Episode 14 - “I was able to publish a paper I had been sitting on for 5 years!” - Case study w/ Sabina Hirshfield

In this episode, I’m talking to Sabina Hirshfield, visiting Associate Professor at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and member of the Researchers’ Writing Academy. Sabina has pioneered eHealth and mHealth interventions to improve health outcomes for sexual and gender minority populations.

In our interview, Sabina told me that she discovered our academic writing program after a colleague shared our website on social media and that after going through the content, she identified the struggles she was having with writing papers in a timely manner. It was taking her forever for her papers to get written and she felt like she needed to break that!

This was such a fun talk with Sabina and we discuss so many topics that concern researchers today: from how continuing to learn and take professional development even after you finish your degree is so essential (but also that it’s okay if it’s fun!), to how academics have a hard time admitting they don’t know how to write well and how a program like the Researchers’ Writing Academy can help you feel less alone in the world of academia!

Timestamps:
(01:11) Introducing Dr Sabina Hirshfield
(07:30) Sabina’s motivations for joining the Researchers’ Writing Academy (RWA)
(11:00) How Sabina changed how she collaborates with her co-authors since joining the RWA
(14:45) Sabina’s publishing results after implementing the Journal Publication Formula
(16:25) How Sabina approached taking the program
(18:33) Writing can be enjoyable and learning never stops
(23:45) Observing how other academics approach writing and their publishing habits
(29:40) Sabina’s favourite elements of the RWA
(32:06) Why we both love writing retreats and co-writing sessions
(34:20) Why Sabina has referred several colleagues to the RWA
(36:00) Feeling unproductive and time management struggles
(39:30) Why people stay inside the RWA after their first year
(43:52) Listener question: Which verb tense should I use in my paper?

Sabina’s Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fy3K49sAAAAJ&hl=en

Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhD
Video and audio editing: Jason Rivera

If you’re interested to join the Researchers’ Writing Academy and learn how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend watching my free writing training as the first step at: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free.