Writing (and Publishing) a Research Paper At No Cost : A List of Resources

Access : Research has switched to Substack.

---

1. Introduction
2. Finding Open Access Scholarly Articles
3. Open Source Software for Managing Literature
4. Free Software for Writing and Formatting
5. Free Resources for Checking Grammar and Readability
6. Free Software for Managing Bibliography/References
7. Getting Your Paper Published – for FREE
8. Conclusion and Summary of Resources

Introduction

Writing a research paper is a daunting task, especially for those who are just starting out. As a published researcher, I have learned to navigate the complexities of the process on my own, relying on free resources to help me along the way. To this day, I have not paid to have my research published anywhere. I now want to share what I have learned with others who may be struggling to find their footing in the world of academic and scientific writing.

In this article, I will be sharing my personal process of writing an article from start to finish using only free resources. This will include the tools I use to find relevant research articles, manage my references, write and format my paper, check my grammar and readability, and submit my paper for publication. I want to make this article as practical and hands-on as possible, so that readers can see how I apply these free resources in a real-world scenario.

My reasons for writing this article are rooted in my own experience of learning to do it all for myself. I believe that this is an important skill that every researcher/medical student should develop, but it can be especially challenging in developing countries where access to paid resources and guidance along this path is limited. By sharing my knowledge and experience, I hope to empower others to write their own research papers using free resources, and to break down some of the barriers that can prevent researchers from sharing their work with the wider world.

Note : this guide is written assuming that basic costs and materials like a computer are covered.

Finding Open Access Scholarly Articles

The first step to writing any research paper is to identify the topic. Once you have that done, the next step is to find relevant scholarly articles. In order to conduct thorough research, it is crucial to find open access papers that enable you to read the entire article for free. For this, you will have to toggle your research filters on any database to specifically show you full-text files.

There are a number of online databases that provide access to open access scholarly articles, such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). I personally recommend the coveted PubMed to my readers. It is a free search engine that indexes and provides access to the MEDLINE database of biomedical and life sciences references and abstracts, and is maintained by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health. You can use the Medical Search Headings (MeSH) database, a controlled vocabulary of medical terms, to refine your search and find relevant articles.

Open Source Software for Managing Literature

Now that you have a list of papers to start reviewing, managing this literature is an essential task. As you add more papers to your list, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of all the information and citations. By using reference management software, you can keep track of your sources, organize your notes, and properly cite your references, which will save you time and effort in the long run. There are several software options available, including Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote.

I use Zotero, which is a free and open-source reference management software that allows users to collect, organize, and cite research sources. While coursing PubMed, you can use the browser extension to add chosen literature to your collection for review. Zotero also has a standalone program on desktop and an app on all major operating systems. It allows users to organize, annotate, and share research papers and other documents. The software syncs across your devices and has a built-in PDF reader and citation style editor. I cannot believe this software is free, and I want to write an entire post honoring it.

Free Software for Writing and Formatting

Once you have gathered your research, managed your references, and outlined your paper, it’s time to start writing. However, many popular writing software programs can be expensive, making it challenging for some writers to access the necessary tools. Fortunately, there are several free software options available for writing and formatting your research paper.

One of the most popular free writing software programs is LibreOffice, an open-source alternative to Microsoft Office. LibreOffice offers many of the same features as Microsoft Office, including word processing, spreadsheet creation, and presentation design, but without the price tag. Another option is Google Docs, this is the one I use all the time. With Google Docs, anyone with a gmail address can easily create, edit, and share documents online, and access them from anywhere with an internet connection.

The key benefit is that Google Docs excels in collaboration tools. You can easily share a document with others, set permissions for viewing and editing, and even work on the same document simultaneously. This is especially helpful when working on group research papers or when seeking feedback from colleagues or mentors. Moreover, its built-in citation tool and Zotero extension simplify the process of managing references and citations, saving valuable time and effort. Additionally, the feature to view and restore previous versions of the document makes editing and revisions much easier. To keep my text hyperlinked to a list of references, I find it helpful to use the Insert -> Footnote option in Google Docs. The summary feature on the left-hand side is also helpful when navigating through longer papers, and the use of Google Docs eliminates the need to send documents back and forth or keep track of files on your computer, saving space and time.

Overall, Google Docs is a powerful and user-friendly tool for writing and formatting research papers, and its collaborative capabilities make it a top choice for conducting research.

Free Resources for Checking Grammar and Readability

Once your paper has been researched, managed and written for free it is important to ensure that your writing is grammatically correct and easy to read. This is essential because the readability of your paper has a significant impact on the judgment of the journals. If your paper is not easy to read, the journal may either send your paper back for you to correct or will charge you for an English language editor. This can be an even greater challenge for those of us from developing countries, where English is not our first language.

The most popular online tool for checking grammar is Grammarly. I have not used it so I cannot vouch for it, but the online software claims to check for grammatical errors, including spelling mistakes and punctuation errors. It also provides suggestions for rephrasing sentences to improve clarity and readability. Another free tool (that I haven’t used) for checking readability is the Hemingway Editor. This tool analyzes your writing and provides a readability score based on a number of factors, including sentence length, complexity, and use of adverbs and passive voice. It also highlights sentences that may be difficult to read and suggests simpler alternatives. I would also bring to your notice that GoogleDocs has a built in spelling and grammar checker.

