Abstract

Statistical challenges overcome in publishing GIS analyses.
Track: Agriculture
Authors: George Mueller-Warrant

GIS data and methods have the potential to answer questions concerning agriculture that were too complex to even consider formulating until quite recently. Unfortunately for researchers trying to publish findings ranging from the reasons for spatial patterns in the distribution of weeds to options for the placement of straw-based biofuel refineries, the publication process is fraught with extra challenges when GIS enters the picture. In my experience, successfully navigating the peer-review publication process includes not just finding the 'right' journal, but also translating the arcane language of geo-statistics into terms and concepts that resonate clearly with editors, reviewers, and ultimately readers of your paper. While painful, being forced to be the first one to describe underlying assumptions behind the colorful maps that take only a few (final) keystrokes to produce is not without its rewards - foremost amongst these is your own improved understanding of how the 'tools' actually work.