EB1 Case Manager Training – Understanding PM-602-0005.1 – Scholarly Articles
Scholarly Articles
Scholarly articles are published materials authored by our clients and written to a learned audience.
Though this category is labeled scholarly articles, and therefore brings to mind academics and scientists only this category is truly meant for individuals who have written articles in their field of endeavor. In the previously discussed published materials about you, we discussed press that was written about our client. In this category we are going to discuss published materials written by our client.
EB1 Case Manager / Understanding the PM
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Beyond the client’s authorship of the articles, we will also need to show that they were written for a learned audience. So what does that mean? Let’s say we have a computer programmer for a client who has authored a number of articles. These articles should be written in journals or industry publications that cater to other programmers or industry professionals rather than the mainstream public. The articles should be so technical in nature that a layperson not in the industry would not be able to read it.
With the above in mind, this category is fairly straightforward to satisfy.
The basic requirements are, as follows:
(1) Determine whether the alien has authored scholarly articles in the field
(a) Copy of the article written by the alien
(b) Copy of the cover of the publication
(2) Determine whether the publication qualifies as a professional publication or major trade publication or major media publication
(a) Information About the Publication – Industry Targeted
(b) Information About Audience Publication is Targeting
(i) Evidence establishing that the audience is learned, or has a profound knowledge of the subject matter
(c) The circulation (online or print) of Publication
(d) The circulation (online or print) of Comparable Publications
Now let’s discuss each requirement.
(1) Determine whether the alien has authored scholarly articles in the field
This section will be related to showing that the client is the author of the articles themselves.
(a) Copy of the article written by the alien
Some of clients will write very lengthy scholarly journal articles. It is important that we provide the entire article in the file that we submit to US immigration, so be sure to get a good, clear copy of the article. Oftentimes you will be able to download it from online, but is some instances you will be reliant on the client to provide you a copy of the article.
In getting the article, you want to be sure you can see the author line listing the client’s name. If it is a journal, there may be a number of authors, and that is fine. If it is an industry publication, it may look more like a news article with the client’s name on the byline. Other times, there will be a credit to the client as the author at the end of the article. No matter where the author’s credit is, just make sure it is there so we can prove to US immigration that our client authored the article.
(b) Copy of the cover of the publication
The copy of the cover of the publication is something that you should always attempt to get. Sometimes it can be difficult, especially if the client did not keep the publications on hand. Like with the published materials, if the article is written in a hard-copy publication, we should get the cover. If the article is published online, you should gather the home page of the website where it was published.
(2) Determine whether the publication qualifies as a professional publication or major trade publication or major media publication
This section will focus on establishing information about the publication and its readership.
(a) Information About the Publication – Industry Targeted
This is your chance to show US Immigration what industry the publication is targeting. This will be important to the argument as we will need to ensure that the publication is part of the same industry as our client.
(b) Information About Audience Publication is Targeting
(i) Evidence establishing that the audience is learned, or has a profound knowledge of the subject matter
Make sure you show the audience of the publication in which the client has authored articles.
There will be times when section (a) will contain the information you need for this section. Beyond the mission and goals of the publication, you will want to see who is reading it. This may be a demographic breakdown or a simple sentence stating the target audience. Remember, this is where you will need to highlight the readers and show that they are specific to the client’s industry. If the audience is the general public, it will not work for this category.
(c) The circulation (online or print) of Publication
This information can often be found in the media kit of various organizations, however, wherever possible, you should seek to find outside evidence to establish the circulation of a publication.
It is important to be sure that you are provided the circulation data that correlates to the type of article. If you have a print article, the circulation should tell us about print readers; if the article is online, we need to see how many page views and / or unique users the website has.
In some cases with the more academic or scientific journals you will not be able to find circulation data, but you will need to show how important the publication is in the industry, and do to this you can Impact Factors. Impact Factors are a measure of the frequency with the average article in a journal has been cited in a particular period. The impact factor a journal can provide a frame reference for the importance of the journal and used in addition to or instead of circulation data.
(d) The circulation (online or print) of Comparable Publications
You will need to do a good deal of research to identify at least three comparable publications with comparable circulations. This does not mean that our client’s publication has to have the most readers, but it should be in the same ballpark. For example, if our client’s publication has 10,000 readers, and we find a similar publication with 12,000 readers, this is usable evidence.
If our client’s publication has 10,000 readers and we find a similar publication with 100,000 readers, this is obviously not in our favor, so we would not want to use it. This theory goes the other way, too – if we find a similar publication with 1,000 readers, this is not particularly comparable to our publication and could cause US immigration to question the category if we are not providing appropriate comparisons.
The same applies to the impact factor when using them. You will need to find comparable publications in the same industry to show that the publication is known in the industry.
Video Training Series
Professional Print Publication
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4a – Part 4b – Part 5
Part 6a – Part 6b – Part 6c – Part 6d – Part 7
Professional Digital Publication
Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5a – Part 5b –
Conclusion
As you can see, the evidence requirements for this category are very similar to the requirements of the published materials about you, however, we are proving a slightly different type of recognition. Remember to bring the officer back to the basic facts required by the law: that our client authored the articles and the authored articles were published in a publication that caters to learned professionals. Do that and this category will be straightforward for you and the client.
Practical Exercise – Print 3 Sample Arguments
As you print these, you should keep them on hand as a reference. Not only will you see the evidence that is provided, but you will see what your argument writer will be putting together on behalf of the client.
Print the following case(s):
Saurabh Dohble
Kesh Sharma
Doris Robinson
You will need to study each argument and the evidence presented. These cases were selected deliberately to give you a cross section of the types of clients we work with, as well as the various ways we can present evidence to satisfy a category. Obviously an oil and gas engineer will vary significantly from a creative director, and it is important that you are able to develop evidence to ensure all types of cases are successful.
In the next section, you will learn about the Exhibitions and Showcases category.