Introduction

Peer-reviewed journals are where most scientists publish their work, so it’s important to know how to navigate them successfully. In this post I’ll show you how to submit an article for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and also give some general tips on how to get your idea accepted by reviewers and editors.

DO do not check references.

DO do not check references.

DO do not look at the references.

DO do not read the references before you submit your paper.

DO look at the references after you submit your paper, but only if it’s relevant to what you wrote in your paper and if there is no conflict of interest with the author(s).

DO consult the journal’s website and data sections.

• DO consult the journal’s website and data sections.
• This is a good place to start because you can see what kind of research they’re interested in, what their editorial board looks like (if it has one), and if there are any other journals within the same field that have been published recently.

DO be suspicious of journal titles and content.

DO be suspicious of journal titles and content. The title is often misleading, or even just way too mundane. A lot of times it’s a generic title like “The Journal of” something, which sounds like a good thing but might not be as useful in terms of what you can expect from the journal in question. Sometimes authors will use words that aren’t necessarily part of the title (like “Journal”). Other times they’ll use words that are part of the title but don’t make sense for their article at all (like “Journal”). And sometimes there is no correlation between what you see in your email subject header and what actually appears on paper when you click through to read it!

DO check the journal’s impact factor to see if it has been cited a lot by other scientific articles.

To understand the impact factor, you need to know what it is. The impact factor of a journal is a measure of the average number of citations (references) to a given journal by other scientific articles over time. This means that if you look at all the papers published in that year, and divide them into two groups: those published into journals with high versus low impact factors, then based on this number you can accurately assess how much influence these journals have had over their respective fields.”

DO look for fast-review times, especially if you’re submitting a review request on short notice.

• Look for journals with fast review times.
• Look for journals that have good reviews.
• Look for journals that have good data sections and/or websites, especially if you’re submitting a review request on short notice.
• Check the coverage of your data section before submitting it so you know what kind of questions are likely to come up in your discussion section or whether there’s anything missing or not covered well enough to warrant additional research before submitting it as part of your paper submission process (more on this later).
• Make sure that any citations made within these articles are correct and accurate—this is one way reviewers will judge whether they think an article should be accepted or rejected by peer-reviewed journals!

DO ask for advice from your advisor before submitting a paper.

DO ask for advice from your advisor before submitting a paper.

Your advisor may have some suggestions that can help you improve your work and make it easier to read. For example, they might have noticed something in the sample text that makes it difficult to understand what’s being discussed, or they may know of another paper whose style is similar (or better). They may also be able to recommend formatting options that will optimize the layout of your piece, making it easier on readers who don’t have time or interest in reading through every inch of text on every page of an academic journal article. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas for titles and abstracts yourself—or if there were aspects about those sections of your submission which weren’t quite clear enough—it’s best not just wait until after submitting! The fastest way is always asking: “Is there anything else I should think about?”

DON’T do just a Google search and submit an article you find there.

DON’T do just a Google search and submit an article you find there.

DON’T submit an article you find in a journal.

DON’T submit an article you find on a blog.

DON’T submit an article you find on a forum.

DO use the peer-review process if you’re going to publish something that has been peer-reviewed, but otherwise: DON’T do it!

Peer-reviewed journals are where most scientists publish their work, so it’s important to know how to navigate them successfully.

Peer-reviewed journals are where most scientists publish their work, so it’s important to know how to navigate them successfully.

The gold standard of scientific publishing is the peer-reviewed journal—the only way that your work will be published and read by other scientists in your field. This is why you should take great care when submitting your paper for review: if you don’t follow all the rules laid out by these publications, it can result in poor quality articles being published and wasted time on a project that wasn’t even worthy of being submitted at all!

Conclusion

So, there you have it. A list of some of the dos and don’ts of navigating the world peer-reviewed journals.