, positive psychology and work-life balance, “imposter syndrome is that nagging feeling you have, that somehow you don’t belong, you haven’t earned your success and that at any moment you will be uncovered.”

The syndrome manifests itself strongly and comfortably within academia, given its elite nature and competitive atmosphere. In addition to feeling like a fake, research also shows that imposter phenomenon can impact researchers in ways that they “conduct less research and are less willing to present at conferences or publish.” These feelings and thoughts can manifest into insecurities resulting in or leading to anxiety and self-doubt.

So, the question then is, what can researchers do to control these feelings or keep them from effecting their work? Other than recognising these doubts and categorising them under the phenomenon of imposter syndrome, individuals can use other techniques to curb these feelings. According to Hugh, if the imposter feelings start to take over, researchers can focus on the evidence and separate imposter feelings and imposter syndrome from a real imposter. “The crucial feature of imposter feelings and the imposter syndrome is that there is clear evidence that you are not an imposter, but you still feel like one. So, if you want to know whether you are an imposter or not – look at the evidence,” he adds.

Yet, advice around these issues can be rather ambiguous and to concretely address these pertinent issues, Researcher Academy, with the help of Hugh Kearns, is devoting the month of November to discuss mental health and imposter syndrome. In a live webinar to take place on 23rd of November (2pm UTC), Hugh Kearns will discuss the not-so-exciting part of research and share techniques that can help you stay healthy while you work. The webinar will tackle the perineal issues within research that add stress and inhibit imposter feelings and will further ways of dealing with setbacks, strategies to efficiently counter imposter syndrome and most importantly, teach you how to switch off and take care of yourself. The webinar will give you a chance to interact with Hugh and ask any questions you have about maintaining a healthy research career. You can also join the Researcher Academy Mendeley group to ask any questions in advance which Hugh can make a part of the webinar.

See you then and happy researching!

 

Meet the Team- Sahil Sennik

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Name: Sahil Sennik

Job title: L2 Service desk specialist

sahilIntro bio: The best way to describe myself would be pretty nerdy.  I enjoy playing around with technology, whether it be consistently specing my PC or making my home as smart as possible with sensors triggering coloured light bulbs to turn my room into a disco or EDM night club!  In my opinion, there’s nothing better to come home to.  Aside from that, I am a huge football fan and support Arsenal.  Come on you gunners!

 

When did you join Mendeley?  I joined Mendeley October 2016

What do you love most about your job? I really enjoy being a liaison between our customers and developers.  The way I see it, it’s a two-way street – on one hand, getting those really annoying or experience damaging bugs fixed and seeing our users enjoy the product and seamlessly use it is always a win.  On the other hand, delivering positive feedback and constructive criticism to our developers always helps us learn and grow stronger.  Being a part of that is invaluable.

What book did you most recently read? Cat and Mouse by James Patterson.  My favourite of the Alex Cross series so far!

What’s one thing you want people to know about Mendeley?  I don’t just see Mendeley as a reference management software.  It is an extremely powerful collaboration tool too.  As someone who may just want to meet people in the Scientific/research community, publish their work, or be part of a group where you can share ideas, Mendeley caters to that extremely well.  In summary, think of Mendeleyans as one huge family, where you can meet so many like-minded people and be a part of such a great community.

How would you explain your job to a stranger on a bus? Quite simply put – My job is to ensure your issues are mine.  You have a problem with the product I represent and I will do whatever I can to get it fixed, even if it takes days weeks or months.  It may be technical or something as simple as a spelling mistake.  If it bugs you, it bugs me, and therefore, it will bug our developers!

What’s the most exciting part of your job? It may seem quite trivial, but I’d have to say my weekly team meetings.  This is a meeting all about us and how we can help each other help our customers as effectively as possible.  The brainstorming and discussions held during the meetings really motivate me to start working on ideas as soon as possible.  Seeing them succeed and witnessing the positive outcomes really keeps me driven.

What keeps you awake at night? Cliffhangers from my favourite shows.  Why must we suffer this way!

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned this week?  I recently helped one of my closest friends find a job after almost three months without one.  The whole experience really showed me how even the slightest intervention in a person’s life can mean the world to them.

 

Empower Researchers to Reach Their Full Potential with Mendeley

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mendeley resourcesPrevious articles about Mendeley have been directed towards researchers, and how they can benefit from this powerful online workflow ecosystem. Mendeley helps researchers, readers and authors build their knowledge, stay up to date on trends, organize, advance and showcase their research, track and store the data they generate, move their careers forward, and find funding. But Mendeley is important to you and your library as well. It can raise and sustain your perception as a valuable resource center for all the different constituencies within the university.

