Workshop on publishing your research

by Prof. Brendan Murphy

On 11 April, Professor Brendan Murphy (Haydn Williams Fellow) gave a seminar at the Curtin Applied Geology Department on the art of getting published in geoscience journals. The workshop was attended by 35 individuals from Curtin University, University of Western Australia, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia (25% early career researchers, 75% PhD students). Prof Murphy recounted an experience from early in his career:

“When my first reviewed manuscript was returned to me from a journal, one of the reviewers stated succinctly: ‘I cannot foresee any circumstances in which any part of this manuscript can be published at any time’!  Learning to write effective geoscience papers that have impact is an art. We all get better with experience, but how do we get this experience?”

As a current editor of the journal Geology and a former editor of several other peer-review journals, Prof Murphy is uniquely qualified to provide insight into the peer-review and publication process. The two-hour workshop helped remove some of the mystery of the peer review process, and will provide some guide as to how to produce a manuscript that the reviewers cannot resist. We are very fortunate to have a resource like Prof Murphy here in Perth and thank him for his time and words of wisdom.

Brendan Murphy is the current Hadyn Williams Fellow at Curtin University and has been Professor of Geology at St. Francis Xavier University (Canada) since 1982, having completed his Geology MSc at Acadia University and PhD at McGill University.