What is publishing a paper?

[cybernetics]

Hi,

I want to know what actually does it mean to get a paper published as in what one gets after doing it (some reward or something??)??

Like, people go to conferneces to present their research paper.. does it mean that it has been accepted

and, what is a patent.. how can we use our research for starting anew business??

[ajb]

I want to know what actually does it mean to get a paper published as in what one gets after doing it (some reward or something??)??

 

Getting a paper published usually means getting the paper in a peer reviewed journal or maybe a conference proceedings. The latter may or may not have the same level of standards as a proper peer reviewed journal.

 

The rewards are professional rather than directly monetary. Publishing a paper was the main way of dissemination of ones work. Today we have the arXiv for mathematics, physics and related topics. Publishing in peer reviewed journals shows that you not scared of professional criticism and that your work is of interest to other researchers.

 

Peer reviewed publications are one of the main ways to asses a researcher. "Publish or perish" springs to mind.

 

 

Like, people go to conferneces to present their research paper.. does it mean that it has been accepted

and, what is a patent.. how can we use our research for starting anew business??

 

Sometimes just presenting a paper means that it is accepted for publication in the conference proceedings. However, some conference proceedings are peer reviewed before publication.

 

I don't know the details for patents, other than they need to be registered.

[DrRocket]

I don't know the details for patents, other than they need to be registered.

 

Getting a patent involves some expense ($5K-$20K or so) in conducting searches and properly phrasing the application. A good patent attorney can patent almost anything. Having the patent upheld in court in the face of a challenge is another (expensive, sometimes $ millions)) kettle of fish.

[CharonY]

Publishing papers is basically just a means to demonstrate research being done (and to disseminate it, of course). In most cases you pay the journals for publishing it (in case it gets accepted). If you have something patent worthy there are several layer of claims that have to be filed (quite a lengthy and costly process, as DrRocket mentioned). However, assuming that it was in an university setting, there is usually someone around that assists with that because in the end intellectual property belongs to the university. Some do assist in creating a start-up, though.

[matty]

Wait, the above posters aren't quite right, there are nearly as many rewards to getting your work published as there are places to do it and that's because there are so many varied places and ways to do it. Pay or no, it's pretty nice to see your work in print, and in the event it really meant something to you, then, it follows it should be twice as nice.

 

You can get a piece of your research, a technical paper or even just an opinion published in many places, from your local and state to your national newspapers to 'niche' ezines, (online magazines that are specifically tailored to your piece) and all the way to your own personal blogs or blogs you write for online sources by piecework, becoming a regular contributor.

 

Many of them are for compensation, (some small pay), many of them consider it an even trade, your contribution (your piece of study/opinion) for the exposure they're giving you in return.

 

Some of them just pay in 'contributor copies,' giving you several copies of your work in print.

[InigoMontoya]

I want to know what actually does it mean to get a paper published as in what one gets after doing it (some reward or something??)??

Like, people go to conferneces to present their research paper.. does it mean that it has been accepted

and, what is a patent.. how can we use our research for starting anew business??

 

In my experience (Defense Industry)...

 

Getting published usually means one of two things....

 

1) Having a paper put in as part of conference proceedings (after you present, of course). These papers are often pretty useless as they can often be summed up: "We did some really cool work in field XYZ, but we can't tell you about it right now because this is not a secure location. Here's my name/number/email. Call me if you're interested." In other words, it's a glorified infomercial. But if it gets you customers or more funding, it's time well spent.

 

2) Putting together a "Technical Memo" or "Technical Report" (depending upon length). This is typically not peer reviewed in the traditional sense, but pushing it through the process takes money so you have to have convinced somebody it was good enough work that they were willing to fund both the work and it's publication. The good news is that you can say whatever you want (but often don't because the red tape increases exponentially with increased classification). When somebody calls you as a result of your conference presentation, this is the document you give them as it has "real" information in it (although you can certainly put together a TM/R without doing a conference presentation).

 

 

Patents are just what you think they are. As somebody else said, a good patent lawyer can get just about anything patented but defending that patent may be very difficult indeed. Two more comments on patents....

 

1) Everybody is aware of the traditional patent where you have some new gizmo. There's also what's known as a "method patent." An MP is basically the patent of a process. The equipment may be old hat, but the application of the equipment is new.

 

2) There are some new, radically different patent laws. I don't know if they're about to go into effect or if they already have. I'm not a patent guy per se. I just know that about six months ago I was told that if I had any patent stuff in the near future to turn it in NOW because there were some new laws and things were likely going to be much tougher to patent in the very near future.

Edited October 18, 2011 by InigoMontoya

[ajb]

Publishing papers is basically just a means to demonstrate research being done (and to disseminate it, of course). In most cases you pay the journals for publishing it (in case it gets accepted).

 

I have gone for journals that do not have any fees to publish. The reason is simple, I don't have any funding to pass that cost on. Such journals have a subscription fee or even allow individual papers to be bought.

 

But then we have the arXiv for preprints and just about everyone will put versions of published papers online.

 

I am not sure what effect this has really had on journals. Preprints of articles are now free and available to everyone.

 

You work in biology if I recall, and things there maybe different.