The Future Holds Legitimate Concerns

There’s no denying that librarians need and want to reinvent themselves. While libraries will not cease to exist, they are becoming a reimagined asset that you must define, promote and manage. You need to be recognized as the “Switzerland” of your institution, retaining control of resources and decision-making while simultaneously having the right avenues to content for any possible research objective or need.

In addition to your own challenges, your researchers are more stressed than ever. Broad-based collaboration is much more prevalent, especially among younger researchers. The scramble for research funding is shifting from local to global, and research from emerging markets is increasing in volume and value. Researchers continue to seek more entry points to open science. At the same time, they must keep up with the latest technological developments without losing focus on their research topics. Universities are competing harder than ever for every research dollar – and that competition is felt to varying degrees throughout each institution.

Not surprisingly, nearly all of you are forced to do more with less. No librarian has ever said that she or he has too much funding or too large a staff! With an increased workload and a decreased headcount, it’s necessary for you to streamline wherever possible. You’re responsible for managing a large number of databases and platforms, and simplification is critical if you’re going to be successful.

You Can Facilitate Change with Mendeley

As librarians, you love to provide guidance that leads to solutions. You want to be better at anticipating needs and supporting goals. Efficient processes are important to you. You also want to know how resources will fit into your budget. You’re on board with the evolution of your role and that of your library, and so is Mendeley. You have a golden opportunity to help your researchers unlock the future of science. Let Mendeley help you serve as the cornerstone for revolutionary discoveries. It’s the workflow resource your researchers want and need.

 

Showcase Your Research with Mendeley

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mendeley difference

The last Mendeley article looked at Mendeley Data, and how it helps you manage your data while you focus on your research. But you also have to manage your research persona…and Mendeley can do that too. It enables you to inform your peers and the public about your academic accomplishments, extending your influence and your career prospects. In addition, Mendeley can help you discover, review and keep track of the profiles of other researchers who could inspire your work or just might end up being your future collaborators.

The Right Connections are Out There

Once you open a free Mendeley account and create a profile, you can join one or more groups, or form your own group to drive information sharing that highlights your research. In Public Groups, you can quickly make new connections by searching for people and finding researchers with similar interests. Your Mendeley feed suggests individuals you might want to follow as well. With only a minimal time investment, you immediately become part of a community – a network of eight million peers now able to learn about your research and your accomplishments.

While you’re shining a light on your research, you’re also opening new opportunities to partner with others working in your field or a related one. The diverse membership of Mendeley’s Research Network represents virtually every field of research, facilitating collaboration across the globe.

Mendeley’s Intelligence Complements Yours

Your research requires you to be highly disciplined, efficient and an expert in your field. Mendeley works that way as well, automatically capturing information like authors, title and publisher. By making organization and browsing easy, Mendeley broadens the reach of your research with minimal effort on your part.

By generating citations and bibliographies while you write, Mendeley shares your process with others and highlights your work. Mendeley enables you to easily see who’s viewing, downloading and citing your research. It gives you more chances to make important discoveries, whether on your own or as part of a team.

You can easily add your research interests to your Mendeley account, encouraging others with the same or related interests to follow you. You may also update your profile with your unique ORCID indentifier, and link with your Scopus profile, to further showcase your research information. Mendeley shows details such as your h-index, citations, readers and views during a given time period.

Don’t Keep Your Light Under a Basket

You have a golden opportunity to make a difference and inspire a community – perhaps the world – with your research. Mendeley can help you expand your impact while you’re focused on your work. Why not be part of a network of connections – and call attention to your achievements – when it’s so easy to do?

Get started! Sign up today.

Don’t Miss a Beat with Mendeley Research Network

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SUTD BLOGYou’ve seen that funding sources tend to reward the “new and shiny”…but how do you know for sure if your project falls into that category? You must to be able to demonstrate independent thought, and dispel any concern that someone else might be working on the same exact problem. Since you’re also trying to do it all with fewer resources, it’s more important than ever for you to quickly and easily confirm the unique nature of your research, as well as new, possibly related developments in the same or associated field. Thankfully, Mendeley addresses this fundamental factor in the success of your research: staying up to date. Mendeley Research Network, part of the unified Mendeley ecosystem, gives you exactly what you need to remain current on industry news and trends, free and right at your fingertips.

Staying Informed and Connected Doesn’t Have to be a Chore

By creating a Mendeley account, you join a global community of more than eight million researchers active in virtually any STEM field imaginable. Once you establish your online research profile, Mendeley Research Network makes it easy to engage with one of the world’s largest and most diverse scientific communities. Elsevier has made it versatile and very convenient to use; you can securely access Mendeley on any computer via the desktop client, a web browser, or your mobile app.

