Dr. Kristy Hess (Deakin University, Australia): If you want to publish internationally, be persistent and make an effort.

Dr. Kristy Hess is currently a lecturer in Communication, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University (Australia), and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Digital Journalism magazine. This is a young magazine, only 6 years old, but is one of the famous magazines in the US and around the world.

However, she had some failures in the early days of submitting her articles to international scientific journals. Before 2009, she had no experience in publishing. At that time, when she wanted to publish an article related to her field of research, she was ambitious and chose a world-famous journal on cultural studies to submit her article. She worked very hard to write the article and waited for a response from the journal's Editorial Board for months after submitting the article. She was excited when she received an email from a member of the editorial board. She thought this was good news. However, when she read the letter, she received the following comment: “The article content is not outstanding and we cannot publish your article.”. She cried and considered it unacceptable because she had put in so much effort but the results were so bad. However, very quickly she regained her confidence to continue pursuing her dream. That first failure taught her a lesson, which is to be persistent with her goals and continue her efforts. According to her, these are two essential qualities if you want to be published internationally.

Kristy Hess shares about the current state of writing about Vietnam in Digital Journalism magazine as follows: “When I look at the magazine and its content, Vietnam is very close to my heart. I feel sad because there are not many Vietnamese scholars whose articles are in my magazine. There are only 5 articles about Vietnam but unfortunately they are not by Vietnamese scholars.”.

Dr. Kristy Hess shares about international publication at the Institute of Journalism and Communication studio

Dr. Kristy Hess said that in addition to perseverance and effort, it also takesclarity. How clear is the researcher’s argument? Does the world understand who you are and what your research is about? Why do we need to publish? A researcher who publishes is participating in a big conversation that makes the world a better place: “Researchers must always be aware that our work is not only relevant to ourselves, but also relevant domestically and internationally. Many people think that America is the center of the world, but in reality it is not. When writing an article, we must consider what is the scholarship? Who is it inspiring? What is the subject of influence, ancient or modern research methods?”.

To write an international article according to Kristy Hess, we must haveinternational thinking. It is important to consider yourself a researcher. Nowadays, Google reports news very quickly. Google is the place to search for information about the field we are researching. If we do not have an international scientific profile, we should think about it. Not having an international publication is not an important thing. The problem is to think about international publication and make an effort to do it. Each researcher needs to have 6 keywords to define the research field they are pursuing. These keywords are related to the research topic and are what makes the difference, the personal mark of the researcher. For example, her 6 research keywords are: local media/news sustainability/community/culture/social order/power. The keywords need to be clear, lucid and easy to remember. Keywords help editors identify the writer's research specialty, thereby determining the quality of the article.

Researchers should not initially look for top journals to publish in, because it is a gamble; they should not look for a long list of journals but only look for 1 to 3 journals that are close to their research field. Kristy Hess emphasizes: “Finding journals is important, but don’t look for the top journals, as rankings change constantly. A small journal can rise to the top. Aim for the journals that are most relevant to you. Find the journals that are relevant to your research keywords.”. After the top journal rejected her, she submitted the rejected article to a lower-ranking journal in Australia and was successful.

Researchers often skip this important step after finding a suitable journal: looking at the journal's bibliography to see who else has published articles that are close to their research interests.

Many Masters and PhDs try to summarize their dissertations and theses in a 7,000-word article. This is actually too complicated. According to Kristy Hess, these people should focus on one research result in their work, then expand the material and scope of the research. Australians call this method of slicing the research problem “sliced”. In this way, from a thesis or dissertation, the researcher can aim for many articles or a book. In qualitative research articles, it is necessary to link to a certain theory.

A researcher cannot write an article in a day or two. When an article is received, the Editorial Board needs at least two weeks to discuss it among themselves. Kristy Hess emphasizes: “You may get rejection emails. You may be very upset, but don't give up on two basic principles: persistence and effort. That's how I grew from failure.”.