Tag: #Discover

Research is the systematic study of knowledge or information on a specific topic of interest. The advancement of technology we see in our world today across the fields of engineering, medicine, architecture, agriculture and more is possible because of the contribution of researchers. If you have a natural curiosity for exploring new ideas, a career in research might be the perfect fit for you. However, getting started in this field can seem daunting, as there are various paths you can take.

In this blog, we will guide you through the measures you can take to launch a career in the ever-growing field of research; we discuss everything from identifying your research interests to obtaining the necessary qualifications and exploring different job opportunities. 

Educational Requirements to Have A Career in Research

A career in research is immensely beneficial for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. The beauty of having a career in research is all the different branches of subjects that are open to exploration; scientific research and a plethora of commercial and public sector research are great examples of the variety. To excel in research, the key quality is to have knowledge and dedication towards your chosen specialism; since research is a field heavily associated with academia and education, a strong educational background is also required, you must have a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree. 

A career in research can also be obtained with just a bachelor’s degree. As you progress within your education, you may also climb up the career ladder within research, most positions in the field of research require a master’s degree and experience with research coursework. 

Potential Jobs and Industries To Pursue

Launching a career in research opens doors across various industries like educational institutions, government institutions, industrial laboratories, corporate institutions, hospitals, insurance companies, private companies and industries. These fields can advance their policies, technology and progress because of the research conducted to find solutions and further improve practices. 

Listed below are the positions you can take on to build your career in research.

• Research Psychologist: As a researcher in psychology, you will be working across studies and research projects specialising in the study of human and animal behaviour. This area of study is usually beneficial to the health sector and experiments are typically conducted under the supervision of universities and relevant health organisations. 
• Medical Research Scientist: The field of medicine is always evolving. As a researcher in medicine, you will be tasked to develop medicinal cures for diseases; the responsibilities that come with this role are to plan, conduct, record & derive solutions from relevant experiments. This area of study is typically required in research institutions, hospitals, and government laboratories. 
• Biological Science Researcher: The field of biology leads you to discoveries and explorations that are directly connected to organisms. The scope of research within this field is to closely study the life cycle of organisms and find effective solutions to issues they may face. This area of study is usually utilised in government agencies. 
• Market Research Analyst: This role assesses consumer behaviour to analyse and predict the suitability of a product or service within the relevant market and demographic. This role also delves into the financial information of companies to analyse and derive profits and losses. 
• Agriculture and food scientist: This role is dedicated to researching methods to improve the efficiency and safety of agricultural establishments and products. Agriculture and food scientists usually work in food manufacturing facilities, research & development in life sciences and universities and government entities. 
• Physical scientist: Specialising in sciences dedicated to non-living objects, physical scientists are involved in physics, chemistry, astronomy and geology. The research involved in these disciplines focuses on physical properties and energies. Physical scientists usually work in academic settings and private industry or research organisations. 
• Research mathematician: As a research mathematician, you would be involved in providing abstract theorems, and developing mathematical descriptions to interpret and predict real-life concepts. You would also be involved in the application of mathematical principles to identify key trends in data sets. This role presents the opportunity to pursue a particularly diverse range of pure and applied maths like algebra, combinatorics and numerical analysis to name a few. Research mathematicians usually work in research or commercial organisations. 
• Economic research analyst: The role of an economic research analyst is to review and analyse economic data to prepare reports detailing the results of executed research. This role also requires you to conduct surveys to determine and analyse occupational employment statistics, wage information, labour supply and demand, tax revenues, agriculture production and insurance and utility rate structures. Being an economic research analyst is a well-rounded role that is in demand in an array of sectors. 

How can you conduct effective research within your discipline?

Conducting adequate research is a crucial skill for academics and professionals. The process of conducting research can be complex and time-consuming, requiring careful planning, attention to detail, and critical thinking skills. To execute effective research, you must be able to identify your research question or objective, locate and evaluate relevant sources, and synthesise information into a meaningful and coherent body of knowledge. However, to stay on top of the exchange of information and research within your area of study, you must implement the following practices and strategies: 

• Work on important problems

To build a successful career in research, it’s imperative to develop an acute sense of importance to assess which problems are worth solving. As conducting research is not simply answering a question, it is a deep exploration of all aspects of a single issue; with limited resources, the most pressing issue is awarded a solution. Furthermore, the research you take on builds your portfolio as a researcher. Addressing and working on important and prevailing issues gives noteworthy results that can improve your leverage as a researcher within your field.

