Decide where to publish
- Select your target journal
- Consider submitting a pre-submission inquiry
- Determine the type of article to submit
When selecting a journal, consider the fit between the journal scope and your paper and the selectiveness or impact of the journal. While it may seem attractive to try to publish your paper in a top-ranked journal, considering the fit between scope of the journal and your research before you submit will decrease the likelihood that your manuscript will be immediately rejected and expedite the publication process.
JournalGuide is a free tool that can be used to find and compare journals based on your paper, the journal name, category, or publisher.
The Author Resource Center has many resources to aid in journal selection, including publishing in regional journals, ways to identify a questionable open access journal, and five myths about open access.
Prepare your manuscript
Consider submitting a pre-submission inquiry
- Some journals encourage potential authors to send a pre-submission inquiry prior to a formal manuscript submission. The purpose of a pre-submission inquiry is to allow the editor to quickly evaluate the appropriateness of the study for their journal based on a short summary, abstract, or cover letter.
- Please be aware that other journals find pre-submission inquiries to be unnecessary, so it is important to check whether your target journal has a policy on their website regarding this practice.
Determine the type of article to submit
- Journals have certain article formats that they publish, and different types of articles tend to have specific purposes, guidelines, and word count limits. While one journal might publish a number of types of articles (original research, short reports, and reviews), another may only accept one paper format. Determine the format that best suits your manuscript and make any necessary revisions to adhere to the guidelines for that article format.
- If you find that your study does not fit well within one of the formats that your target journal publishes, it may be prudent to restructure your paper, change the scope of the report, or consider a different target journal that has a format that is better for your publication.
Revise and polish your manuscript
- To make sure that the key findings of your work is clear and appropriately emphasized, take some time to revise the language and flow of the paper. Consider having multiple members of your research group or colleagues read your manuscript and give you suggestions before submitting it to a journal. If English is not your first language, consider having a native speaker or an English editing service polish the language as well.
- The Author Resource Center has many resources to aid you in manuscript preparation, including how to reduce word count, how to craft a catchy title, and how to use paragraph structure to make the most of your ideas.
Review the journal author guidelines
- Familiarize yourself with the author guidelines on the journal's website, which contain useful information on editorial policies, article specifications, submission instructions, and contact information. Many authors will refer to this page multiple times during the preparation and submission process.
- Be aware that this information may be limited. In this case, the journal may not require specific formatting before submission, and they will communicate their guidelines upon acceptance.
Make sure that your paper's organization and presentation are in line with journal specifications.
- Using the author guidelines, make sure the section titles are correct and in the proper order.
- Check your word counts and make reductions as necessary to meet any limitations imposed by the journal.
- Adjust the manuscript to use either British or American spelling, according to the journal guidelines. If the journal does not specify British or American spelling, you can use either but be consistent.
- Use a file type that is accepted by the journal. Most journals accept .doc, .txt and .rtf files, and some will also accept PDFs.
- Some journals have instructions about how to compile the parts of the paper, including text, figures, and tables. Don't waste your time putting your figures in the manuscript if the journal wants them to be submitted as separate files.
Prepare for submission
Format your manuscript (more info)
- Adjust the style and format of the citations and references to comply with the journal's guidelines.
- Adjust the page size, margins, font, and other layout elements to conform to journal guidelines.
- Ensure that any other items specifically mentioned in the journal guidelines for the text are addressed.
Format your figures (more info)
- Adjust the figure to the appropriate widths, and ensure that the font, text size, and line weights meet the journal's specifications.
- Using the journal's figure guidelines, save the figure files using the appropriate file type, file size, resolution, and color space.
- Take care to read the journal guidelines carefully to determine if the journal has a different set of figure standards for the initial submission of the paper versus the version they would like to use to prepare the paper upon final acceptance. Some journals prefer smaller, low-resolution figures for submission but want large, high-resolution figures once the paper has been accepted.
Write a cover letter (more info)
- This letter is seen by the editor or the journal team but is not provided to the reviewers.
- This is your chance to introduce your work to the journal editor and explain to them why your work would be a good fit for their journal
- You often can suggest researchers that would be good reviewers for your paper and point out other potential competitors that you might not want to see your paper before it is published. (For some journals, you enter this information into specific parts of the website when you are submitting the manuscript.)
Respond to journal decision
Try a new journal after an immediate rejection without review
- An immediate rejection conveys that the article is a poor fit for the journal. It's best to move on to another journal and not waste time arguing about acceptance.
React to a rejection after review
- Be careful about arguing the rejection with the editor. You are unlikely to get them to reconsider the paper, and you may be damaging your relationship with them for future submissions. Look for the real reasons your manuscript got rejected (science, writing, English). Are the reviewers right? If so, revise.
- Don't panic - rejection is common (90% of papers are rejected at top-tier journals).
When rejected…
- Be positive; you have at least received reviews, so the journal thinks there is merit to your research.
- Give yourself time to figure out what to change in the manuscript before submitting to a new journal.
- Remember that rejection is part of the learning process and can lead to a better manuscript.
Revise after conditional acceptance
- Determine what suggested changes or additional experiments are realistic and appropriate for the scope of the paper.
- When possible, and when you believe it will not weaken the paper, accommodate the reviewer's requests even if they seem unnecessary.
- When you feel that a reviewer request is beyond the scope of what you can or should include in the paper, say “No” in the nicest way possible.
- If you are in doubt about the importance of a particular requested experiment, contact the editor and seek their opinion about the importance of the requested experiment for the publication of the paper in their journal.
Final revisions after acceptance
Once the paper has been accepted, some journals have additional rounds of editing between you and the journal team. These requests are often very time sensitive (they often only give you 24-48 hours to send the paper back), so you should:
- Monitor your email closely and check your spam folder; ensure any co-authors are doing the same.
- Be prepared to drop everything else you are doing and work on the manuscript once the journal sends it back to you.
Once the manuscript is finalized, the journal will type-set or format the paper into the final form, then send this “proof” to you as your last chance to make any edits or changes to the manuscript. You often have very tight deadlines to return the proofs without delaying the publication of your paper.
- Again, monitor your email closely and be prepared to work on this right away.
- Make sure to address each of the editor's questions as specifically and unambiguously as possible.
- Look at the figures closely and make sure that the resolution and colors are correct. Double-check the spelling of the text in the figures - often these files cannot be “spell-checked” by automated software.
- Read each sentence of the paper carefully. The journal often edits the text and does not always mark all of those edits for your approval.
- Double-check the spelling of all of the authors' names and individuals named in the acknowledgements.
Contributors
