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Publishing Campus provides free online skills training for researchers

April 30, 2015

By Hannah Foreman

Elsevier’s new resource includes instruction on writing for books and journals, reviewing manuscripts, and grant writing – and a chance to debate hot topics

Researchers are the ultimate multitaskers. They have to juggle their grant writing and reviewing responsibilities with keeping up to date with new developments, promoting their research and writing up the results of their next paper – all on top of their day-to-day research tasks. This puts a lot of pressure on them, particularly if they are just starting out in their academic careers.

Learning how to do each of these things effectively can make a big difference. Elsevier’s new Publishing Campus(opens in new tab/window) is an online training and advice center that gives researchers free access to lectures, interactive training and professional advice on a wide range of topics, from the fundamentals of books and journals publishing, grant writing and self-promotion to broader issues like gender in research and open science.

Its aim is to support researchers and equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to do great research, publish high-impact papers and successful books, and take their field forward.

Training and development

The “Campus” is made up of a series of six “Colleges.” In the College of Skills Training(opens in new tab/window), researchers can learn about topics including writing articles and grant applications, peer review and ethics and how to get themselves and their research noticed. In the College of Big Ideas, visitors can debate the big themes in academia and publishing on blog posts, webinars, feature articles, discussions and live events.

Each College offers a variety of training, information and tools that researchers can choose from to support their research and career development. For every module or seminar completed, researchers will be recognized for their efforts with an awarded certificate from Elsevier(opens in new tab/window). Researchers, especially early in their career, are operating in an increasingly competitive and uncertain environment, while the role of researchers is continuously developing. Among other challenges, researchers need to secure funding, collaborate internationally, share data, publish results, commercialize research and demonstrate impact. With the Elsevier Publishing Campus, we want to give them the skills and knowledge they need to publish a world-class journal article or book proposal, write a successful grant application, and ultimately succeed on their chosen career path. Elsevier has been offering its onsite training workshop program called Publishing Connect for several years, educating around 35,000 researchers annually. To meet the growing demand for skills and publishing training, the Elsevier Publishing Campus will provide online versions of the Publishing Connect training material to researchers around the world.

Image of Elsevier Publishing Campus Certification

Learning from leaders

Learning from others is an effective way of developing skills and knowledge in academia, particularly in publishing. What’s the best way to structure a review report? How can I maximize impact with my research? How can I become an editor one day?

In addition to the training component of the Publishing Campus, researchers will have access to advice from top academic leaders, including leading journal editors. This will give them insights into different aspects of publishing and academia, helping them make decisions and make positive moves in their careers. They will be able to improve the quality of their research papers or book proposals, in turn improving published research in the field.

Thought leadership is also a feature of the College of Big Ideas, where visitors are invited to take part in debates and share their opinions on hot topics like gender in academia and open science.

Tour the Publishing Campus

College of Skills Training(opens in new tab/window). Journal and book writing skills, peer review, ethics, grant writing
College of Big Ideas(opens in new tab/window). Debate on big themes in research, the latest thoughts from key opinion leaders
College of Networking. Face-to-face and online networking and how to get noticed
College of Research Solutions(opens in new tab/window). Search and discovery, measuring impact, and networking
College of Career Planning(opens in new tab/window). Study, career path and publishing
College of Recommended Organizations(opens in new tab/window). Organizations that support researchers’ careers and progress

Develop skills to:

Get published in a high impact journal or write your next book
Review a manuscript
Get your research noticed
Write successful grant applications and more

Debate:

Open Science
Big Data
PostDoc influx
Gender balance in academia and more

Peer Review lectures

In May, the College of Skills Training will host a series of live online lectures on peer review(opens in new tab/window). You can register for a free spot now:

Peer review in Asia(opens in new tab/window) Tuesday, May 19
Why get involved in peer review?(opens in new tab/window) Thursday, May 21
Ethics responsibilities for Reviewers(opens in new tab/window) Tuesday, May 26
How Reviewers become Editors(opens in new tab/window) Tuesday, May 26
How to become a Reviewer(opens in new tab/window) Thursday, May 28

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