50: Chapter 50: Methods for Writing Water-Based Papers!

The reason he was in such a rush to work on math papers, most crucially, was that Zhao Yang had discovered that with his current pace of learning and question-solving, the rate at which he gained subject experience had become very slow.

At his current speed, it was very likely that he would need to study diligently for half a year, or even more than a year, before his level in subjects like mathematics could increase.

It was too slow, far too slow.

Of course, he could also gamble on the possibility that after completing system tasks, the system would grant a large amount of subject experience, allowing his subject levels to rise.

All of that was possible.

But the problem now was that even if he reached Lv3, he would be faced with an even higher mountain; according to current logic, upgrading from Lv3 to Lv4 would likely require 100,000 experience points!

One hundred thousand!

How was he supposed to obtain that level of experience?

System tasks?

He hadn't even completed a single system task yet.

And there were no follow-up system tasks either.

Zhao Yang didn't want to just sit and wait for death; he wanted to try to open up more ways to obtain experience.

He wanted to try writing and publishing papers.

According to the system's logic, perhaps this could yield more subject experience?

Zhao Yang wasn't sure, but there was no harm in trying.

"Nonlinear Analysis"

"Japanese Journal of Mathematics"

...

Regarding math journal rankings and which ones were easy to submit to.

Zhao Yang had already specifically searched online last night.

He had found six or seven math journals.

Some were in the field of pure mathematics, others in applied mathematics.

But they were basically all papers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences Tier 2 or Tier 3 journals, and they were mainly concentrated in areas like nonlinear analysis, which Zhao Yang was relatively more familiar with.

This would make it easier for Zhao Yang to study them and for subsequent submissions.

Actually, if it weren't for the fact that he looked down on them for being too "low," Zhao Yang would have even considered looking at some Tier 4 journals.

But...

Damn, Tier 4!

Even his past self wouldn't have dared to submit to such filler journals!

Even if his past self was a laboratory loser.

But that was Tier 4!

The filler of all filler journals!

Even with the Chinese Academy of Sciences backing them, it was useless; journals in this tier were basically pay-to-publish.

They abandoned all standards; the only consideration was almost entirely money.

There were almost no valuable papers on them.

Zhao Yang highly doubted that even if he submitted a paper to this level of journal, he would really be able to gain system experience.

In any case, Zhao Yang felt it was highly unlikely.

Otherwise, he could just frantically spam filler journals. It was just a matter of money anyway.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yang honestly chose only journals in Tier 3 and above.

At least they had to have some substance.

Even if he really wanted to pad his paper count, it had to have some content.

Zhao Yang began to flip through the papers.

Given his level, flipping through the papers wasn't too difficult; after all, he was a graduate student in his past life, and in this life, he had spent a great deal of energy on mathematical research.

And the difficulty of these papers was, in fact, not high.

Some just had a little bit of novelty.

Zhao Yang even brought pen and paper so he could do some quick calculations on the spot.

He looked through a few Tier 3 math papers, some in pure mathematics and some in applied mathematics.

After finishing them, Zhao Yang felt a slight sense of relief.

This wasn't hard at all!

Or rather, this was actually just a further elaboration or calculation of certain mathematical problems, perhaps involving a relatively novel method!

Just like that, one could publish a paper.

The whole paper, while involving some amount of calculation, was overall not difficult.

If he studied it a bit, he could publish one too!

After reading about seven or eight Tier 3 math papers, a feeling rose in Zhao Yang's heart: "I can do this too."

To put it bluntly, Tier 3 papers were basically rehashing old tunes; they had a tiny bit of novelty, but mainly they just added a little bit of something to some stale theories.

Sometimes, one couldn't even guarantee the correctness of this little bit of "something."

For ordinary people, of course, it was still difficult, because most ordinary people would have their brains explode on the spot when they saw so many mathematical formulas and knowledge points.

But for someone like Zhao Yang, with the help of the system's experience points and the foundation of his past life's graduate entrance exam math, it was different.

With the help of both, Zhao Yang's knowledge level was quite decent.

Moreover, because his IQ had been continuously increasing, it had already reached over 120, which counted as being in the high-IQ group even within a 985 university.

Reading Tier 3 math papers wasn't difficult!

After finishing ten Tier 3 math papers, Zhao Yang could be said to have greatly increased confidence.

He started directly reading Tier 2 math papers.

Very quickly, Zhao Yang's expression became solemn.

Tier 2 math papers!

And pure math papers at that!

It was impossible to say they were just fooling around or bluffing; papers that developed to this level basically represented recognition by the mainstream academic community.

The impact factor of the journals had generally gone up, and the citation counts wouldn't be too low.

So they all had some level of quality.

Many were extensions of certain conjectures, or even papers verifying weak theorems of certain conjectures.

Although the intensity of Tier 2 journals still wasn't very high, it was starting to ramp up.

After reading for a while, the smile on Zhao Yang's face gradually disappeared.

His expression also became much more solemn.

At 11:50 AM.

Zhao Yang finally left the Library.

"Brother Yang, why do you look so preoccupied?"

In the cafeteria, Zhao Yang was eating with Li Tianqi and the others. Zhao Yang was still thinking about publishing papers, so Li Tianqi asked curiously.

"It's... it's nothing."

Zhao Yang shook his head.

He didn't plan to let his roommates know he was researching paper submissions for now.

Once he published the paper, they would naturally know.

And right now, he hadn't even selected a topic or started, so talking about it really had no meaning.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Yang suddenly felt something was off.

He took a look around.

"Huh? Where's Sun Xu? Why is it just you two? Didn't we say we'd come to the cafeteria together?"

Zhao Yang asked, looking at Li Tianqi and the other with confusion.

"Sun Xu said he brought his own food. We originally offered to treat him to a meal, but he said no..."

Li Tianqi shrugged.

Although they were roommates, at the end of the day, they had only known each other for a day or two.

"Brother Yang, do you think Sun Xu's family is really that poor? I feel like..."

Wang Mian hesitated as he looked at Zhao Yang.

"Nonsense! Haven't you seen it for yourself? For a rural kid to come to Yanjing to study, that in itself is difficult enough! Look at the clothes he wears and the woven bag he carries; you know for sure his family's situation isn't good!"