As students and early career researchers, it is essential that you get your work published in academic journals. However, this can be a rather gruelling experience if you do not have a publication strategy and prepare well. To help you succeed in your manuscript publishing process, this article details simple tips for researchers to create your own publication schedule and explains the likely outcomes following the submission of your work.
Importance of a publication strategy for researchers
The time that it takes to publish in a journal can vary from a few months to as long as two years and more,1 which is why you need a publication strategy in place. Some of the reasons for this variation in the manuscript publishing process are the large number of submissions, time taken for editorial checks and peer review, as well as manuscript rejections due to errors in language, format, or structure. In fact, it is quite common for manuscripts to be rejected multiple times before acceptance, with a study showing that 62% of manuscripts were rejected at least once before it finds its way to publication.2 Of the total number of articles submitted to journals every year, about half are desk rejected – and the rejection rate of some scientific publications is as high as 95%!3 It is precisely because of this high desk rejection rate and the uncertainty involved in the manuscript publishing process that it becomes important for researchers to create and follow an effective publication strategy.
Tips to create an effective journal publication schedule
Here are some useful tips that will help researchers, especially students and early-career researchers, create an effective journal publication schedule that works for you.
1. Identify the journals you intend to submit your manuscript to: The first and perhaps be the most important step in your publication strategy would be to shortlist a minimum of five journals, in your order of preference, where you want to submit your manuscript. You can choose your journal based on whether your manuscript falls within the journal’s aim and scope, whether its readers are the right target audience for your research, the manuscript publication process, and whether the journal is reliable. It helps to remember that the journal may not accept your manuscript if there are other articles on similar topics.
2. Determine the structure of your article: One of the top tips for researchers working on a publication strategy is deciding whether your manuscript should be put together as an original research paper or a brief technical article; this depends on the purpose and the audience for which you are looking to publish your findings. Once you decide the type of article, take time to find out the specific format and structure guidelines of your target publication before you start writing. Discovering that your paper does not meet required journal guidelines after you have finished writing can be hugely disappointing and will mean that you will need to spend time rewriting it from scratch or tweaking your publication strategy. Finally, an important tip for researchers is to not force fit your research into an unsuitable format only because you want to get published in a specific journal.
3. Meet the journals’ requirements: Since submission requirements differ across journals, it is critical to keep a tab on these and modify your publication strategy accordingly. Journal requirements may vary in terms of the article format and length, the type of author agreement, and the supplementary materials to be submitted, and so on; all of which can impact the journal publication schedule.
4. Make the best use of pre-submission information: Several journals permit the submission of a summary of your work ahead of sending them the full manuscript. It’s recommended to use this option, if available, as part of your publication strategy to seek experts’ opinion on whether the research topic you have chosen will be of interest to them. This alone can help you save several weeks in your publication schedule.
What to expect after you submit your manuscript
Once you submit your article, you can expect a variety of outcomes from the manuscript publishing process, and each requires you to determine your next steps accordingly.
Outcome 1 – Article rejected without peer evaluation: In such an event, you would normally receive the communication quickly, and you then need to tweak your publication strategy and consider the next best journal. This reiterates the need to have a shortlist of target journals, which allows you to quickly move on and make the necessary modifications before submitting your article to the next journal on the list. The quicker this process is, the better you can stick to your journal publication schedule.
Outcome 2 – Article rejected after peer evaluation: There could be two possibilities within this kind of rejection. A conditional rejection requires that you submit (if you agree and choose to do so) your paper after carrying out the suggestions made by the reviewers and editor. You could reject the changes suggested by the reviewers and choose a different publication strategy. However, if you do not disagree with the revision in principle, it will be in your interest to go ahead and re-submit after making the suggested changes; hence maintaining a manageable journal publication schedule. If you receive an outright rejection, you should seek the reasons for the same before tweaking your publication strategy and knocking on the next door. By adhering to the journal and reviewer feedback, it is quite possible that your manuscript will have a better chance of being accepted by the next journal. This, again, depends on whether the reason(s) are related to general quality issues or have to do with a more technical concern that you may not agree with; the latter may need additional research, and this could derail your publication strategy.
Outcome 3 – Article is accepted: This is obviously great news, so well done! You are now at the final stages of your manuscript publishing process. You should respond to all the comments that you receive in a thoughtful manner, especially if it is a conditional acceptance. And finally, ensure that you carry out the required amendments and edits as requested by the journal in order to meet the required timelines.
Conclusion
Given the high probability of rejection, a combination of a well thought out publication strategy and dogged persistence may improve your chances of getting published. It would help to work backwards from your target publication date and factor in time to submit your paper to multiple journals before you finally receive that message of acceptance you have worked so hard for.
References
- Andersen MZ, Fonnes S, Rosenberg J. Time from submission to publication varied widely for biomedical journals: a systematic review. Current Medical Research and Opinion (2021). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03007995.2021.1905622
- Dhammi IK, Rehan-Ul-Haq. Rejection of Manuscripts: Problems and Solutions. Indian Journal of Orthopaedics. March-April 2018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5858222
- Anne-Will Harzing. How to avoid a desk-reject in seven steps. Harzing.com, May 2020. https://harzing.com/blog/2020/05/how-to-avoid-a-desk-reject-in-seven-steps