Anyone with a Mendeley account can start or join a Public or Private Group. Public Groups are forums to share knowledge and discuss new research with peers having similar interests. You can also create Private Groups visible only to invited members, allowing you reveal and receive information securely. Dedicated to specific topics, groups enable you to find references, exchange ideas, discuss significant new developments, and even share curated reading lists. Based on your stated interests, Mendeley offers personalized suggestions of people to follow, to help you make the right connections and facilitate collaboration. And if you want to be alerted to new activity, you can ask Mendeley to do that too.

Suggest and Feed Expand Your Options

Based on the articles in your library and your research topics, Mendeley Suggest delivers tailored recommendations to broaden your view of topics of interest. You can receive these in weekly email updates, through the Mendeley app or when you sign into your account. With more than 30 million references to research papers and other literature, Mendeley Research Network gives you plenty of resources!

Mendeley Feed ensures that you stay up to date with your network and discover relevant new researchers. By simply signing in, you see notifications about new publications, profile updates from researchers, and comments from group discussions.

Never Be Out of the Loop Again

By constantly updating its index – and therefore keeping you up-to-the-minute on emerging trends –Mendeley’s Research Network supports discussion, discovery and innovation. Trusted by millions of your peers, it gives you the data you need when and where you need it. Never be afraid of falling behind again; with Mendeley Research Network, you’ll always be on the cutting edge.

Mendeley Can Help Your Research Career Take Off

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mendeley opportunities

In the previous article, we explored the ways Elsevier’s Mendeley can help you succeed as a researcher. In fact, you may already use Mendeley to manage your research. But did you know it can also help you manage your research career? Achieving recognition and advancing your career can seem like a full-time job, and often a struggle. But with the Mendeley Careers tool, part of the unified Mendeley ecosystem, you have a free assistant to help you build your career in science, technology, engineering or medicine and perhaps a better balanced lifestyle.

Despite Collaboration, Competition Still Exists

There are 10 million mid-level and senior researchers worldwide…not to mention the 100 million students trying to follow in their footsteps. Most of those researchers are working to become principal investigators (PIs) or have already reached that milestone. And it is a milestone – congratulations! You finally have proof that you’re moving up, and not out. You’re the head of a laboratory or a research group leader. And if you’re still on the path to being a PI, you are striving to demonstrate your value as a successful team member.

Many PIs are looking for their next career move. They are eager to know how they stack up professionally to their peers. In the US, researchers may be reaching for a spot in the top 200 institutions. Some principal investigators will transition into the corporate world; but many do not want to follow that track, at least not yet. They want to continue to experience the serendipity of discovery, and become leaders in their respective fields.

Mendeley Does the Job-Hunting While You Focus on Your Research

When you’re looking for a new chapter in your career, it’s hard to know where to begin. Trawling through lists on job boards is stressful and time-consuming. Mendeley Careers can do the hard work for you, eliminating that stress and the drain on your time. With more than 200 thousand posted opportunities across academia and leading industry corporations, it’s the world’s largest free online search engine for STEM careers.

Mendeley Careers is quick and easy to use: you sign up, upload your CV, and voila, you begin to receive job opportunity notifications. Mendeley is the perfect partnership between smart people and smart technology. Unlike other STEM job search engines and job boards that match candidates based solely on their search alerts, Mendeley Careers goes further. It uses human curation and sophisticated algorithms to match the most relevant opportunities with candidates, developed from a detailed understanding of their interests and expertise. Its built-in intelligence ensures that you’re alerted to all of the posts that are right for you – no more missed opportunities! You can start applying for positions right away, knowing your search is thorough, secure and confidential.

Need help figuring out your next move? Mendeley Careers has that covered, too. It features a Careers blog, written by experts, to help you consider the pros and cons, narrow down your options, and formulate a decision about the best step forward in your research profession.

Mendeley Can Help Assemble the Right Team

PIs and others who are heading up research teams want the best and the brightest to contribute to the success of their projects. They need to identify top talent, often in a short timeframe, and this is where Mendeley Careers comes in once again.

Discover Where You Could Be Working Tomorrow with Mendeley Careers

Most professionals would agree that they’re better at research than job-hunting. So it only makes sense that you employ the most helpful tools in identifying and securing new positions, either for yourself or in creating a team. Mendeley Careers lets you do what you know and love, while it finds the opportunities to enable you to move forward in your career. The innovative Elsevier team behind Mendeley is made up of former researchers, data scientists, and process engineers; they understand your domain, and many of them have walked in your shoes.

