Research Support

Library Services provides access to a wide range of electronic resources, including an extensive collection of e-journals and databases most of which can be accessed off-campus. Many of these can be searched simultaneously via LibrarySearch.

Our  Academic Librarians can offer specialist support and advice about access to resources to support your research. For introductory information about the collections and resources available in your subject area, see our Subject Guides.

If an item you require is not available at Abertay or another library locally, it may be possible to obtain it through our Inter-library Loans Service.

If there is a particular book that is need for your research project you should contact your Academic Librarian to ask if the Library can purchase a copy.

In some instances, if the book is very specific to your individual project, this might not be an option and you will be advised to speak to your research supervisor to check if funds are available from your school to purchase the title. If your purchase is authorised by your supervisor, email bookorders@abertay.ac.uk with the details of the item you wish to request. For each request, a fund code and e-mail authorisation from the signatory of the fund that is to be used for the purchase will be required.  

When a book is ordered for you, either as a purchase for Library stock or for your individual project, you will be notified by the Library when it has been received and ready for use.

The SCONUL Access scheme allows many university library users access to study spaces or books and journals at other libraries that belong to the scheme. Applications to join an external library must be made online via the  SCONUL Access application. If you have any queries regarding the SCONUL Access or completing the application form, email sez@abertay.ac.uk.

Abertay's Research Portal  lists all Abertay PhD theses. You can search for theses on the portal by title, author or keywords. Many of the theses are freely available to read and download but some may be under a temporary embargo. If you have a query about a particular thesis on the research portal that you are unable to access, email repository@abertay.ac.uk.

Masters by Research (MbR) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) theses published from 2016 onwards are also available on the research portal. Older MbR and MPhil theses are available in print in the Library and are discoverable using LibrarySearch. if you are unable to find a thesis email: library@abertay.ac.uk. 

Other UK PhD theses can be found by searching EThOS - the Electronic Thesis Online Service from the British Library. EThOS holds records for most UK PhD theses. For non-UK theses, there are several databases that you can search. Further information on finding non-UK theses are available from here. 

Published datasets can be a valuable resource to use and cite in your research. Datasets across many disciplines can be found in data centres and repositories, some of which are established by research funders and researcher communities. Advice on finding and reusing datasets can be found on the  Finding and reusing datasets support page.

Library staff can provide support for literature searching, including:

• guidance on which resources are appropriate for your topic;
• support for carrying out an initial literature search;
• guidance on carrying out cited reference searching;
• support for developing advanced search strategies to ensure comprehensive literature retrieval, including searching for systematic reviews.

For support from specialist library staff, contact your Academic Librarian.

Reference management software helps you to keep track of your reading and references and makes it easier to find referencing information to cite material in your work.

Using reference management software will save you time compiling and locating your references and, if used correctly, will improve the consistency and accuracy of your citations and reference lists. However, no citation manager is a replacement for knowing how to reference nor does it abrogate the need to check the accuracy of your references.  

Abertay Library has a subscription to RefWorks citation manager and guidance on Referencing styles and RefWorks is available on the Library support pages. 

Keeping up to date with new ideas and research is an essential part of the research process. The number of journal articles published each year can make this a daunting task but there are a number of techniques and resources that can help you keep up-to-date with newly published materials. Some popular methods are listed below.

• Journal TOCs  allows you to set up alerts you when new issues of any 'followed' journals are published..
• Browzine is a great way to browse your favourite journals, save articles and export the citations to your RefWorks account.
• Citation alerts and Saved searches . Most of the library databases offer a citation alert service so that you will be notified if a new article cites an article that you are interested in. They also allow you to save searches to run again at a later point. In most cases you will need to set up an account within the particular database. Look in the help section of each database to see what you can do or contact your academic librarian if you need assistance. 
• Cited reference searching. This allows you to find where key articles in your research area have been cited in more recent works. It is a useful way of finding out how ideas and research have developed over time. This service is offered by the library databases Scopus and Web of Science (both available from the Resources A-Z) and also Google Scholar. 
• Professional bodies and organisations. The websites of professional bodies and organisations can be useful sources of up-to-date information. Many now offer a news section, blog or Twitter account, which highlight new research.

The online Library resources can be accessed 24/7 from anywhere using your University credentials. The Off Campus Toolkit has tips and tools you can utilise to ensure you get quick, easy access to library content when you are not on campus. 