• Be welcoming to new issues

While researching a specific topic, as a researcher, you may encounter another issue that does not have as much research on it. It’s important to look for new questions and aspects of research within problem areas in your respective field as these are usually motivated by current affairs within the discipline. You will need to acquire the skill to explore something entirely new within an area of study, not only will this bring your research more visibility as it will give new insight and perspective but it will also be a topic that you explored first. 

• Know the literature

The best practice to stay informed within your discipline is to read the available academic literature. This will sharpen your ability to not only write your own research but also recognise which topics are emerging and what has been previously done. As a researcher, the best habit you can create for yourself is to read. Any research paper that is accessible to you will potentially provide not only new aspects of research to you but also become more knowledgeable of your discipline. 

In conclusion, starting a career in research can be daunting, however, with these key strategies and roles; you can map out which sector and position your abilities and qualifications are best suited for. Due to research being an ever-growing field, there are endless discoveries to be made and with the growth of the open access movement; the field of research is becoming more diverse and open to the contribution of all relevant demographics.

What is Zendy? 

The Zendy academic library is designed to accompany users on their journey of discovery across a broad spectrum of disciplines. It is an intuitive and user-friendly platform that accommodates a vast collection of academic research covering all major fields. Developed in close collaboration with researchers, students, institutions, and publishers, Zendy aims to democratise knowledge and make it accessible to all. Zendy was established with the vision of making academic content more accessible and affordable for individuals worldwide, regardless of their field of study, area of interest or geographic location. 

Using Zendy To Your Advantage

Zendy offers a wide selection of academic research. Discover peer-reviewed journal articles, e-books and proceedings across disciplines; from science and technology to arts and humanities, Zendy has it all. The academic library provides access to full-text articles and books from various leading publishers, making it a tool students, professors and avid readers can benefit from. 

What Makes Zendy Stand Out?

With an aim to democratise access, Zendy offers two unique solutions to users. The first is Zendy Plus, a subscription service giving users unlimited access to premium academic content for the monthly price of a single research paper. Secondly, Zendy Open – a free open access research library packed with research tools to make content easier to navigate and discover.

With a single Zendy Plus subscription; you can access academic content across numerous fields from leading publishers like Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Emerald, EBSCO, Sage and many more. Zendy Plus is available in UAE, KSA, Bahrain, Jordan, Nigeria,  Morocco, and Algeria. To facilitate Zendy’s vision of democratising access and promoting research-based solutions and decision-making, the subscription offers access to millions of academic articles in over 45 languages in an active effort to make academic material inclusive and accessible. Zendy Plus allows users to access a vast collection of premium academic research for the monthly price of a single research paper.

Easy Citations

Researchers and students know that generating citations and reference lists are time-consuming tasks. On Zendy, we’ve simplified how you can get your citations done. It only takes one click to access citations in multiple formats as shown below.

Advanced filters

Zendy’s comprehensive filters will effortlessly refine your research discoverability process. Your searches can be filtered by author, publication, title, H-index score, Scientific Journal Rank (SJR), International Standard Serial Number (ISSN), International Standard Book Number (ISBN), and keyword. 

Favourites

This particular feature serves as a wish list for research you find intriguing. You can essentially add articles to read either later or come back to for quick references. Save time scrolling by simply just clicking on the ‘thumbs up’ icon at the bottom right of the research you’re interested in.

Read History 

This feature collates every piece of research you have accessed on Zendy. In case you forget to add some academic research to your reading list, you now have the option to go into your read history and locate key research easily. 

Reading Lists

Customise your very own reading list now on Zendy. Arrange your academic research based on genre, publication or simply your area of interest. Pick up right where you left off across articles, e-books, proceedings and much more, you’ll never need to search again for a source you know you’ll come back to. 