You want to be effective in your research and satisfied with your life. Don’t miss out on your perfect career opportunity! Check out Mendeley Careers today, and put it to work for you and your future.

 

 

Find the Funding Your Research Needs with Mendeley

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The second article in the series about Mendeley described how Mendeley Careers can help you manage your own research career or help you build an excellent research team. But no career or team can move forward without money to make the research happen. As you’ve undoubtedly seen, the landscape for research funding is changing. While local funding is still dominant, global funding is beginning to gain ground, especially in Europe. In addition, a larger percentage of funding is being directed towards emerging markets, adding to the competition for every dollar. You – and your institution – have to work more diligently than ever to identify and pursue financial opportunities to support your research. Did you know that Elsevier has a valuable tool to help you succeed in this quest? Mendeley Funding, part of the unified Mendeley ecosystem, can raise your batting average in finding and keeping the resources you need.

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The Odds Make Funding as Challenging as Your Research

Every researcher’s hypothesis has the potential to fundamentally change science, technology, engineering or medicine; unfortunately, many of them will never see the light of day. As you probably know, an average of only one in five grant proposals is funded. Most gamblers wouldn’t be crazy about those odds, yet you are forced to seek funding under that pressure throughout your research career. In addition, once you finally obtain funding, you have to work to sustain it throughout the life of your project. Knowing the odds you’re facing, why wouldn’t you want to use a free resource to gain a competitive advantage – and make your professional life a bit easier?

Mendeley Funding Aggregates Thousands of Options to Streamline the Process

Research, in general, is becoming more collaborative in nature, spanning domains and regions. In order to advance your science and your career, you need to succeed in – and fund – a collaborative environment. Mid-career researchers, in particular, experience this change as you shift from doing the work to leading teams. Mendeley Funding enables both individuals and team leaders to more easily acquire necessary funding, allowing you to increase your focus on the research itself.

So go to Mendeley Funding and start by creating a free account. You’ll find a collection of timely and relevant grant information from more than 2,000 organizations worldwide including US government agencies, the European Union, and UK Research councils. Each funding organization has its own Mendeley Funding page, which you can easily browse to view details about the most up-to-date opportunities: when they were posted, the deadlines for applications, the types and amounts of funding, and any restrictions on submissions. If you like what you see, bookmarking opportunities are easy; you just click the star to save your favorites for future reference.

With Mendeley Funding, You Don’t Need to Spend Money to Get Money

Mendeley Funding gives you access to a future-forward view of funding opportunities. Elsevier’s Mendeley team, which consists of former researchers, data scientists, and process engineers, is continuously gathering the latest information from funders, to offer you a unique collection of pertinent possibilities to finance your research. They know what you need and made Mendeley Funding robust and easy to use for funding searches. You know there won’t be a research career without proper funding, so let this tool from Elsevier help you make your dreams become reality. Take a look at Mendeley Funding today, and start to go for that funding that will move your research forward!

 

 

 

Mendeley: Everything a Researcher Needs to Succeed

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Researchers work very hard, often for little reward, and usually under considerable stress. While the satisfaction of discovery, and the prestige of developing a scientific breakthrough are certainly fulfilling, you can rarely sit back and celebrate. Have I shown independent thought? Does my discovery stand out? What if someone else is working on this same problem? Will the results of my research make a difference to society? Am I building a career here? Will funding sources consider this exciting enough to merit financing? Am I working as efficiently as I can?

Elsevier understands that you’re forced to do more with less. You have to chart your own course, promoting yourselves to a multitude of people and seeking recognition wherever possible. As your career progresses, you have to succeed both as individuals and team leaders. But you don’t have to do it alone, thanks to Elsevier’s online research workflow ecosystem known as Mendeley. Mendeley adds value to every step of your career, whether you’re a doctoral student, post-doc, assistant professor or principal investigator. It makes you feel empowered, organized, confident and connected. And best of all, it’s free!

The Research Landscape is Changing

The life of a researcher is a study in contradictions. You have more opportunities than ever to discover, to make an impact and to interact with their peers. But with all the conveniences that have made research easier – online resources, technology-driven tools, open access, virtual professional communities – you still face many of the same challenges…some with a new twist. First, while there is still a scramble for research funding, it is beginning to shift from local to global. While Europe is ahead of the United States in this trend, it’s a factor to be considered when you’re seeking financial backing. Broad-based collaboration is also more prevalent, especially among younger researchers. Depending upon the problem being explored, the location and the source(s) of funding, a collaborative approach may be best for a new research project.

