Attending the training session were representatives of the Board of Directors, leaders of faculties/departments, offices, affiliated centers, a large number of staff, lecturers and graduate students studying at the School (both in-person and online).
The training session had the sharing of speakers from different faculties and fields: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Chinh (Faculty of Anthropology), Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh (Faculty of Sociology), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Hung (Faculty of Philosophy), Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Hang (Faculty of Psychology).
Dr. Trinh Van Dinh (Head of the Department of Scientific Research Management, VNU-USSH) shared: The results of the School's scientific and technological activities in recent years have achieved remarkable results, the research capacity of the teaching staff and researchers has been improved, and the participation of students has been increased. According to statistics in the past 5 years, the school's staff have published 644 international articles, of which 238 articles are in the ISI/Scopus database. In 2023 alone, the school's lecturers and staff published nearly 100 articles in international scientific journals. However, that number is still not commensurate with the school's high-quality human resources, as well as the targets assigned by VNU. Therefore, to meet the current requirements in university rankings, catch up with the general trend of the world, and at the same time promote and encourage lecturers, especially young staff to do scientific research, the University has implemented many policies: investing funds, rewarding in scientific research. The training and exchange program held on November 28 and 30 is also part of the University's general policy to encourage and support staff and lecturers to research and publish internationally. This activity has received the support and sharing of many leading scientists in many fields, with experience and a large volume of articles and international publications.
Head of Scientific Research Management Department speaks
With experience in publishing articles in many prestigious journals around the world, the speakers discussed in detail how to develop a research problem, structure a scientific article, and detailed notes for successful publication.
The training session began with an enthusiastic sharing by Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Chinh. According to him, the process of researching a scientific issue or topic must start with building a strategy to answer the research question/task and must consider how the issue has been researched in the world, what has been learned, what are the gaps, what is new in your research, what is more to contribute to science and practice.
When reviewing an article to be eligible for publication, journals will pay special attention to the issue of citation, because this operation not only demonstrates the seriousness and standards of the author but also requires research ethics. Therefore, the citation must be very transparent and accurate, all references of other scholars, otherwise it will certainly be rejected by the journal. After finding a journal that is suitable for your research problem, you need to carefully study the rules and format of that journal, to avoid being rejected not because of the quality of the article but because of not following their regulations. Because in reality, each journal has its own regulations, very different and specific.
Professor Nguyen Van Chinh also noted that after completing all parts of the article according to the magazine format before sending it to the magazine, it is necessary to ask a native speaker to read and edit it to ensure it meets international writing standards.
Professor Nguyen Van Chinh added: at the Faculty of Anthropology, there are currently two foreign experts who are always ready to support reading and editing articles if the author has a need.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Minh Hang (Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, expert in the field of counseling and psychological therapy) shared: before going into a specific article, it is necessary to note a few points: it is necessary to set up personal data (determine research orientation, in line with research trends in the world, introduce your field and capacity on channels so that scientists around the world know you); should exploit and take advantage of all international resources (join international research groups to have the opportunity to access new research trends in the world, and work with leading experts); pay attention to copyright regulations and research ethics of each specific field (anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, ...).
After choosing a problem and completing your research, the important secret to ensuring that your article is accepted by the publisher or journal is to strictly adhere to the structure and rules set by the journal and to write an introduction that is truly attractive and engaging, highlighting the novelty of your research.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Quang Hung: going into specific discussions in choosing a research topic/issue: it must be a problem that you are truly passionate about, consistent with the research direction of scientists in the world, the problem must be new, and have a future development direction. However, novelty in science is not only problems that no one in the world has researched or very little, there are even problems that have been researched for hundreds of years, many works have been published, but if the author finds new sources of materials, or applies new methods to conduct research, the topic is still considered new, valuable for the development of that field of science.
With the experience of an expert in the field of sociology, before sharing very specific issues to write a good article with a high possibility of being published, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh had very profound, specific, and vivid analysis of the scientific research process in general: the nature of an international article is to publish the results of a research process. According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Tuan Anh: based on a certain perspective, the core of scientific research is to collect data and analyze data to see what the data says, based on research methods and logic.
The training session lasted from 8am, but until nearly 1pm, the live hall and online platform were still crowded with lecturers and graduate students following the experts' exchange and discussing enthusiastically, raising some difficulties in the process of finding suitable journals, translating into English, and responding to the editorial board's comments.
At the same time, the lecturers and young researchers expressed their deep gratitude to the scientists who shared very valuable information on common issues of scientific research activities: how to identify research problems, theoretical bases, research methods, etc. Besides, with the experience of publishing dozens of articles in many prestigious journals in the world, the experts pointed out very specific issues related to writing an article: what parts should be included in the structure, how to write an attractive introduction, how to cite, list references; as well as some points to note during the process from submitting the article to publishing it.
Through the enthusiastic sharing of the speakers, staff and lecturers were equipped with a lot of useful and interesting knowledge about scientific research in general, as well as specific techniques when writing a scientific article to publish in international journals. This is truly a very valuable scientific activity, not only providing valuable knowledge and experience but also conveying to lecturers, staff, especially science students and postgraduates studying at the School the passion for scientific research.
The speakers discussed very openly and thoroughly each concern of the lecturers attending the training session.
Summarizing the two training sessions, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, Dr. Trinh Van Dinh expressed his thanks for the companionship of scientists in the research and training activities of the School. Despite their busy work, the teachers spent their precious time participating in two exchange sessions, sharing with a large number of students, postgraduates, and lecturers. Those sharings provided a lot of extremely useful information about scientific research in the field of social sciences and humanities, as well as valuable experiences from the international publication process of individual scholars. The training session received the attention and participation, and very lively exchanges of a large number of staff, lecturers, students, and postgraduates nationwide studying at the School. In the coming time, the School will continue to organize a number of exchanges and training sessions on more in-depth topics: how to find topics, reputable journals that are suitable for the research field, how to write an effective and attractive introduction, or how to create a citation list using supporting software, etc.
Some pictures from the training session
