Welcome to Academic Information Searching, Publishing and Management

Please observe that this course is intended for PhD students within the Faculty of Engineering and Science and the Technical Faculty of IT and Design. We offer a similar course for PhD students within the Faculty of Medicine "Health Scientific Searching and Publishing".


Description: This 2-day course gives you skills and knowledge within a wide range of relevant areas useful during your PhD. The objective of the course is to facilitate your entrance into the academic research world, so it is recommended that you take it when starting your PhD.

The course will cover these essential areas (see the attached file for a detailed programme):

Searching, evaluating and organising information – How to apply a structured method to search information e.g. for a literature review. How to prepare and apply relevant criteria for assessing and documenting the search results. How reference management tools can facilitate the process of organising search results
Research evaluation – What research evaluation entails. Citations and h-index as measures for evaluating research. How to use the most central databases in research evaluation for your subject
Publication strategy - How to increase publications’ visibility and searchability in databases through well-informed choices regarding an article’s key features (titles, keywords and abstracts) and choice of publication channel such as BFI and other relevant impact measures. How to use relevant tools and websites for choosing where to publish
Research visibility, networking and profiling - How to register research in VBN, knowledge and use of researcher identifiers, scholarly networks and Open Access
Research data management, research ethics and copyright for researchers are also a part of the course.
The course is a “toolbox for research”-course with a mix of presentations and hands-on exercises, either working on your own focusing on your own PhD-project or in small groups with a shared focus. Please remember to bring your computer.

The course does not focus on methods for medical information searching and publishing. For this purpose, please see the description for the course Health Scientific Searching and Publishing instead on PhD Moodle.

Preparation before the course: Please see the attached file with articles of subjects covered in the course. As preparation for the class exercises, you are asked to skim an article, which is also attached. Prior to the course you also need to make sure you can log in to Aalborg University Research Portal at vbn.aau.dk/admin. For support, please contact vbn@aub.aau.dk.

Exercises: There will be both class exercises and home exercises. The home exercises will be introduced during the course. You are required to finish the home exercises at home and return them by a specific date.

Accommodation: There will be coffee and tea during the day. However, you will have to bring your own lunch. Alternatively, you have to go to the canteen at Fibigerstræde 15. It is approximately a 10 minutes’ walk.

Course language: English

Important: In order to pass the course you are required to be present for the duration of the course’s two days and complete the home exercises.


Organizer: Mia Bech, mbb@aub.aau.dk

Lecturers: Helle Brink, M.L.I.Sc; Tine Furbo Carlsen, M.L.I.Sc; Gitte Thomsen, M.L.I.Sc and Louise Thomsen, M.L.I.Sc

ECTS: 2

Time: 6-7 November 2019

Place: Room Lindgren, Langagervej 2, 9220 Aalborg Øst

Number of seats: 20

Deadline: 16 October 2019



Important information concerning PhD courses We have over some time experienced problems with no-show for both project and general courses. It has now reached a point where we are forced to take action. Therefore, the Doctoral School has decided to introduce a no-show fee of DKK 5,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately three months before start. This can hopefully also provide new students a chance to register for courses during the year. We look forward to your registrations.