How to Get Your Paper Published

I attended a seminar on how to get your papers published in journals by Richard Taylor early in December last year. Here are my notes.

Richard Taylor. University of York, UK.

“How to get your paper published”

-Think of a good idea. Read the literature; know what people have done, so you know what you can do that is novel. Find what is needed

-Consult your colleagues
-Carry out your research

Decide on the journal

-Type of paper
-Content
-Impact of research
-Most papers are rejected because they are sent to the wrong journal (work done in a mature field should be sent to specialized journals)
-Impact factor of journal

Check the instructions to authors

Different for each journal

- Reference and experimental styles

- Page/reference limits
- Characterization of new compounds
- Supplementary info

Editors are trivial and pedantic

Advice on writing style: G.M. Whitesides, Adv. Mater. 2004, 16, 1375

Check guidelines for authors

-Consult earlier papers in that journal for style
-Check novelty – give due reference
-Avoid overblown claims and jargon (and abbreviations)
-Avoid "It has long been known that" (i.e. I don’t know the reference)
-Avoid "Correct to an order of magnitude" (means it’s wrong)
-Write a succinct cover letter outlining main advances/novelty. “I am writing a paper on __ by ___ for publication. We believe that this paper should be published because ____”
-Provide names and addresses/emails of referees. Similar areas, big-names, from country of journal, etc
-Ask editor if you need to follow the template
-Leave lots of time for the template; do everything on word and put it on a template at the end
-Get your reference number ready when calling the editor
-After editing with the referee’s comments, highlight changes, write down changes

What if your submission is rejected

1. Read the referees’ reports very carefully. Are there any factual errors?
2. Do you disagree with the decision? If yes, go to another journal
3. If you disagree – write a polite but persuasive letter to the editor explaining your point of view (and listing factual errors) – and ask for the decision to be reviewed

[This was not part of the lecture] If all else fails, refer to http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=581