Dive into research papers across many disciplines while taking advantage of Zendy’s amazing features and discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy now.

One of the most defining aspects of academic research writing is a demonstration of research-oriented findings. Referring to credible sources and data is made possible through the concept of citations. In this blog, we’ll equip you with citation knowledge across multiple different formats and aid in understanding the purpose of each one. 

The purpose of citations

When you search the definition of the term ‘citation’ on google, you’re met with the following description: a quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work. Citing sources has multiple purposes, the primary focus is to give credit to the original author. When writing a specialised research paper, the author will cite external sources when referencing the material in their own work to establish strength, transparency and authority within their research. 

This positions their work in a specific context to depict their stance in the larger discussion. Citations also serve as an efficient way to provide references to others wanting to explore the subject or even use them within their own academic research papers. Overall, citing establishes an important roadmap in the research process.

Why are there different types of citations?

Different citation formats are utilised across different disciplines. While it might be convenient to have one universal citation format, it is not possible because different fields focus on unique information within their respective research; this requires citation formats to be tailored to the field’s primary focus. 

The APA (American Psychological Association) citation format is utilised in social sciences like psychology, sociology, anthropology as well as education. Moreover, the MLA (Modern Language Association) citation format is largely used within humanities and the Chicago citation format is applied in the fields of Business, History & Fine Arts. Finally, the Harvard citation format is primarily used in education.

Citing in APA Referencing Format

APA (American Psychological Association) referencing style is a widely used referencing style in social science disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and education. The style is characterised by the use of in-text citations, which typically include the author’s last name and the year of publication of the source being cited. 

The APA style requires a detailed reference list, which includes all sources referenced in the text. The reference list is arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name, and each entry provides comprehensive information about the source, including the title, publisher, and publication date. 

• Book: Author, A.A. (Year of Publication). The Title of work. Publisher City, State: Publisher.
• Journal Article: Last name, Initials. (Year). Article title. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), Page range. DOI or URL
• Magazine: Author, A.A. (Year, a month of Publication). Article title. Magazine Title, Volume(Issue), pp.-pp.
• Newspaper: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Magazine Title, pp. xx-xx.
• Website: Author, A.A. (Year, Month Date of Publication). Article title. Retrieved from URL

Citing in MLA Referencing Format

MLA (Modern Language Association) referencing style is a popular method of citing sources used in academic writing, particularly in the humanities. The style is characterised by the use of in-text citations, which typically include the author’s last name and the page number(s) of the source being cited. The MLA style also requires a comprehensive list of Works Cited at the end of the document, which includes all sources referenced in the text. The Works Cited page is arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name or, if there is no author, by the first word of the title. 

• Book: Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published. Medium.
• Journal Article: Author last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Name, vol. Volume, no. Issue, Month Year, Page range. DOI or URL.
• Magazine: Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Magazine Name Publication Date: Page Numbers. Medium.
• Newspaper: Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Name Publication Date: Page Numbers. Medium.
• Website: Last Name, First Name. “Page Title.” Website Title.Sponsoring Institution/Publisher. Publication Date: Page Numbers. Medium.

Citing in Harvard Referencing Format

Harvard style referencing, also known as author-date referencing, is a widely used referencing system that originated from Harvard University. It is a method of acknowledging sources of information in academic writing, by citing the author’s last name and the year of publication in the text. Harvard referencing style also requires a detailed list of references at the end of the document, arranged alphabetically by the author’s last name, which includes all the sources cited in the text. This style of referencing is used in many disciplines, including the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences. 

• Journal Articles: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) ‘Title of article’, Title of Journal, volume number (issue number), page reference. If accessed online: Available at: DOI or URL (if required) (Accessed: date).
• Books: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) Title. Edition if later than first. Place of publication: publisher. Series and volume number if relevant.
• Newspaper Article: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) ‘Title of article’, Title of Newspaper, Day and month, Page reference.
• Online Newspaper Article: Surname, Initial. (Year of publication) ‘Title of article’, Title of Newspaper, Day and month, Page reference if available. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).
• Website: Surname, Initial. (Year that the site was published/last updated) Title of web page. Available at: URL (Accessed: date).

