If you are thinking about submitting a paper but feel overwhelmed by the thought of finding the right journal, submission, review process and so on, and find these steps complicated.. then I would say that yes it may seem complicated for a first timer but trust me it is not that difficult. If it was that complicated, why would there be so many research publications. If one has good data, then its all about structure, presentation, strategy, and perseverance.

This blog is not about the technicality of manuscript preparation, it is general information about the publishing process.

1.Manuscript preparation

Check out author guidelines, follow it. Some journals are flexible and they do not have a strict requirement for format. Others provide a template and you can then copy paste into it. One thing that I find annoying is the citation format, specially if the requirement is numbering format. Sometimes when after revision, the references need changing, it kinds of get messed up unless someone is techy and can do it easily. What I do is that I usually keep it as ‘Author, Year’ format. Once the paper is revised and if accepted, I then change it to numbering format in the end when the manuscript is finalised.  Also, imagine you submit a paper and then it doesn’t get accepted, all the hard work of numbering format is gone. One important tip, if you are changing the reference format to numbering, always keep the original copy with (Author, Year) in case you have to submit it to another journal.

2. Journal selection

I want to share some tips that helped me with my paper publications.

• When you are not sure about which journal to submit, do not fear to reach out to editor of journal. I myself have a few times contacted editors of journals in which I was interested. I sent them abstract and title in email and asked if this paper fits the scope of the journal.
• When I receive those emails from journals saying they offer a discount or zero processing charge, I do not ignore it, and see if it’s a relevant and good journal and has a good impact factor. if you receive such emails and think your manuscript would be suitable for that journal, have a go and submit. If you are not sure, get in touch with the editor or assistant editor and say that you are interested in submitting to this journal but not sure if the intended paper fits the scope of the journal. I have done this and I have received positive response. I have submitted papers, got minor corrections and published my one paper for free which would usually have cost about $2000 as article processing charge.
• We usually receive these emails announcing paper invitation for special issues. Look into it and see if the special issue is relevant, go for it. If they offer a discount, well and good, if not, there’s no harm in negotiating for a waiver or discount in case your project budget is limited.
• Ask supervisors, teachers, mentors, ask for their opinions which journals would be suitable for your paper.
• The research articles that you have cited in your manuscript, check which journals are they published in. These can give you a list of suitable journals for your submission as these are relevant to your research area.

3. Submission

Submission is usually straight forward but sometimes annoying by doing a lot of online filling. Just do it as you go along and do not stress out. Keep your original word document open so you can easily copy paste e.g. title, key words from your doc file into the online form. Speaking of keywords, one tip for keywords is that you do not use the words that already occur in the title. I didn’t know about this before my PhD, may be you know it already. Anyways just carry on with the process and you will get there.

Some journals require cover letter where you have to explain why your manuscript is a fit for that journal. It would be handy if you could prepare that beforehand. But if not, don’t worry you can write it as you are submitting it. It’s your paper, no one knows better than you, so you can explain why your research is important and why it is useful to publish in that journal.

A general opinion, if you aim for a good journal, sometimes it is suitable to combine chapters and publish as one paper. In some cases, may be dividing a chapter into two papers would be a better option, it depends on the type of research you have done and the journal of your choice. Some high impact factor journals would require a comprehensive study, in that case may be combining your thesis chapters would be helpful.

In my opinion, if you have your manuscript ready, it is fairly easy to submit your paper online once you decide on a journal.

In my next blog post I am going to share my revision and re-submission experience. Stay tuned…