Author resilience center
In times of local or global stress, carrying on researching and publishing is difficult. Your main priority is and must remain your own health & safety and that of your families, of course. In order to assist you with continuing your regular publishing activities as far as possible, we offer here a selection of resources that you might find helpful. Some of these are doubtless tools with which you will be already familiar but we trust this center will add some measure of support in difficult times. With very best wishes for your health and personal endeavours.
- The Elsevier Author Experience Team
Stay safe
The most important consideration is your own health and safety, and that of your family.
Consult your country’s medical advice service and do not neglect your mental health(opens in new tab/window)!
For further information about the Covid-19 pandemic(opens in new tab/window), see Elsevier’s Novel Coronavirus Information Center and associated resources.
We encourage authors of manuscripts covering research related to Covid-19, which have passed desk review to submit the manuscript to SSRN(opens in new tab/window), our pre-print server. SSRN has opened a dedicated COVID-19 portal(opens in new tab/window) for this purpose.
Resources
Stay connected
Depending on your situation, you may not be able to access your library, lab or other physical resources. Make sure you are familiar with how to access materials remotely. Here is advice on accessing ScienceDirect(opens in new tab/window).
Make full use of open access content. As of 2019, 8.5 million articles have been published open access in peer-reviewed journals, according to data from Scopus and ImpactStory(opens in new tab/window).
You can also deploy tools, such as GetFTR(opens in new tab/window), howcanishareit.com,(opens in new tab/window) Share Links and the postdoc free access program to find, share and access research.
Familiarize yourself with any scholarly society/association networks which may provide such resources as forums and virtual conferences. Though you may not be able to attend conferences and elicit in-person feedback from your community, there are still many options! You could host your research online or post in a Mendeley group(opens in new tab/window). Alternatively, gain feedback by considering posting to a pre-print server such as SSRN(opens in new tab/window) or consider open peer review titles.
If you are able to, use communications tools such as WebEx(opens in new tab/window), WhatsApp(opens in new tab/window), Skype(opens in new tab/window), WeChat(opens in new tab/window), Google Hangouts(opens in new tab/window) or Zoom(opens in new tab/window). Last, harness the power of social media to stay in touch with colleagues, as well as family and friends.
Resources
Stay organized
Having to stay away from the office or lab will cause you to rethink your approach to work.
Consider using tools to help plan and organize your tasks and team such as Trello(opens in new tab/window), Google Tasks(opens in new tab/window), Asana(opens in new tab/window) or Slack(opens in new tab/window).
It will help to anticipate and mitigate for changed/broken deadlines. Some tasks you might not be able to do when you want so consider having alternative (non-time limited) things you can get on with.
If you are unable to make a deadline yourself, remember to update your supervisor/colleagues/funding provider. They should be understanding given the circumstances.
Similarly, be aware that the journal to which you submit is undoubtedly facing similar difficulties. As a result, be aware that the peer review process might take longer than usual. The editors and reviewers will appreciate your patience during this difficult time.
Resources
Stay focused
Most journals and other publication outlets are still operating semi-normally, but as noted above, the peer-review process may take longer than normal. If you are not able to publish a full-text article in the timeframe or manner that you originally intended, you might want to rethink your publication output — consider, for example, short articles, working/idea papers, case reports, data articles, preprints.
Note: SSRN(opens in new tab/window) accepts idea papers, posters, datasets, working papers, negative results, conference papers and more.
If you are able to, please continue to accept requests to review
There are lots of great resources on Author Hub and Researcher Academy(opens in new tab/window) about writing, reviewing, navigating the peer review process and much more
Steer clear of predatory journals despite pressure to get published — don't take shortcuts!
If you can’t get through to colleagues, make use of any available tools to help guide you (e.g., JournalFinder(opens in new tab/window), Author Services(opens in new tab/window))
Resources
Help & Support
In need of further assistance? Please visit our publishing support center where you'll find answers to many questions, as well as being able to email, chat, phone and set up callback with our dedicated support agents.