Citing in Chicago Referencing Format

The Chicago referencing format is commonly used in the fields of Business, History and Fine Arts. It offers two main citation styles: the notes and bibliography style and the author-date style. 

The notes and bibliography style involves the use of footnotes to provide brief citations within the text and a corresponding bibliography at the end of the document. In contrast, the author-date style involves in-text citations that include the author’s last name and the date of publication. A comprehensive reference list is also required at the end of the document. 

• Journal Article: Author last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume, no. Issue (Month or Season Year): Page range. DOI or URL.
• Book: Last Name, First Name. Title of Book. Publisher City: Publisher Name, Year Published.
• Magazine: Last Name, First Name. Article title. Magazine Title, Month Date, Year of publication.
• Newspaper: Last Name, First Name. “Article Title.” Newspaper Name, Publication Date.
• Website: Last Name, First Name. “Page Title.” Website Title. Web Address (retrieved Date Accessed).

Citations and referencing bring attention to details within each format. While it is a time-consuming section to fulfill in an academic paper, it’s also an important skill to have as a researcher, to be able to dissect other research papers and build an authoritative and strengthened academic paper with your own research. Understanding which citation format is best suited for your discipline is equally important; this citation pocket guide covered the 4 commonly utilised citation styles which are APA, MLA, Harvard and Chicago. 

Discover an array of academic resources now on Zendy where you can read through research worry-free because we offer automatic citations across all our books, journal articles, proceedings and more.

Understanding H-Index

The H-index is a metric that measures an author’s productivity by the number of publications that have published their work and the impact of the work based on the number of citations their research receives. In general, authors with a higher h-index score will have produced more research and therefore published more content which, to their peers, creates their reputation of credibility.

This quantitative metric was brought about in 2005 by Argentinian-American professor of physics Jorge E. Hirsch to analyse publication data.

Finding an author’s H-index

There are multiple platforms on which you may find an author’s H-index score. To name a few, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of science etc. However, in this blog, we’ll take you through the process of locating an author’s H-index on google scholar as shown below.

1. Visit Google Scholar
2. Enter the author’s name in the search bar
3. If a profile exists for the author, it will appear at the top of the search results, click the author’s name, and their profile page will open.
4. View their h-index on the right side of the screen.

Calculating H-Index Score

The H-index measures the importance, significance, and impact of research contributions. To calculate an author’s H-index, you’d need to create a list of all publications in which the author has been published and rank them in descending order of the citations his/her work has received. Understanding the H-index of an author is an indication of their credibility, so that brings us to the question:

What is a good H-index score?

J. E. Hirsch (2005) observes that Noble Prize winners in physics have an average H-index score of 30, this highlights that Noble prize winners are selected with a scientific body of research and a history of contributional impact. This proved that successful scientists do need a good h-index score.

Hirsch stated that after 20 years of research; an H-index score of 20 was good, 40 was outstanding and 60 was truly exceptional. 

Does the H-index score evaluate an author in all important aspects?

Undoubtedly, it is appealing to have a singular value that measures an author’s productivity and impact. Many committees have opted the H-index as their metric of choice as well. Bordons and Costas (2007) stated that the key advantage of the H-index metric is that it measures the scientific output of a researcher with objectivity. This plays a vital role in making decisions about promotions, fund allocation and awarding prizes.

However, there are suggestions that H-index does not take other important variables into account. According to Enago Academy (2022), a higher H-index score does not indicate better quality of research. The article further elaborates that the H-index score does not account for an author’s career stage, research and journal quality and contribution to the scientific community. The score also has potential unintended negative impacts; for example, a younger researcher may not challenge a researcher with a high h-index score and researchers aiming for a higher h-index may only pursue popular fields of science.

Furthermore, BiteSizeBio (2021) states that the H-index score does not take into account the number of authors on a research paper. If a paper has 1 author with about 100 citations, this researcher deserves more recognition than a paper that had 10 authors with similar citations. 

