doing research in science fields may be daunting for quite some people. Hopefully the following can help some.

Researching

First, talk to an academic of a particular field. He/She can get you involved in certain research or area. You can also get some good conference recommendations. When pursuing research career, your career is mostly….. about RESEARCH. Therefore you will have to pursue an area of interest / speciality and work from there.

Publishing

Here are a few international directories that can help you seek conferences all over the world. Currently there are a few types: Journals / Conferences / Workshops. Graded in order of importance. All these are based on impact. Impact is how it influences the world. The lower the score i.e. 0.6 or 1.2 is good. 8.0 is not as good.

Open Access Journals Directories

• http://www.doaj.org/
• http://www.wileyopenaccess.com/
• http://www.oxfordjournals.org/oxfordopen/
• http://www.plos.org/

Journals / Conferences

• http://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/
• http://www.ejise.com/
• http://journal.ub.tu-berlin.de/

Next question about publishing is cost. Most journals or conferences will require a fee. This fee varies but at current standing it is about USD$ 1200 – 2500. You might criticise the lack of support for open knowledge, however this is life. Like how cars work on petrol, people still work on money. Solar is near, but not near enough.

If you are down on dosh, you may consider the following methods

• Research group funding
• Co-author funding (other co-authors might have access to funds)
• Department funding (your school or department might have funds for you)
• School or University funding
• Open Trusts such as Wellcome Trust (http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/about-us/policy/spotlight-issues/Open-access/Guides/wtx036803.htm)