you are considering where to submit research for publication, it is important to select a journal that is a good “fit” for your research. Often you can make an informed judgment by looking at your references and assessing where most of the research you cite has been published. It makes sense to submit your manuscript to a journal you have cited! Editors will often “desk reject” a manuscript they judge to be a poor fit for their journal (e.g., as evidenced by a lack of citations to that journal). A desk reject means that the manuscript is not sent out for review.
File Drawer Phenomenon
Earlier we talked about the difficulty in having an article accepted for publication, with one of the basic criteria being research where the null hypothesis has been rejected. Not all research works out, and then it may be “filed away.” This problem with nonsignificant results being filed away contributes to what is known as the file drawer phenomenon or effect, a term introduced by Robert Rosenthal in 1979 in his article “The ‘File Drawer Problem’ and Tolerance for Null Results.” This problem is a form of publication bias, in which nonsignificant results do not contribute to the body of knowledge about a particular issue and are therefore not published. When this happens, particular findings appear to be more robust or reliable than in fact they are, given the unpublished data that remain “in the drawer,” so to speak.
File drawer phenomenon or effect: Form of publication bias in which research appears more reliable than it is because articles on the topic that have not rejected the null hypothesis have not been published.
At the other end of the file drawer spectrum, a problem may occur when data produce significant results unwanted by the researcher (e.g., supporting the work of another theorist). If this researcher then decides to “file” the data, the case is problematic. Not only do we have less information about a research topic, but there is also a kind of academic dishonesty in not sharing significant findings inconsistent with one’s predictions or theoretical model.
Journal Articles Versus Book Chapters
Overall, the primary mode of advancing knowledge in the social and behavioral sciences is the journal article, and in particular the peer-reviewed journal article, as was discussed earlier. Journal articles have the advantage of a short “time to market” because it takes much less time to publish an article than a book; this is even more likely to be the case with the availability of electronic journals. Furthermore, although books may be peer reviewed, that is less likely the case than for journal articles. In addition, even though books may present original research (i.e., be considered primary source material), they are more likely to synthesize existing research (i.e., be considered secondary source material), especially in the case of edited volumes. For those reasons, journal articles are likely to be the major source of information that you include in the Introduction of a research project.
Revisit and Respond 2.3
What do the number of experiments and sophistication of data analyses suggest about an article?
What is Beall’s List?
When we talk about the publication practices of a journal, what do we mean?
Why do reviewers need ethical standards?
State the null hypothesis in your own words.
Why might replications become more common in the future?
What is the file drawer phenomenon?
Physically Obtaining an Article: A Closer Look at Databases
Earlier in the chapter, the presented material covered keywords and narrowing or broadening your search to identify a manageable number of articles to consult. Now more depth about electronic resources will be provided and guidance about physically obtaining those articles.
A lot of browsing is done “online” using electronic resources (E-resources). It is important to know how to obtain the physical copies of the resources about your topic. Your library homepage will probably contain links to a Catalogue (to find books), Electronic Resources such as Databases and Indexes (to find journals), and Online Journals (full text). Databases and indexes are typically used to locate an article of interest. Online journals provide articles (although not necessarily for all dates of publication) in downloadable form.
Once you have located an article of interest through a database or index, you want to determine whether the article is immediately downloadable from a journal with online access (from the library’s collection of online journals). In databases like PsycINFO, the user enters a keyword and selects several fields (“Select a Field”) such as author name, journal where the article appears, publication date, or a combination of these fields to locate a relevant article. The next question is how to obtain that article. This process usually involves your library’s electronic journal holdings. For a given article you have located, there is usually an option to check for “full text” (see Figure 2.8).
Some articles are linked directly to the database citation via a linking tool with a symbol that states “PDF full text” (see Figure 2.9). Compare Figures 2.8 and 2.9.
When the PDF Full Text symbol and/or the HTML Full Text symbols are present (see Figure 2.9), just click on one of these links and your article will appear. PDF full text is preferred because the article will have the visual appearance of the actual article (e.g., with the correct page numbers and all figures). The HTML version is computer generated, and not all figures or images may appear; in addition, the formatting is not identical to the actual article, making it difficult to identify original page numbers if you want to quote from the article. If the symbols are not present (see Figure 2.8), you typically click on the link that says, “Check for Full text.” This link will either provide options for obtaining the article (e.g., “Content is available via the following links” and these will be listed to click on) or you will see a statement something like: “Sorry, no holdings were found for this journal. Please see additional options below for finding this journal.” The additional option will typically be requesting the item through interlibrary loan (see Figure 2.10). Interlibrary loan is a system that allows library patrons to request library materials not held by their institution. Librarians carefully select the combination of databases they offer (pay for) to give library patrons the greatest coverage, but they can’t provide every resource. Interlibrary loan allows users to obtain needed materials through other libraries.
Figure 2.8 Screenshot of a Library’s Electronic Journal Holdings for a Specific Article With Option to Check for Full Text
Source: PsycINFO®.
Figure 2.9 Screenshot of a Library’s Electronic Journal Holdings for a Specific Article With Option to Download PDF or HTML Full Text
Source: PsycINFO.
Interlibrary loan: System that allows library patrons to request library materials not held by their institution.
Figure 2.10 Screenshot of Interlibrary Loan Request for a Specific Article Not Available at Current Library
Source: PsycINFO.
PsycINFO Versus PsycARTICLES