20/21 January 2026

9:00 to 13:00

Andrea Sanchini, Ph.D.

7 to 20

Online

English

Doctoral Candidates and Postdocs at the University of Rostock

Free of charge 

It is essential for Ph.D. candidates and scientists to develop an impressive publication record. The publication of high quality journal articles is imperative in order to apply for jobs or for research grants, to communicate findings, and to define their reputation in the field. This “publish-or-perish” approach, however, may decrease the quality of the journal articles.

By providing adequate training, it is possible to maintain high quality of publications. Unfortunately, Ph.D. candidates and scientists often do not receive any formal training to publish journal articles. Instead they learn the craft of publishing “by doing” and by making mistakes.

Journal articles should be published in order to influence the field – not simply to increase the list of publications. In this workshop, Andrea Sanchini will discuss with participants on how to navigate the different steps of publishing and how to deal with the peer review process, increasing the chances of acceptance.

• Introduction to scholarly publishing
• How to select a target journal
• H-index, impact factor and other journal and article metrics
• The peer review process: submit, revise and communicate with editors and reviewers
• Copyright and licenses
• Ethical issues in publishing (e.g. predatory publishing, authorship disputes, plagiarism)
• Artificial Intelligence in scholarly publishing

At the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the “bigger picture” of academic publishing
• List key criteria for choosing a target journal
• Write the cover letter for their next manuscript
• Describe the stages of the peer review process and its variants
• Communicate effectively with editors and reviewers during the publication process
• Recognize and avoid common unethical practices in academic publishing

This workshop follows a balanced approach, including input presentations provided by the trainer, individual learning phases and group exercises. In addition, hand-outs, checklists, sample articles and examples of cover letters from the trainer's own experience in publishing articles will be provided.

During the workshop, participants can draft a cover letter (half page to one page) for their next publication. Therefore, before the workshop participants are asked to prepare the (preliminary) title of their next publication.

Andrea Sanchini is a trainer in scientific writing and publishing. In July 2017, he completed his own Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences. Since May 2018, he is a certified writing trainer and coach, having completed a training at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. He has more than fifteen years of experience as a researcher in the field of Life Sciences and as such, can fully understand the needs and problems facing scientists and especially Ph.D. candidates. As a scientist, he experienced the challenges of writing and publishing journal articles with limited time and limited funding.
While enrolled in an international Ph.D. graduate school in Berlin, he had the chance to receive formal training in scientific writing and publishing. Andrea has worked in Public Health institutions and universities in Italy, France, Germany, and India. He is fluent in English and German and his native language is Italian.