I think i’ve discovered something important in the field I dabble in as a advanced hobbyist. Like this was a breakthrough and perspective shift enough for me to stay awake all night into the morning until I had to go to sleep testing it works and boilerplating the abstract paper. I constructed a theoretical framework, practical implementation, and statistically analyzed experimental results across numerous test cases. I then put my findings into as good a technical paper as I could write up. I did as much research as I could to make sure nobody else had written about this before.
At this point though I don’t really know how to proceed. Im an outsider systems engineer not an academic, and arXiv requires you be endorsed/recognized as a member of the scientific community with like a college email or written recommendation by someone already known. Then whenever I look at the papers on arxiv they always look a very specific way I cant get with libreoffice writer. Theres apparently a whole bunch of rules on formatting and font and style and this and that. Its overwhelming and kind of scary.
So. What do i do here? I have something I think is important enough to get off my ass and get in touch with a local college to maybe get a recommendation. I’d like to have my name in the community and contribute.
arXiv is the standard for researcheres in my field to publish their works as an open collective. I’d like to formally offer it to the scientific community to both prove myself as a proper member of the field even if I never had formal education and maybe get a bit of clout added to a resume portfolio if its real and game-changing.
I know how academics are though so im keeping expectations in check, have to have some healthy skepticism to keep myself in check about this in case its not or only passingly noteworthy.
I have my own website where I do in-depth technical writing and im a community leader in some social media places so worst case scenario ill just add a section to my website and post on the social media places about it. If I make use of the findings to enhance my own systems then Ive proven to myself and the community who adopts them that it works as a functional useful system which is arguably more important and which may snowball.
You could put it up on ResearchGate first to get eyes across it and potentially get an endorsement. Then reach out to the endorser to get sponsored for arXiv.
The other option is to submit it for peer review. You’d need to to look up the best pathway based on your field.
Make it easy to understand and repeatable. If you do not have the education credentials, it may take a little more finesse. Finding a conference is a great idea. Make some personal contacts with someone putting on a workshop. Depending on the field, they may be in need of papers. I am happy to help with any questions on the overall process or formatting. I have a published paper, so I have an idea of some of the struggles. My wife has put on many workshops in the AI field and is often complaining of how hard it is to find quality content to have presented.
But still,it is uncommon for research papers to be published with a single author. It is common practice to reach out to peers to have your discoveries peerreviewed. They might be able to help you elevate your discovery to a higher level and more maturity. They might also be a doorway to help you publish.
It’s not the norm to publish alone, but it’s not really uncommon either. Peer review is conducted when you publish, regardless of how many authors are listed on the article. The reviewers are typically selected by the journal, and are anonymous to the person submitting the paper.