Home » Comments on the book Compass Guide: How to Write Scientific Journal Articles
Check out comments from reviews of the book “Compass Guide: Comments on the book “Compass Guide: How to Write Scientific Journal Articles”:
Dr Mandic’s latest book, Compass Guide: How to Write Scientific Journal Articles, is an absolute treasure for research students and beyond. Informative step-by-step processes are beautifully presented through her creative, insightful, and concise infographics. Her approach to writing is appealing, relevant, and understandable to broad audiences. In addition, her professional and real-life examples add an extra dimension of authenticity. These personal and creative elements make Dr Mandic’s Compass Guide series a must-read for all researchers.
Dr Tessa Madden, Programme Lead, Office for Seniors, Ministry of Social Development, Wellington, New Zealand
Dr Mandic’s new book looks great. Something I wish I had when I started writing research papers. I like the engaging graphics and accompanying videos. I would certainly recommend it as a one-stop resource to anyone learning to write their research papers.
Assistant Professor Grigory Tikhomirov, Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley, California, United States
It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to review this book. I can clearly see the care Sandra took going through all the steps, from preparation to submitting / resubmitting an article. The level of detail added is impressive and the fact that the author provides the reader with thoughtful examples makes the reading journey really enjoyable. I am sure this book will be another success and I am looking forward to reading the Portuguese translation too.
Dr Tais Garcia, Project Management Office, Wellington City Council, Wellington, New Zealand
Dr Mandic’s Compass Guide How to Write Scientific Journal Articles is a welcome publication for any researcher. It is a clearly laid out, simply written and well-presented guide. You are meticulously taken through each step of the publication process.
Dr Mandic shares her own experiences of publishing and gives insight to some of the dos and don’ts of publishing. This firsthand experience, across a range of different scientific journals, from a variety of projects, is probably the most insightful element to this guide.
The guide is very accessible. With having the written guide and text, as well as the infographics together, and the different symbols consistently throughout the book, you can easily move between sections, or skip ahead, or shift backwards depending on what you were interested in. Each section has a similar layout, and I appreciated this consistency – I always knew what I was going to get in each section. For a guide, this made it easy to engage with.
I have supervised many postgraduate students and early career academics, and I liked the little boxes for specific information for postgraduate students. I will definitely be recommending my students to buy the guide, and similarly for our early career academics. Often they are told – it’s publish or perish! And with the many competing priorities it can be challenging coming off a PhD, or a Postdoc, and knowing where to start. Dr Mandic’s guide is an excellent starting point for not only postgraduate students, and early career researchers, but for any writer.
The majority of my own work is within the fields of Indigenous health and wellbeing and Indigenous development with a strong qualitative approach. There were principles and guidelines in the book that resonated with my own approaches as well.
This is a must buy for any person wishing to publish their research.
Kia ora
Anne-Marie Jackson (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa)
Professor Indigenous health and wellbeing
Director Rehutai Consulting
Co-Director National Centre of Research Excellence Coastal People: Southern Skies
Dunedin, New Zealand
Dr. Mandic’s work provides a well-written and highly constructive exposé on understanding and wending one’s way through the journal writing process. It connects concepts with a logical and well-thought out articulation of steps, considerations and advice based on her years of experience and successful publications. The visuals are nicely balanced with the text – each supporting the other to clarify, describe and explain. Examples throughout the book punctuate the content to further elucidate a process that is little shared in academic circles and, in particular, for post-secondary students trying to understand how they transition their research into publication. I know this work will be useful to me in my own publication journey!
Dr. Jennifer Hall, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Victoria, Canada and Founder and Lead Consultant, Sirius Strategic Solutions Ltd., Victoria, Canada