Research from emerging markets is increasing in volume and value. Researchers from these areas are more egalitarian and likely to collaborate, and need more resources in their own languages as well. Open science continues to be a priority among researchers, as it enables you to collaborate and see a shared impact more easily. However, you also continue to search for more entry points to open science. In addition, the increasing importance of using new technologies, like artificial intelligence, challenges you to keep up with the latest developments without losing focus on your research topics.

Many universities also are changing their model relative to research, with entrepreneurship becoming a growing initiative. Forming companies out of research initiatives is a draw to younger researchers, and an investment for the institutions. It can provide them with a revenue stream, a partnership with outside corporations or both. At the same time, universities are competing harder than ever for every research dollar. They need to attract, and keep, top-tier faculty and students, whose success stories will in turn propel them into the forefront for the next generation of researchers.

When You’re Leading the Charge, Choose a Multi-Faceted Tool

Given this scenario, it’s more important than ever for you to be supported in all facets of your career, from organizing your research and collaborating with other researchers worldwide to sharing datasets and seeking career opportunities. Think of Mendeley as the Swiss Army Knife® of resources for a research vocation. Just like a Swiss Army Knife, Mendeley is a single entity with multiple parts, a unified environment. And it’s likely that you will use the “knife” portion of Mendeley, Reference Management, most often. But there are other convenient tools within Mendeley – Research Network, Data, Careers and Funding – that are unique and equally valuable in enabling your success. For every research need, Mendeley has a solution.

Focus on Doing Your Research, Not Managing It

While you’re busy shaping the future, Mendeley Reference Management makes you more efficient. You spend less time on document management and more time on your research. The Mendeley Reference Manager enables you to easily organize and search a personal library, annotate documents and cite as you write. It automatically captures information such as authors, title and publisher, which makes organization and browsing easy. You can create a profile, as well as start and join groups to find inspiring people and information.

Mendeley’s Citation Plugin is compatible with Word and LibreOffice, so you can generate citations and bibliographies while you write. You can also annotate on documents as you read, or share documents with groups of colleagues and annotate them together. Reference Manager gives you the option to easily import papers and other documents from your desktop, your existing libraries or websites.

Communities Keep You Connected – and In the Know

Mendeley Research Network hosts a global community of more than eight million researchers in every field from institutions worldwide. You can create a research profile, including a curated list of your publications and affiliations, and discover others in your research network. Then you can join groups or start one of your own – either public or private – to engage with your peers.

Based on your interests, Mendeley delivers personalized suggestions for articles to read and people to follow. You can also set alerts to make sure you don’t miss any activity in your network, keeping you connected and informed.

Do You Know Where Your Data Is?

Mendeley Data optimizes the discoverability of your data and fosters teamwork, by facilitating the improved management of your datasets. It’s a secure cloud-based open science repository, so your data is easy to share, access and cite from any location. When you use Mendeley Data, you control who gets to use your data; you can share your data only with colleagues and co-authors before publication, or publish your data to the world. Mendeley Data also supports versioning, simplifying longitudinal studies. Best of all, your data is accessible and archived for as long as you need it by Data Archiving & Networked Services.

Move Up or Move Out

Realistically, that’s the mantra of a researcher’s career.  Mendeley Careers is the world’s largest free online search engine for career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and medicine. It enables you to match your profile and expertise to more than 200 thousand posted opportunities. You can upload your CV and get job alerts via the smart notification system, ensuring that you don’t miss any golden opportunities. You can also use Mendeley Careers to identify the top talent you’d like to add to your team.

Show Me the Money

How much time do you spend trying to find the funding that you and your team members need? If you use Mendeley Funding, it could be a lot less. Elsevier aggregates and catalogs relevant grant information from more than two thousand organizations worldwide – including US government agencies, the European Union, and UK Research councils – to help you find the right fit for your research. Each organization has its own Mendeley Funding page, and you can easily browse and bookmark favorites for future reference. Timely opportunities are key; Elsevier constantly updates the Mendeley funding index to ensure that you have the latest opportunities at your fingertips.

It’s a Personal Assistant, a PR agent and a Milestone Enabler

As your research career advances, you take on more managerial responsibility, leaving you less time to devote to hands-on work. But to move your research forward, and succeed in your career, you need to focus more on the success of your work with your collaborators and less on personal “doing.”

Mendeley is designed to assist you in making this shift. The Elsevier team behind Mendeley is made up of former researchers, data scientists, and process engineers, who are dedicated to empowering you and taking the friction out of teamwork. Mendeley can help you organize your work, assemble a talented team, connect and collaborate, share data, get funding, and stay up to date on trends – so you can maximize the value of your work with your collaborators and the impact of your research.

You’ll form many partnerships during your career, and Mendeley should be one of them. If you haven’t tried Mendeley yet, what are you waiting for?

Get Started!