The fluctuation of the H-index score

The H-index score does not decrease unless the paper is redacted or deleted. Older papers may continue to gain new citations, and the h-index can potentially increase indefinitely, even after the researcher has stopped actively publishing. 

What is the difference between H-index and the journal impact factor?

The Journal Impact Factor metric is used to evaluate the importance of a journal within its respective field or discipline. In simpler terms, it measures the frequency of citations the average article within this journal receives. On the contrary, the H-index metric is used to measure the productivity and quality of an author’s publications. While they are both measures of research quality, they measure different aspects of research and can therefore not be compared.

To conclude, having a good H-index score is impressive. However, every author’s research contrasts with that of another. There are many more aspects to investigate when evaluating a researcher.

Discover millions of e-books, journal articles, proceedings and more on Zendy.

At Zendy, we aspire to make access and discovery of academic research more seamless. We’re excited to announce a suite of new features to the platform: reading lists, read history, and favourites. 

The process of academic research is often a complex cycle involving large volumes of reading, interpretation, re-reading, and then ultimately shaping a hypothesis. To simplify the cycle of reading and saving academic research, we’ve developed reading lists and a read history function to help students, researchers, and professionals organise research by project. You can also favourite key articles you want to read later while you search through journals and proceedings.

Create personalized reading lists

This reading list can be customized entirely by you! You get to arrange your articles, e-books, journals, and so much more, however you may like. You no longer have to search again for what you need; you can pick up right where you left off. Create your reading list tailored to your preferences.

Access your read history

Read something 2 weeks ago and didn’t add it to your reading list? We’ve got you covered because you can now access your read history! Your read history collates every piece of academic research that you have accessed on Zendy.

Favourite research articles while you search

Have you ever wanted to create a wish list but for research you come across? You can now do that with our latest favourites feature. You can essentially add articles to read either later or come back to. Quickly find all your favorite research and save time scrolling.

As signatories to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) compact, this feature, along with a host of new platform enhancements, is aimed at simplifying the process of research. We’ve developed our online research library to promote greater inclusivity in the academic spectrum, with over 45 languages and millions of articles from researchers around the world. Explore our range of new tools and academic resources that are in line with our commitment to SDG-4, which is quality education. 

Use our reading list feature and discover new research now on Zendy.

Open access gives the public unrestricted online access to academic content found in scholarly publications. Over a third of all research articles are now published in Open Access (STM Association 2021). The increased adoption of Open Access in research fields comes as no surprise. Open Access creates value by streamlining the process of publishing for authors and enhancing readership by making more quality academic content available for free.

Open access publishing drives a wider conversation with scholars, policy makers, practitioners, clinicians, and the public to be able to read and circulate research. This dissemination of research can potentially improve current methods of practices and policies across a variety of fields and disciplines.

The surge in Open Access publishing and usage has created a movement with ardent support from social impact groups who are campaigning for open access to help bridge the gap of inequality that exists in academic publishing. Open access allows for greater inclusivity in scholarly communities. Open Access research means more people can make evidence-based decisions and continue learning with our barriers throughout their life. Learning should not stop when you finish school or complete your degree.

Benefits of Open Access

1. Increased readership: The ease of Open Access publishing means more people around the world can read the latest research for free. This helps build knowledge communities globally and supports lifelong learning.
2. Opportunity for citations: citations act as a roadmap in research. The more citations an article gets, the greater the chance for future research. Since Open Access is free and available globally, more people can cite the research
3. Transparency: Integrity is strengthened by the free availability of research. Especially if access is openly granted to this data. Thereby making said research more transparent.

If you’re a student, researcher, or professional, you can join the Open Access movement and access millions of journals, proceedings, articles, and more for free now. Here are 10 of the most popular Open Access library databases:

Zendy Open

Zendy is an online library that provides open access research worldwide. With over 43 million articles, journals, and e-books, Zendy is a publishing platform that offers a diverse selection of research across all major disciplines. From science to mathematics, technology, humanities, biology, physics, and more. What makes Zendy unique is that we help you make research easy. You can save lists based on your projects, favorite articles you want to read later, and even access your full reading history.

