Any paranormal researchers on here?

maccored

There will be a site soon for this and at present we are looking for anyone who has either published papers along these lines or who would like to do some fresh research. The 'review committee' includes people like Ciaran O'Keefe, Barry Fitzgerald, a Prof. of Psychology and a neurologist

The Journal of Paranormal Research invites you to submit your Research papers in the field of the Paranormal. To many the idea of proper research papers and the Paranormal may seem a very odd couple. With the massive public consumption of Paranormal TV shows, magazines, websites and more recently, venues and companies making money from claims of hauntings, it really is time to have a serious look into how environmental conditions can cause ‘paranormal’ experiences.

We are true skeptics, in that we have no definitive outlook either way in regards to the Paranormal, but we do know many things such as infrasound and electromagnetic energy/radiation can cause the human mind to slightly malfunction. The result is very real paranormal experiences which aren’t paranormal at all.

This is the reason for The Journal of Paranormal Research. We plan to publish up to five papers per year, initially online only but available to all – cynics, skeptics and paranormal researchers alike. Each paper will go through a peer review process to ensure we keep a high standard. Our peer reviewers include psychologists, para-psychologists, experienced paranormal researchers and neurologists.

Would you like to contribute and submit a paper?

Below is an example layout:


Title page
Abstract
Background
Results
Discussion
Conclusions
Materials and Methods
List of abbreviations used (if any)
Acknowledgments
References
Figure legends (if any)
Tables and captions (if any)
Description of additional data files (if any)


Title page
This should list the title of the article, the full names, institutional addresses, and e-mail addresses for all authors. The corresponding author should also be indicated.


Abstract
The abstract of the manuscript should not exceed 250 words and must be structured into three separate sections: Background, the context and purpose of the study; Results, the main findings; Conclusions, brief summary and potential implications. Please minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references in the abstract.


Background
The background section should be written from the standpoint of researchers without specialist knowledge in that area and must clearly state - and, if helpful, illustrate - the background to the research and its aims. The section should end with a very brief statement of what is being reported in the article.


Results and Discussion
The Results and Discussion may be combined into a single section or presented separately. They may also be broken into subsections with short, informative headings.


Conclusions
This should state clearly the main conclusions of the research and give a clear explanation of their importance and relevance. Summary illustrations may be included.


Materials and methods
This should be divided into subsections if several methods are described.


List of abbreviations
If abbreviations are used in the text they should be defined in the text where first used and a list of abbreviations should be provided.


Acknowledgments
Please acknowledge anyone who contributed towards the study by making substantial contributions to conception, design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, or who was involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content, but who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Please also include their source(s) of funding. Please also acknowledge anyone who contributed materials essential for the study.

Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements.

Please list the source(s) of funding for the study, for each author, and for the manuscript preparation in the acknowledgements section. Authors must describe the role of the funding body, if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.


References
All references must be numbered consecutively, in square brackets, in the order in which they are cited in the text, followed by any in tables or legends. Reference citations should not appear in titles or headings. Each reference must have an individual reference number. Please avoid excessive referencing. If automatic numbering systems are used, the reference numbers must be finalized and the bibliography must be fully formatted before submission.

Obtaining permission to quote personal communications and unpublished data from the cited author(s) is the responsibility of the author. Please take care to follow the reference style precisely; references not in the correct style may be retyped, necessitating tedious proofreading.

Riamfada

To publish research in most academic journals you need to usually have a masters degree minimum. For example the Journal of Medical Sciences wont publish any of mysubmissions because I am not a medical professional with 15 years experience .. the bastards.

Do submissiosn to the journal require someone to have academic scientific qualifications to validate research or can any Joe soap submit anything claiming to be scientific.

As far as I know Ciaran O'Keeffe and Barry FitzGerald are actors from entertainment based TV shows wouldnt be my choice for an editorial panel for a scientific journal .....

I would be interested in reading it but unfortunately I cannot contribute as Im a paranormal investigator not a scientist. Best of luck with it!

maccored

theres no real law about who can publish but it is all about prestige etc etc with the academics so I completely see your point there.

We can't class ourselves as the highest knowledge, but at the same time theres no-one bothering to try to do some research in this field so that's primarily where we're coming from on this. Henceforth, we dont really worry about how qualified people are to do the research.

Collect papers on infrasound. emf, how the brain works etc etc and have it there as a database for researchers. Personally I find there's getting to be way way way too many orbies in this field and not enough people with a bit of common sense.

O'Keefe is a Dr of psychology and a parapsychologist, so why wouldnt he fit the bill as a reviewer? Barry, agreed doesnt have any qualifications, but he is first and foremost a paranormal researcher. OK, he does TV too, but he's as much as researcher as any of us. He's got experience - thats what we need. The rest of the reviewers is Prof. Eamon Strain - he's published quite a bit on the mind and how it functions etc etc as well as a neurologist. Again, we feel both those people have a deep understanding of how the mind and brain works and therefore well placed to review papers which will obviously be mainly based on how the environment reacts to our brains.

I think this is where effort should be put. If people want to ghost hunt and scare themselves for the 'ohiamscared' factor then that's fine - all the power to them but I want nothing to do with them. If people want to try and do a bit of research then why not start here?

maccored

Grimes wrote: »

I would be interested in reading it but unfortunately I cannot contribute as Im a paranormal investigator not a scientist. Best of luck with it!

Same here - I am more searching for either people to involve themselves or for people who have already published related papers (to see if we could use them too) rather than actually try and publish one myself. The editor though, has a PhD and a few other of those type of things and is well used to writing papers. He's published a few himself. He's the more scientific type in this, not me.

In saying that though, I am working on doing some psychical research and working with someone more of the scientific bend to write it all up.

Riamfada

Sounds like a really interesting project and I cant wait to read it. Just a friendly word of warning though. If you want the project to take and to get contributions it would be wise to stop accusing all other groups of being more interested in paranormal tourism ect on the boards and leinster paranormal forums. Especially as we are your target audience and contributors.

maccored

i think you forgot the 'imo' at the end of that. I havent acused anyone or any group of anything.

I have - and will - reserve the right to be honest and outspoken about how the 'paranormal community' in ireland is more based on making money that researching, as that is my opinion. If you have a problem with that, fine, but please refrain from further mis-representation.

paranormal

best of luck with your site.and i look forward to reading some of your stuff.as a matter of interest will your research be based on irish paranormal sites and experiences.

maccored

we'll take papers from anywhere. thats going to be the tricky bit as to research one would take a couple of years. We want to look at the standard known environmental issues like infrasound and emf for the minute. once the site is properly finished we'll be pushing the idea out and about the irish paranormal scene and hopefully we'll get some interaction.