Only a few weeks after my first published article I received an invitation in my email-inbox to present at an international congress. Imagine; the big scientific community wanted to hear more about my amazing research! Very flattering for a (not quite) young but still junior PhD fellow. Luckily, I had a supervisor who quickly grounded and explained that this was not an invitation as a lecturer with covered travel and stay expenses but a, for her, totally unknown congress/organization so the invitation was relocated in the spam bin. But thereafter still more and diverse variants of inquiries are being delivered: publish articles, write book chapters and immediately be appointed as co- or chief -editor!

It is not only me who receives such inquiries; The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has conducted thorough investigative journalism by their “Fake Science”-project and thoroughly documented methodology and findings in Aftenposten’s Weekly magazine last Saturday. Researchers are fooled to pay for “Open Access” (principally great that science is widely available) but not in junk journal without thorough peer review and quality assurance! If the results have been published in such a substandard “predator” journal these results may never be published in a proper scientific journal and all the hard work is wasted/worthless. And to attend a congress to present and discuss hard-earned findings to realize that the whole conference is a small room where the other speakers either do not show up (they have already received their proof of participation) or present completely different disciplines than yours (computer algorithms, cognitive psychology, literary science and packaging technology in the same session) make participation completely scientifically worthless and time & money is completely wasted.

Here are some suggestions on how to avoid being caught by predator journals/ congresses:

– Ask  your supervisor / a senior scientist or clinical colleagues. Is this a magazine / congress / congress organizer they are familiar with? It is rare to be invited to an international lecture without knowing the invitees. Additionally, it is typical that there is nothing about coverage of travel and stay.

Check the magazine / organizer’s website:

-Are the names of the editorial board stated? Are these familiar in your field of expertise’s international/national environment? I checked the organizer of Congress of Cancer diagnosis & treatment hosted in Oslo the 2nd-3rd of August 2018; not a single Norwegian co-organizer, and not one scientist I had ever heard of. Searching through PubMed I found little correspondence between the named scientists and their specified workplaces. These were definitely not renowned scientists!

-Does the journal have information about its bibliography? E.g. which databases it is indexed in.

-Avoid these organizers: WASET, OMICS, Sciencedomain and Bioevents.

-Be are aware of names that are almost entirely similar to a journal you actually know: The International Journal of your field, may be named Journal of International your field or International Clinical & Research in your field.

To avoid violation of publication ethics: This has formerly been published as a commentary in På Høyden, 21^stof August 2018.

This summer, we received the great news that Randi Bertelsen was awarded an ERC Starting Grant (K2-News week 33). In addition to obtaining a solid economical basis to build her own research and become a principal investigator, Randi’s grant acknowledges the quality of the research community she is a part of, our department and The Faculty of Medicine.

Funds from The European Union, The Norwegian Research council, The Norwegian Cancer Society, and other funding bodies, as well as our production of publications and candidates, provides the bread and butter for K2. In addition, external funding is necessary in order for investigators to conduct experimental research at all. Grants are also an important parameter when assessing applications for positions and other resources – and it will be even more important in the future.

The parable of talents (Matthew 25) is probably known to most of you; “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away”. It may seem unfair, but the parable is applicable to research funding. The road is always steepest in the beginning. For a young person or young environment it can be difficult to obtain the most competitive grants like the FRIPRO program of The Norwegian Research Council. Perhaps a better strategy is to apply more low-hanging fruits like The Regional Health Authorities of Western Norway grant program, Health and Rehabilitation programs or funds aimed at specific disease groups or treatments.

K2 and the faculty have worked systematically in recent years to improve applications and grant success rates. We have employed research advisors and built up internal procedures for application assessment and budgeting. Weekly overviews of grant opportunities are published in K2-Nytt. All these efforts are to make it easier for you to apply.

The next big opportunity is the Helse-Vest call ending on 15 September. Read the call and submit your application, so that you can get return on your talents.

Good luck

Eystein
Vice head of department

I hope everyone has had a nice holiday returning with the batteries reloaded.

At the time of writing, the students have already begun, and many K2 employees are fully occupied with teaching. It is often busy getting started after the holiday. Switching from a hopefully quiet vacation to a hectic university life takes some time. New students means some more work at the start. Research never rests. Although many have picked up email and delt with the most urgent, most have probably a lot of outstanding tasks that now need to be sorted out.

So most people do not start the autumn term with empty baskets. Nevertheless, there may be reason to look into the next six months with new eyes. The new study plan has meant that many have had to change the organization of teaching, but has the content been changed accordingly? Can it be improved and made easier and more accessible? The fall is time for scientific meetings with professional refills and interaction with other researchers. Can this opportunity be used to define new research questions and research projects so that you are better prepared when the deadlines for applying for research funding come next spring?

Autumn is a nice time with many new opportunities. Grab these. Good luck with a new term.

Pål