Since it’s launch, I have started using ChatGPT for perfecting my writing. All of my published papers were written in the past, when we were caveman who did not have such tools, and I had to rely on my own judgment and the help of acquaintances. But now with this tool, I am able to receive immediate feedback and suggestions for improvement. These resources are free, easily accessible, and, in my humble opinion, superior. I will let the AI speak for itself

As a language model, I am able to assist in checking grammar and readability. OpenAI’s playground is a powerful platform for natural language processing, and ChatGPT can provide suggestions for improving the clarity and coherence of your writing. Additionally, I can identify potential grammatical errors and suggest corrections, making it easier to ensure that your research paper is error-free and easy to read.

ChatGPT

Furthermore, OpenAI’s Playground has three different modes : completing, inserting and editing.
In the completing mode, you can use the model to fill in the blanks in a sentence. In the inserting mode, you can use the model to generate new text based on the original sentence. In the editing mode, you can use the model to edit a sentence and make changes to it. <— This paragraph was completed by the program.

Free Software for Managing Bibliography/References

Bibliography management is one of the most meticulous tasks while writing a research paper. This is the only task in the entire process for which I recommend using software 100% of the time. I am pretty old school and started writing papers in a time when the tech was not as developed as today. I use this free website : mybib. It has all the options you will need to assemble your references. You can add references from a website, a journal, a book and it will provide and compile citations for you in your preferred format.

Other things I appreciate about this website is that it alerts you if you’re adding a duplicate, this really saves you a lot of time and effort when you’re managing upwards of 50 references. The site also notifies you if you’re missing important information about a reference, like an issue or journal number. This is very helpful, because journals are very strict about your references being accurate and in full accordance with guidelines. The program also informs you of the in-text citation style of your preferred format.

I haven’t used any other method ever to assemble a bibliography. I have seen Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote being used for this, but I have nothing to say about them in this regard. Zotero has recently launched ZoteroBib to help manage a bibliography, and it is a free service.

Getting Your Paper Published – for FREE

Getting your research paper published is the final and most grueling/disappointing/soul crushing part of the research process. In this section, we will discuss the publication process, starting from choosing the right journal for your paper. It’s important to choose a journal that is a good fit for your research topic, as well as one with a good reputation in your field.

One important factor to consider is whether the journal charges article processing charges (APCs) or submission fees. Some journals require authors to pay these fees in order to publish their work. However, there are many reputable journals that do not charge these fees, and it’s worth doing some research to find them. You can find information about different journals online, such as their scope, impact factor, and publication fees.

Time for one of my stories.

One of my papers that I am most proud of is a case report which was rejected three times before getting published in a Nature journal. After the final rejection, my co-author Dr. Hafeez and I decided to take a different approach. We decided that, instead of willy-nilly submitting our paper to any neurology focused journal, we would now specifically target a journal for case reports and then tailor our paper to their Aims and Scope. We searched Google for ‘journal finder’ and came across an informative post on ResearchGate, which helped us find JANE.

JANE (Journal/Author Name Estimator) is a free online tool developed by Biosemantics Group to help researchers find the right journals to publish their research. Using JANE, researchers can enter the title and/or abstract of their manuscript, and the tool will analyze the text to suggest relevant journals based on the similarity of the input text to articles in its database. JANE also allows researchers to search for journals based on specific keywords and filters, such as impact factor and open access options. This can save researchers time and effort in finding the right journals to submit their manuscripts to, and increase their chances of being accepted for publication in a reputable journal.

We entered the abstract for our paper and et voila, the approach proved successful. Our paper was accepted for Open Access publication in ‘Spinal Cord Series and Cases’ for free. The entire process took more than a year but today, the paper has been cited by doctors working in hospitals in China. This experience taught me the importance of understanding the focus and scope of different journals and tailoring submissions accordingly, rather than taking a scatter-shot approach to submitting papers.

Just last month, Nature publishing group announced that numerous of its publications would be waiving publication charges entirely for researchers from developing countries. You can check here whether you qualify. Additionally, keep an eye out for journals who have their APC waived for a specific amount of time. Journals usually do this in their introductory period. Another approach I have used in the past is to reach out to journals with Aims and Scope aligned with your paper or research query. This approach landed me two commissioned review papers. Publishing is also free at Cureus, but you have to be extremely careful about following guidelines.

UPDATE : I found this list compiled by Dr. Asad Naveed which includes 349 journals with no APC.

Conclusion and Summary of Resources

In conclusion, writing a research paper at no cost is not only possible, but also easy once you have all the right resources. From writing software to reference management tools, open access journals, and repositories, there are a plethora of free resources available to help you along the way. These not only save you time and money but also enable you to produce high-quality research papers. Moreover, by utilizing open access resources, you can contribute to the advancement of open access research, which promotes the free and unrestricted sharing of knowledge and information, thereby creating a more equitable and inclusive research environment.

Here is a list of all the free resources recommended in my post:

1. Finding Open Access articles : PubMed -> filter on for ‘Full Text’
2. Open source software for managing literature : Zotero,
3. Free software for managing references : mybib
4. Free software for writing and formatting : Google Docs
5. Free resources for checking grammar and readability : ChatGPT, OpenAI’s Playground
6. Finding journals to submit to for free : JANE

Best of luck.

---

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this post and want to receive more updates like these, enter your email and hit subscribe:

Twitter : @zaitoonx
Reddit : u/ZaitoonX

I write a monthly selection at Substack.

Feel free to send me your queries or ideas, and I’ll do my best to craft a thoughtful and informative post around them. You can do this by commenting on this post.

---

While the information and knowledge on this website will always be available for free, I do provide editing and proofreading solutions for a fee : https://www.fiverr.com/share/8eZ7RE