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After doing research for a while, I figured out a topic (1) that nobody has done it before (2) and I think It's pretty cool and valuable (3) to the community in my field. So, I proposed the idea to my professor with some drafts. But, my professor told me to find out if there is any interest in the topic in the publishing industry (journals) If no one cares about that It's not worth it.

It's like I created a paradox. How can I find out the interests in the topic if nobody has done it before?

If you guys have any ideas or tips that can help me I would be really appreciated!

Thanks

(1) I'm working on Fault Management Framework for Network Function Virtualization.

(2) I cannot find any relevant paper that employs it. They're mostly about Fault Management for SDN or cloud or on a specific problem whereas I want to design a complete solution.

(3) I think it is valuable because It will save time for the deployer/implementor by including all the best practices.

There'are several reasons why this question is different than the one at How to select a journal for publishing? because of:

  • It's not about selecting a journal to publish, It's about whether the journals are interested in my topic. I've already known which ones I want to publish to. It's just that I'm not sure if they're interested in my idea.

  • The question in which mine was marked as duplicated with is much broader than mine I think.

Trinh Nguyen
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    Welcome! You may receive faster and more helpful answers if the question is more specific: (1) The nature of the field may be relevant, i.e. theoretical/applied or social sciences/math/biology/engineering etc. (2) You could mention why you feel ABC is valuable, i.e. is it just a hunch, does it fill a gap, have other researchers expressed a need for something similar, etc. – AppliedAcademic May 01 '18 at 04:14
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    The scope of a journal is rather broad; typically there would be many journals whose scope includes any given idea. Are you saying that your idea falls completely outside the scope of all existing journals? That seems hard to imagine (I'm not saying it's impossible, of course). And your advisor would usually be the person most able to answer this question. – David Ketcheson May 01 '18 at 04:30
  • @user153812: Thanks for the comments. I modified my question to make it clearer. – Trinh Nguyen May 01 '18 at 09:39
  • @DavidKetcheson: I found that most of the existing works only focus on a specific solution or integrate existing solution. My idea is to try to build a standard that includes best practices and many considerations so that deployer can look at it as a guildline. Some suggest that my idea maybe too broad for the existing journals. – Trinh Nguyen May 01 '18 at 09:43
  • @TrinhNguyen You mention "most...existing works...focus on a specific solution or integrate existing solution," which hints at your work being a generalisation, but you go on to say your "idea is to try to build a standard that includes best practices and many considerations so that deployer can look at it as a guildline," which doesn't seem related to existing work. Can you clarify? – user2768 May 01 '18 at 10:04
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    @user2768: Thanks for your comment. What I meant is most of the existing work is trying to solve a specific problem of Fault Management. My idea comes after a question: "Why not build a framework or standard that people can look at and implement the Fault Management system so they can avoid most of the problem found in the literature using industry's best practices"? Is that clear enough? – Trinh Nguyen May 01 '18 at 10:12
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    So you know of "existing works". Submit your work to one of the journals where those were published. – David Ketcheson May 01 '18 at 10:21
  • @DavidKetcheson: Thanks. That's what I thought in the first place intuitively. But I'm not sure if my idea of instead of solving a specific problem of Fault Management like the existing works, I'm trying to build a framework would get much interest from the journals. – Trinh Nguyen May 01 '18 at 12:25
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    @TrinhNguyen So the existing works define components of a Fault Management system, whereas you want to look at a compete system? – user2768 May 01 '18 at 12:53
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    @user2768 Yes, I want to look at a complete system. – Trinh Nguyen May 03 '18 at 02:07
  • @TrinhNguyen Perhaps revise your question to include these details. – user2768 May 03 '18 at 08:52
  • @user2768: just updated the question. Thank you very much for your comments. :) – Trinh Nguyen May 03 '18 at 11:22

3 Answers3

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You should

  1. Make a list of journals that might be relevant to your research.
  2. Look at the scope of each of these journals.
  3. Decide the extent to which your result can fall within the scope of these journals.
  4. Tailor the story of your paper to the journal whose scope best fits your result.
Yingkai Ouyang
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I find that when in doubt, it can be helpful to email the editor of the journal. You can pick a couple potential journals out. Usually within each journal they would have topic editors, or separate editors tending to specific subtopics. Pick one that's closest to yours, and then email to ask if they would be interested in your paper. Even if they are not, they may suggest to you the names of other journals (which you may not otherwise know of), that may be more appropriate for you. Good luck!

PandaPants
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Just do it. (Act like you are doing whatever.) Bootleg science is the best.

guest
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