Library staff can offer advice on Copyright , including re-use of 3rd party copyright material in your publications as well as advice on licensing options, including Creative Commons licenses  and other licenses required for publishing your research.

The  information on both the Copyright Guide for Students and Copyright Guide for Research will be relevant. You can also email repository@abertay.ac.uk with any copyright queries.

If you are using text and data mining (TDM) to undertake automated analysis of your datasets, you need to address the copyright issues.

Text and data mining involves copying and normalising your data. If this is protected by copyright or database rights you will need to either have a licence from the copyright owner or determine that the TDM exception applies to your activity. This exception allows you to apply TDM to any copyright works for non-commercial research purposes, as long as you have lawful access.

The University of Cambridge has a comprehensive LibGuide on Text and Data Mining. 

Abertay regulations require the submission of an electronic copy of the final examined version of all research theses. The final version of the thesis should be deposited in Pure. A guide on how to submit your Postgraduate research (PGR) thesis in Pure is available from the Pure support pages.  A PGR Thesis Template is also available.

PGR theses should be made open access as soon as possible on the external Pure Portal. However, there will be occasions when theses need to be restricted (embargoed). For example, you may want to publish some papers from your thesis or your thesis contains sensitive or 3rd party copyright material that needs to be redacted. 

All theses submitted for publication on the Pure portal require the RD08-  Final Thesis and Data Embargo Request Form to be completed  This form is available from the research pages -  Forms and Links. 

Bibliometrics is the statistical analysis of books, articles or other publications. It uses citation data to provide insight into the impact of research outputs. Any single metric will not provide a rounded overview of research performance. Responsible use of metrics to evaluate research requires the use of a range of indicators. Consider the context in which the metrics are used and look at them alongside appropriate qualitative indicators such as peer review when assessing research quality. 

Abertay University is committed to the responsible use of metrics in research evaluation and is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). 

Sources of journal information that enable publication and citation analysis include the library databases Scopus and Web of Science, which can be accessed via the Resources A-Z as well as free resources such as Google Scholar and Dimensions. Some bibliometrics commonly used by researchers include:

• Citation counts: the number of times a research output appears in the reference lists of other documents. Citation counts can be found in Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Dimensions. The citation counts displayed on the External Pure portal are Scopus citation counts.
• h-index: aims to measure an author's productivity and impact. It is the number of publications (h) that have h or more citations. H-index scores can be found in Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar. The h-index displayed on the external Pure portal is derived form Scopus citation data. 
• Journal impact factor (JIF). Journal Citation reports (JCR) from the Web of Science can be used to find the impact factors for journals. A JIF of 3.0 means that, on average, articles published in that journal one or two years ago have been cited three times. When comparing impact factors you should compare like with like as different disciplines and different types of articles e.g review or original research articles have different citation patterns. JCR also give  a 5-year Impact factor. Further information, guides and tutorials are available from Clarivate support.
• The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) from Scopus is an alternative metric to the the Journal Impact factor. The SJR rates a citation depending on where it comes from, transferring prestige by citing another journal. The figure is derived by dividing the number of citations by the number of documents over the previous 3 year period. You may find the YouTube video -Searching the SCImago Journal Ranking Database useful. 
• Journal Quartiles: Both the JCR and SJR can be used to find what Quartile particular journals in each subject category are in. These Quartiles rank the journals from highest to lowest based on their impact factor or impact index. There are four Quartiles: Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4, Q1 being the highest. 
• CiteScore is a relatively new measure of journal citation provided by Scopus. CiteScore is essentially the average citations per document that a title receives over a three-year period. A CiteScore value is available for most active titles in Scopus – journals, book series, conference proceedings and trade journals – that started publishing in 2015 or earlier.
• Some metrics are normalised. For example, Scopus will let you compare the Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP). This measures the average citation impact of the publications of a journal. SNIP corrects for differences in citation patterns across different scientific disciplines so it can be useful useful if you need more accurate between-disciplines comparisons of citation impact.

Altmetrics are based on the number of times an article is shared, downloaded or mentioned on social media, blogs or in newspapers. Using altmetrics in addition to traditional bibliometrics can provide a wider picture of how a publication is being  discussed. Abertay's Pure Portal displays both the altmetric donut and PlumX metrics for research outputs. 

Open access maximises the impact of your research, and leads to increased citations. Information on open access publishing, including complying with Abertay's Open Access Publications' Policy  is available on our OA support pages. 

