Ever wondered about the fate of your job application once you have sent off your CV (résumé)? How many have applied for the same job? How many will be eliminated in the first round? Who will be interviewing you and what will they ask? When will you know whether you have been selected? You wish somebody told you more about how the process works.
Uploading the manuscript of your paper and hoping that it will be accepted and published is no different, and this article tells you what to expect and, more important, what you can do to speed up the process and increase the chances of success.
From submission to publication
Typically, the publication process of a research paper comprises seven steps.
- Author sends or uploads a manuscript
- The journal carries out a preliminary screening
- If OK, the manuscript is sent to reviewers (referees)
- The reviewers’ comments are conveyed to the author
- The author submits a revised version
- The manuscript is typeset and made into pages; proofs are sent to the author
- The author returns the proofs; the paper is published
Remember that the process of publishing a scientific paper is a long one – more a marathon than a sprint – and you should persevere. A poll by Nature reveals that on average, for two-thirds of all published papers, the process takes anywhere between six months and two years. Let us see what authors can do to speed up the process at each step.
1. Author sends or uploads a manuscript
Although seemingly straightforward, you need to keep the following points in mind.
Prepare a good covering letter. Address the letter to the editor by name; avoid starting the letter with the salutation ‘Dear Editor’; do your homework and find out the right name.
Keep it brief. Do not copy the abstract of your paper and paste it into the body of the letter. Instead, tell the editor the gap in knowledge that your manuscript helps to fill or the problem the manuscript helps to solve.
Connect your paper to other papers in the journal. Wherever possible, show how the contents of your manuscript connect to one or more other papers that the journal has published in the past year or two. Give the exact reference. By stating the connection, you are hinting that your paper too will interest the journal’s readers.
2. The journal carries out a preliminary screening
The purpose of preliminary screening, or the ‘qualifying round’, is to ensure that only those papers that appear promising are sent out for review: after all, no journal wants to tax the reviewers too much, and good reviewers are hard to find and harder to retain.
Here is a six-point checklist used for the preliminary screening.
- Is it within the broad remit of the journal?
- Does it address a broad subject area?
- Is it potentially a substantial contribution?
- Is the subject topical and of interest to a wide readership?
- Is it novel and interesting?
- Is it appropriately formatted?
The last point may seem trivial to you but it helps to follow the journal’s instructions to authors. A carefully prepared manuscript signals to the editor that it has been prepared expressly for that journal and not simply being recycled, having been rejected by another journal.
3. If OK, the manuscript is sent to reviewers (referees)
A manuscript is sent out for review, typically to at least two reviewers. Although reviewers evaluate the manuscript for its substance, or its science, language and presentation are also important—if only to avoid the reviewers being prejudiced against you because of sloppy grammar and careless punctuation. Good referencing is also important: make sure that the references are relevant and recent, including some – but not too many – to papers published in the journal to which you have submitted the paper.
4. The reviewers’ comments are conveyed to the author
Reviewers convey their comments to the journal’s editor, along with a specific recommendation, namely reject, accept with revisions, or invite re-submission after revision. Do not lose heart if your paper is rejected. Few papers are accepted in the first attempt; however, a study shows that 62% of the papers that are rejected initially are eventually published. Even Nobel laureates have had their papers rejected or been asked to extensively rewrite the very papers that eventually led to the prize.
5. The author submits a revised version
You are expected to revise your manuscript based on the comments made by the reviewers: do so objectively, precisely, and politely. You do not have to accept every suggestion but you need to convince the editor that you have addressed every point made by every reviewer.
The greater the care you bestow while preparing the revised version, the faster the research paper publication process. Attend even to trivial points of style and format: for example, some journals shorten the word ‘Figure’ to ‘Fig.’, some journals do not; some use numbered headings, some do not. If you observe these points, nobody at the journal needs to spend time doing that.
6. The manuscript is typeset and made into pages; proofs are sent to the author
All you need to do now is to check the proofs to ensure that no error has crept in during copy editing and typesetting. Typically, you will receive a file in PDF, on which you are expected to mark the errors. Learn to use the correct marks. If you find a digital proof awkward to handle, print it out, mark the changes clearly in ink, scan the marked copy, and return it to the journal—as quickly as possible.
7 . The author returns the proofs; paper is published.
Congratulations! You have made it through the long-drawn-out process of publishing a scientific paper. It is now time to spread the word. Use such social media as Linked-In, Twitter, and Facebook to bring your paper to the attention of your peers.
Remember that you are not alone on this long journey. Especially at two points, at the time of the original submission and at the time of submitting the revised version, R Pubsure is there to help you to make sure that you have crossed every t and dotted every i.
How does R Pubsure work for authors?
R Pubsure is a comprehensive, secure AI-based manuscript submission check that evaluates your paper for key elements that most journal editors look for. You receive a detailed R Pubsure Report with clear suggestions on optimizing your manuscript language and technical health. In addition to this, you can choose R Pubsure Pro to get a plagiarism check and a downloadable WORD file with improvements suggested in track changes.
Designed to help authors save time, reduce effort and maximize your chance of success, R Pubsure is a smart way to help you avoid desk rejection and streamline journal submission. Submit with confidence, register on R Pubsure now to get started!
