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A few days ago I posted a question on specific paper on RG. Another researcher says this is insulated paper that really shocked me because it is central to my research.

After I saw this comment I contact this person to get more explanation that may guide me but he didn't respond.

The paper name is "Multimodal Registration of Remotely Sensed Images Based on Jeffrey’s Divergence, 2016" and my interest is multimodal image registration, below you will find a screenshot for the discussion. enter image description here

I post this question to get some advice from senior researchers that may pass through a situation.

Update: How can Q1 journal accept to publish insulated work?

Thanks

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    Was the "insulated work" comment really by another researcher? The comment reads as if it was made by the paper's author (or at least by the one to which you addressed the question). Can you clarify the situation? Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 11:23
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    Why would a Q1 journal not accept a paper because the author does not generally work on that field? They will just have a look and if its good accept it. To repeat what other people said: The paper itself is good, the author is telling you that he/she does not work on that topic, so they can not help you. The paper itself has absolutely not problem (at least none is shown in this interaction) Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 11:35
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    I think it would help if we knew what you think "insulated" means here. It's not really clear what you are worried about.
    – J...
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 11:36
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    How can Q1 journal accept to publish insulated work? Why shouldn't the journal accept it if it is good? There is nothing bad at all about an isolated work. It just means that the authors do not work on this topic any more. Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 16:00
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    I have no idea what is meant by this question and I personally think the author of said paper would not be happy to have screenshots of online conversations with them be publicized in strange SE questions which are hard to understand... Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 17:38

2 Answers 2

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"Insulated" is a strange word to use there, but that reads for all the world like "This was a one-off project for me I don't really work on anymore".

Many academics end up having those. It doesn't mean anything about your research, and definitely isn't "shocking".

To respond to your edit, one-off or isolated projects aren't inherently better or worse science than any other project, so there's no reason a top tier journal wouldn't publish someone's side study. Indeed one of my best publications is from a one-off project.

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    I find your answer absolutely correct. But, still the author would have guided in getting some more information on the work for OP (which is of course a personal choice).
    – Coder
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 3:11
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    Probably "insulated" is a spell-corrected typo for "isolated".
    – JeffE
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 3:44
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    @JeffE In Italian, the word isolare means both to insulate and to isolate. (The same is true in other romance languages, too.) So it could also just be a small translation mistake. Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 5:29
  • @fomite I update my question. I appreciate any more advices from you. Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 10:48
  • @nagdawi See the edit
    – Fomite
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 20:31
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I suggest the reading 'isolated' --- he probably meant a one-off effort.

Isola is the Italian for island (from Latin insula). Isolare means to isolate and to insulate at the same time. The Italian writer may have had his/her wires crossed at that moment.

I ignore if there is an etymological connection between the notion of island and that of solitude/seclusion/isolation. As a matter of fact, small islands are sanctuaries for solitude, and Napoleon was confined to St Helena to stay in isolation.

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    Your answer sparked a chuckle from me.
    – crobar
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 12:48
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    You are right there is a connection: insula is latin for island and still valid Spanish. English insulate does indeed come from that latin word. On the other hand, isolate apparently comes through French and Italian, but still from the same word insula. It's easy for romance-based language speakers to mix the two. In English they have different meanings ( ngram comparison ).
    – jjmontes
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 18:09

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