Our Research Data Management support pages offer information, how-to guides and support for managing your research data in compliance with Abertay's Research Data Management Policy, GDPR Research Policy and Data Classification and Handling Policy.

All postgraduate research students (PGRS) have a profile on Pure. Students should keep their profile up to date, deposit all research outputs in Pure as per Abertay's Open Access Publications' Policy and create a record of all published datasets in Pure as per the Research Data Management Policy.

All PGRS theses must be deposited in Pure before graduation. After graduation, all theses will be freely available on the Pure portal either immediately or after an embargo period. Further information is available from the Pure support pages. 

ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. ORCID integrates with research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supporting automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognised. Abertay has an institutional ORCID account allowing us to integrate Pure with ORCID. Further information is available from the ORCID support page.  

Submitting your manuscript to an unsuitable journal is one of the most common reasons for rejection. Researchers often consider bibliometric information such as Journal impact factors, Journal Quartiles, CiteScore, etc., (see the  research metrics section on this page) and although these may be useful there are many other important factors that you should consider when deciding if a journal is right for your manuscript. A lot of hard work has gone into your research so take care and do your due diligence when it comes to choosing a suitable journal and publisher for your outputs! 

• Read the aims and scope on the journal website - do these fit well with your research?
• Does the journal publish articles with similar research topics to the research in your paper? If not -  they are unlikely to publish your article!
• Does the journal accept the type of manuscripts that you are submitting?
• Who is likely to read this journal - researchers in a specific discipline or does the journal have a wider multidisciplinary audience. Does this fit with your needs?
• Publication workflows and times - what is the average time from submission or acceptance to publication? Does this meet your requirements?
• If your research is funded, does the journal comply with your Funder's OA policy?
• If you are in receipt of UKRI funding, check if you can use the UKRI Block grant  to pay for Gold OA publishing in your chosen journal.
• Is the journal covered by one of our Read & Publish Agreements.These agreements provide Gold OA publishing at no cost to the individual researcher. The OA costs are covered by the library subscription.
• If this not a journal that you are familiar with, have a look at the guidance from Think, Check, Submit. If you are new to publishing you should also read the section below 'Predatory OA journals and publishers'.

Journal Finder Tools

Many of the larger publishers now have tools to help you find journals that are the best match for your manuscript. These allow you to copy and paste your abstract into a search tool and, from this, a list of suggested  journals is created for you to review. A list of these tools is provided below for your convenience but be aware that there is no intended suggestion of importance implied by either  inclusion or in the order of the list. The list is not exhaustive - other publishers may have similar tools. 

• Elsevier - Find the right journal for your research
• Sage - Journal recommender
• Springer Nature  - Find a journal 
• Taylor & Francis Journal suggester 
• Wiley - Find journals that match your manuscript

Promoting Your research: Once your article is published - don't forget to promote it via social media and sharing your article via any links provided by the publisher.

Predatory Open Access Journals and Publishers

Choosing where to publish can be confusing, particularly for early career researchers. In recent years there have been a growing number of new open access journals, many set up by reputable publishers. However, there are an increasing number of pay-to publish vanity journals. These journals do not have a peer review process or any kind of quality control. They request payment for publishing but add no value to your manuscript in return. The journal names are often similar to well established journals. 

Publishing in one of these journals can damage the reputation of the researcher and the University. It also lends the researchers' and their institutions' reputations to a disreputable publication. You have put a lot of work into doing the research

A few things to bear in mind when choosing an Open Access journal.

• Take time when selecting where to publish.
• Be aware of the publication landscape in your research area and the most reputable journals. Check if the journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access journals.
• Look at the journal's  home page, contact details and address for their registered office. Do these look odd or have lots of spelling or grammatical errors?
• Does the publisher send unsolicited emails inviting publication in journals that you have never heard of? A word of warning . sometimes the journal title may be similar to a well known journal in your discipline!
• Go to the journal homepage.
  • What are the aims and scope?
  • Look at the editors. Do you recognise any? Even if you do do they list being an editor of this journal of their University profile?
  • Look at the  author guidelines, timelines for publishing and publishing costs.
  • Look at some of the articles published in previous issues? Do they look like they have been edited? Are there formatting errors or inconsistencies? Are there spelling or grammatical mistakes? 
  • Do they list indexed sources or metrics? You can check if these are genuine. Some will not be!
• There is very useful guidance on the Think Check Submit website.  You may also find these videos useful: Think. Check  Submit   (1.44 min) and Publishing Due Diligence (15min).