Research4Life

Research4Life equips institutions in low and middle-income countries with online access to academic peer-reviewed resources. This open access library specialises in teaching, research, and policymaking in health, agriculture, environment, and physical and social sciences.

DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Journals

DOAJ was launched in 2003 and started with 300 open access journals and has now grown to 18,000 journals. This publisher offers community-curated lists of open access material and holds together a variety of reputable researchers and content.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a freely accessible search engine that locates full text or metadata of scholarly literature in an array of fields and formats. Google Scholar offers peer-reviewed online academic journals and e-books, conference papers, dissertations, abstracts, technical reports, and other scholarly literature.

OAPEN

OAPEN is a non-profit organization that is based in the Netherlands. This open access library is a great source for open access academic research. Creating a platform for a diverse set of fields and disseminating the research within those fields, OAPEN is a very reliable publisher of peer-reviewed books.

ScienceOpen

ScienceOpen functions as a research and publishing network. Offering over 74 million articles in all areas of science, all you need to do to access full-text articles is register for free.

ResearchGate

Established in 2008, ResearchGate is a valuable platform that allows researchers to connect, collaborate and share their research with everyone. Most researchers on the platform specialize in medicine or biology however academic content on engineering, computer science, agriculture sciences, and psychology is also abundant.

OpenDOAR

OpenDOAR was launched in 2005; the platform is a collaboration between Lund University and the University of Nottingham. OpenDOAR serves as a global directory of open access repositories.

Social Science Research Network

The social science research network houses academic sources across all scientific disciplines. Dedicated to worldwide open access dissemination of research, SSRN is a great open access platform that works across a plethora of networks and disciplines.

arXiv e-Print Archive

arXiv is an open access archive for over 2 million scholarly articles in the fields of physics, mathematics, computer science, quantitative biology, electrical engineering, and economics. Publishing across these various disciplines, the network has well-rounded academic content that is posted after a series of moderation but is not peer-reviewed.

It’s a transformative time for Open Access. Together with leading global publishers, Zendy is committed to empowering discussions about how Open Access content can contribute to a more equitable future.

Discover millions of journals, proceedings, e-books, and more now on Zendy

Did you know you could copy article links by clicking on the paper clip icon next to the article title, as shown below?

This feature, which was only available for a few articles previously, has now been made available across all articles on Zendy! You can also share this copied link via email or on social media to let others (if they are also a Zendy user and the content is accessible in their country) easily access the link or save the link in a document for your own future use. Do note that due to this sitewide update, all links for articles that you may have previously copied are now redirecting to a new URL. 

How to retrieve the updated URL for the previously copied links?

One way is to copy the ISBN/ISSN in your old article URL and paste it in the search field in Zendy and then search using the ISBN/ISSN filter. To find the ISBN/ISSN, see the below sample URL in which it has been made bold:
https://app.zendy.io/title/isbn/9780231169042?id=XQAAAAIWAAAAAAAAAABBKIgm5XGa8Ww3flDPjRRS5dcCQbxwBEPm_nX_9ZewAA

After searching for the ISBN/ISSN on Zendy, the article title you had originally copied the link of should appear on the top in the search results. If the title doesn’t appear or you’re not able to decode the old URL for your title – then, no worries, just send us the old URL via our Contact us form and we will get back to you with the new URL. 😊 

Hope you find this new feature useful on your journey of discovery!

Zendy has a beautiful new look that went live in March – the month of reading! The vibrant new design reflects Zendy’s personality aptly and promises a smoother journey for the user.

As you may have noticed, Zendy’s new look revolves around a bee. What inspired us to go with the bee?

Bees have fascinated researchers for decades. They have excellent communication and social learning skills and are capable of incredibly complex behaviors. Pollinating bees are one of the vital reasons behind flourishing plant communities, agricultural production, carbon cycling, and many other essential services to our environment that we often fail to notice.

Similarly, Zendy’s purpose is to foster communication and encourage collaborative efforts among researchers and leaders worldwide. With more than 120,000 publications, Zendy is on track with its goal to pollinate the world with knowledge and become the ultimate digital library!

Sign up today and stay tuned for a dose of Zendy’s nectar of knowledge!