One fine afternoon, Susan bumped into her lab colleague Akira after having lunch at the university cafeteria. That morning, Akira learned that a renowned journal had rejected his manuscript.  

Susan: “Hey Akira, how has your day been so far?”  

Akira: “Well, not that great. My manuscript just got rejected. The journal feels that although my study is sound, it is unlikely to make any significant impact in the real world.”  

Susan: “I am glad they said it is a “sound” study, Akira.”  

Akira: “What do you mean, Susan?” 

Susan then explains to Akira the meaning of “sound” research studies and why such studies need inclusive platforms like Cureus Journals. In today’s blog post, I will illuminate key concepts related to inclusive research publishing.  

The Evolution of Publishing 

The higher costs associated with printing and distribution in the 1900s led to the emergence of selective, low-volume journals, which subsequently became synonymous with quality after the introduction of the “Impact Factor.” However, the advent of online open access publishing helped shift some of these paradigms, enabling higher article volumes while maintaining quality and broadening access to advanced scientific knowledge.

Another change in the research landscape has been a major change in the diversity of research contributors. While twenty years ago, western nations dominated in contributing to research publishing, a review on SCImago reveals that China produced the highest number of citable documents across all research areas; over a million citable documents in 2023, followed by the US, India, the UK, and Germany.     

What Exactly is Inclusive Research Publishing? 

Inclusivity, in general, revolves around the core concept of evaluating research based on its technical soundness and adherence to community standards rather than its perceived significance or impact. The primary goal is for journals to focus on these criteria while allowing the broader scientific community to determine the research's significance and impact post-publication. 

Before diving deep into this topic, let us understand what constitutes sound research. Publishers of inclusive journals often consider the following studies to be sound studies: 

• The study should be based on a scientifically sound research question. 
• It should make an original and meaningful contribution to the identified field, no matter how small or large this contribution is. 
• The data should have been acquired, reported, and analyzed using scientifically accurate methods and approaches. 
• The study should follow community-agreed standards in research and publishing. 

To understand the concept better, let us consider a big jigsaw puzzle. Any individual aligning all the pieces together correctly gets heavily credited for “cracking the code.” However, in the real world, that may not always be the case. Individuals may solve smaller pieces of the puzzle, but that is nevertheless a meaningful contribution towards achieving the larger goal. Drawing inspiration from the puzzle analogy, inclusive publishing is indeed about giving fair and equal opportunity to sound research without emphasizing on the overall magnitude of its impact.  

Legitimate research can advance a field incrementally or fundamentally. Similarly, negative results could be as important as positive results, and descriptive research could be as valuable as hypothesis-driven research.  

Cureus Journals are Springer Nature’s latest launch into the Inclusive publishing landscape. Backed by an expert editorial board from diverse global geographies, Cureus Journals disseminate peer-reviewed research in the fields of Engineering, Computer Science, and Business and Economics. In particular, these journals  provide more equity in open access publishing and offer a range of affordable and high-quality open access publishing solutions. The user-friendly interface streamlines the entire publishing process, from submission to peer review and final publication.      

Why the Need for Inclusive Research Publishing? 

Every year, sound yet unpublished research results in wasted research funding. This primarily happens because the research publishing landscape is significantly dominated by selective journals that do not consider research presenting more foundational advances, negative results, or detailed analyses of data and experimental design, unless they are deemed impactful. This has given rise to significant inequality in the publishing industry. It drastically impacts most researchers from across the globe but can make it particularly difficult for early-stage researchers to publish. Moreover, it adversely impacts the development of various fields of study and may lead to duplication of research effort because researchers have no clear idea of what NOT to pursue. 

Quite interestingly, history tells us that various disciplines of research ranging from aviation to pharmaceutical science have consistently benefited from smaller advances. For instance, according to a recently published report, small, continuous improvements ranging from the evolution of winglet technology to advances in composite materials have made a tangible difference to aviation research. A significant portion of incremental yet meaningful research from the COVID-19 era was published in various inclusive journals including Scientific Reports. Moreover, study authors from lesser-known or emerging world regions contributed significantly to these and other studies.  

How Cureus Journals Encourage Inclusivity in Publishing  

The rise of more inclusive journals that do not judge author-submitted manuscripts based on their perceived impact or region of origin has brought about more equity in publishing. Early-stage researchers now have reliable platforms for publishing their research, regardless of the nature of the advance. 

Cureus Journal of Business and Economics, for instance, has adopted inclusive research publishing practices and considers sound yet incremental studies for peer review and possible publication in areas such as economics, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource, international business, marketing, operations research, operations, supply chain, and tourism and hospitality. The journal accepts original articles, reviews, case studies, letters, business reports, and editorials from contributing authors.   

Cureus Journal of Engineering and Cureus Journal of Computer Science have adopted identical policies for studies in advanced engineering, chemical engineering, civil and architectural engineering, electronics and telecommunication engineering, energy and mining, environmental and textile engineering, mechanical and automobile engineering, algorithms and data structure, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, computer graphics and visualization, computer systems and networks, data science and big data, high-performance computing, human-computer interaction, information security and cryptography, internet of things, software engineering, and emerging areas in computer science research. The journals accept original articles, reviews, case studies, letters, technical reports, and editorials from contributing authors.  

Study authors from any world region can submit their manuscripts to Cureus Journals for peer review and possible publication as long as they are based on the principle of sound science publishing as articulated in this article.           

Note: Researchers must not misuse this golden opportunity to push studies that fail to show compliance with well-regarded standards in research and publishing.  

Summary 

In the recent past, legitimate scientific research that is sound but may be considered more foundational or less significant has received unnecessary criticism. Fortunately, this scenario is now experiencing a paradigm shift. Open access platforms including Cureus Journals are systematically considering inclusive research based on sound science and compliant practices for peer review and possible publication. This is a positive development. Moreover, all researchers, wherever they practice, whatever the perceived impact of their study is, have an opportunity to have their research validated by peers and published on a global platform.

In summary, inclusive open access publishing is rapidly and transparently accelerating scientific advancement by advancing the pace of discovery. With a strong commitment to diversity and equity in publishing, inclusive open access publishing is catalyzing progress and playing a key role in addressing global societal challenges. 

Key Takeaways 

• Exclusive journals have traditionally refrained from publishing all sound research citing a lack of perceived impact. 
• A significant portion of foundational and meaningful research from the COVID-19 era has been published in inclusive journals.  
• Inclusive and open access publishing are giving more equity to research publishing.  
• The publishing landscape is witnessing a paradigm shift due to the emergence of inclusive open access journals such as Cureus Journals.  
• Researchers should not try to publish studies that fail to meet established research and publishing standards.  
• Studies show that researchers publishing sound, but foundational research contribute meaningfully to their fields, challenging popular misconceptions. 

Would you like to submit your manuscript to Cureus Journals? Do you need help with manuscript submission? Please feel free to direct your queries to cureus-support@springernature.com.

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Quiz for the Curious 

Based on the above information, what advice would you offer to Akira? 

(A) Stop thinking about the rejected manuscript and initiate a new research project. 

(B) Attempt submitting his rejected but sound research to an inclusive journal after the necessary reformatting. 

(C) Stop considering peer-reviewed journals altogether and publish his findings on LinkedIn instead.  

(D) None of the above. 

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Answer: (B)