O-1A Published Scholarly Articles
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O-1A Published Scholarly Articles
In this presentation, we’re going to focus on the O-1A visa category – ‘Published Scholarly Articles by You’. The actual official wording of this category is: –
Evidence of the alien’s authorship of scholarly articles in the field, in professional journals or other major media
The requirement asks if the alien’s work has been published in any major trade publication or other major media? It’s basically a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Kazarian v. USCIS in deciding an EB1 green card case decided March 4, 2010, that mere publication by itself is not sufficient, as a two-step approach is needed.
Step one is whether the alien has been published or not, and this is a yes or no answer.
Step two is an assessment as to whether the alien’s publication had a significant impact in the field.
Let’s explore this issue further: – Virtually all PhD level academics have to be published somewhere in order to get their doctorate. So merely being published cannot distinguish the alien as having risen to the top of their profession. They have, however, satisfied the first step in the two-step process. O-1A adjudicators therefore need a more robust and objective basis to determine whether an article has made any kind of impact, and remember, these O-1A adjudicators are lay-people, and therefore, need to be able to consider the evidence objectively without having to know anything about the area of study.
Let’s talk about the peer review process: – Academics will know that there are some ‘soft’ publications where you can submit your article to be published, and as long as the subject is of interest to the publication they will publish it. However, there are some publications that will receive your work, but then subject your work to a ‘peer review’ process, where other qualified and respected academics test the merit worthiness of the article. The process of peer review can take six months or more and the article may undergo several revisions before it can be proven to be of a sufficiently high standard to be published in a peer review journal. Any academic who has been through the peer review process will know exactly what we’re talking about.
US Immigration’s position is that if an alien’s work has gone through the peer review process, it is regarded as being more influential and substantive in value to the community than an article published without peer review. Also, within the academic community there are magazines / journals that are well known for only publishing articles that have been peer reviewed.
Ok – let’s talk about citations by other academics: – Another question an O-1A adjudicator can reasonably ask, is whether the alien’s article has been cited in the work of other academics. The rationale being that no academic would reference another’s work in their paper unless it was considered to have merit and furthered the aims of their paper. Therefore, O-1A adjudicators can, without even reading the alien’s article, determine the merit of the article by simply confirming the number of times the alien’s work has been cited by other academics.
If the alien’s article has not been cited by any other academic, nor been subjected to peer review, then it is quite easy for an O-1A adjudicator to become skeptical as to whether the published article carries any weight or impact. Despite this stated construction, the regulations do allow aliens to submit any other evidence they feel may corroborate objectively any claim as to the article’s impact, because not all academic articles will lend themselves to peer review. Think of business articles where various economists have their ideas and theories published in the business press, well these articles can be highly persuasive in that community.
As your attorneys, our role will be to work very closely with you in the collation of any published article, as US Immigration has very stringent protocols that must be followed in order the verify their objective requirements. This can be quite a painstaking exercise but if in the end the O-1A visa adjudicator is impressed by the quality of the documentation presented, then getting the case approved will be far more likely.
In the next presentation, we’re going to review the ‘Critical or Essential Capacity’ category. Once again, we’re so delighted that you found us and hope you enjoy our O-1A visa presentation series. When you’re ready, please email or call us for a free consultation and we can discuss your case and get the ball rolling.
US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
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Specializing in the E2 Visa, EB1 Green Card, L-1A Visa and O1 Visa and K1 Visa Marriage-Based Immigration. Attorney Chris M. Ingram is dedicated to providing the very best in US Immigration legal representation. Enjoy our website.
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