AWC Welcome Day 2022

This workshop is intended for early-career researchers in mathematics or for researchers outside the field that plan to publish a mathematical paper.

In the first part, we will briefly discuss general aspects of writing, reviewing, and publishing as well as possible expectations that the involved parties might have. We will also talk about co-authorship habits and beliefs that help to write better. In addition, we will review some criteria for "good mathematical writing." Finally, we will also discuss practical resources such as Latex, Tikz, and Grammarly.

In the second part, we will review several principles for transforming badly written proofs into well-written ones. We will focus on removing clutter while at the same time remaining correct. The following questions will be discussed: How many lemmas should one use? How many definitions and symbols are used? How many details of calculations are needed? How much background should be added? Which logical constructions are hard to read and which ones are easy? Making proofs more readable is not only useful for the reader, but also leads to a deeper understanding of the presented materials and better ways to think about them. 

Speaker: Bruno Bauwens obtained a Bachelor’s in mathematics, a Master’s in engineering, and a Ph.D. in theoretical computer science at Ghent University. After completing several postdoc programs in Nancy, Montpellier, and Porto, he became an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department of the HSE University. He has been publishing papers in machine learning, information theory, logic, and computational complexity. He has taught a course in theoretical computer science with a writing module to Ph.D. students.

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Unfortunately, great research is not enough to get published. Even the best ideas can be rejected if they are not packaged properly. This is true for all researchers no matter what their mother tongue is. Editors may often ask authors to rewrite the text to improve its readability. What makes the difference between a grammatically correct and a readable paper? What do editors mean when they ask to make the text "coherent and transparent" so it "runs smoothly" or "flows”? Why should it even matter? 

During the workshop, we will master the skill of looking at papers through the editor's eyes and practice rewriting some samples from this perspective. The main takeaway will be a checklist of typical obstacles on the way to readability and the ways of coping with the difficulties. 

Speaker: Marharyta Fabrykant is a leading research fellow at the Laboratory for Comparative Studies in Mass Consciousness at the Expert Institute of the HSE University. She holds Ph.D. degrees in sociology and social psychology and has published in many international journals including Comparative Sociology, Europe-Asia Studies, the Nationalities Papers, Nations and Nationalism, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Slavic Review. She is on the editorial board of three journals and has served both as a reviewer and as a guest editor. Many of her papers in English have been published without co-authors or professional proofreading, solely by means of self-editing.

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You have submitted an article and are waiting for a reply from the editor. What is the editor doing in the meantime? Every day the editor receives a great number of submissions and has to make his/her judgment on the quality of the submitted documents. What makes the editor “throw the paper into the bin”? How can the author avoid desk rejection? What criteria does the editor use to send the manuscript to reviewers? All these questions and more will be discussed at the workshop. The speaker will share his editorial perspective on submissions, will give you examples of what can go wrong, and how to make the author-editor communication effective.

Speaker: Dirk Meissner, Distinguished Professor HSE, Head of the Laboratory for Economics of Innovation at HSE, and Academic Head of the international master program “Governance Science, Technology and Innovation.”  He is Associate Editor of Technological Forecasting and Social Change journal and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management as well as Springer book series Science, Technology and Innovation Studies. He guest-edited several Special Issues in journals such as Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, Journal of Business Research and Technovation among others.

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It always takes a significant effort to write a research paper, especially if it is your first paper. As we know, writing is learning by doing. So, looking now at the way your first paper was written can sometimes be  painful – the paper does not look perfect. At the workshop, I will go back to the past and, using my first published paper as an example, discuss problems and issues one can face when finalizing their (first) paper for journal submission. We will focus on the most challenging things: how to organize the introduction and how to avoid potential “red flags” in your paper. I will also present some practical exercises based on my own experience. Please get ready with your questions for the in-class discussion.

Speaker: Alexander Tarasov, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Theoretical Economics, Faculty of Economic Sciences, HSE University. Alexander received his Ph.D. degree in economics at the Pennsylvania State University in 2009. From 2009 till 2015, he worked at the University of Munich as an Assistant Professor. Alexander published his research papers in many leading research journals in Economics including the Journal of International Economics, American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, European Economic Review, etc.

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Some people attend the AWC’s consultations because they have already been rejected by their chosen journal. Others come for assistance and advice before submitting their articles for publication. Whatever the subject matter, there are certain rules and protocols to be followed – some common ones between journals, and other, journal-specific ones which must be met before publication is achieved. The purpose of this workshop is to raise awareness of the requirements and mistakes that we come across frequently, how to be better prepared and maximize the use of the consultations.

Speaker: Pete Dick, the AWC’s consultant,  spent all his working life in the computing industry, running his own IT Consultancy company from 1991 onwards, prior to moving to Moscow in 2010, where he retrained and qualified as an English teacher. His background, together with people management and project management skills saw him quickly develop into the role of Deputy General Director of a school in Moscow before he set up his own, independent school. He also has wide experience in editing and proofreading papers written by Russian speakers of English, in collaboration with the AWC.

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The quote from a reviewer “I understand what is meant, and sympathize with the idea, but the phrasing is awkward” sums up pretty much all the “why nots” for my article rejection. Sadly, all the translating, rewriting, and proofreading that my co-author and I did was not enough to put the pre-existing article draft written in Russian first into a publishable state in English. As painful as it was, most of the criticism voiced by the reviewer was valid. The most important point these comments highlighted was the difference in Russian and international academic conventions, resulting from different research approaches and publication traditions. After a proper grievance over the rejection, I’m going to analyze my mistakes and share academic “blind spots” to figure out better ways to meet international publication standards for pre-existing research. I’m also inviting you to share your success or failure stories.   

Speaker: Anastasia Artemova graduated from the Institute for Oriental Cultures and Antiques (RSUH) and then was on her Ph.D. journey for a long time afterwards, mostly as an independent researcher. Her major is Korean Classical Art and Culture. Anastasia regularly participates in international conferences and workshops on Korean Culture and Art and teaches the Korean language at the HSE University. Her biggest challenge, however, has been getting published, which she has been addressing by proactively working on improving her academic writing skills.

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