As with grants writing and book publication, journal publication requires melding a sense of audience with your sense of scholarship. As in the other two, it helps to remember that the editors are people, too. Down the line o f the publication process, they can be negotiated with—in fact, they should be negotiated with.
Deciding where to publish:
- Learn where scholarship such as yours is published—read mission statements as well as articles.
- Decide which journals best meet the standards of excellence set by your discipline, department and yourself.
- Make a list in descending order of the journals to which you will send articles.
Submitting an article:
- Carefully read the submission and format requirements of the journal to which you are submitting—and meet them.
- Prepare a cover letter in which you give your article’s title, your full contact information (including email, address, and phone numbers) and indicate your sense of fit between the article and the journal.
- Send it off.
Wait:
- The editor should send you a letter or email confirming receipt of your manuscript—if you don’t get one, call or email the editor.
- Generally, turnaround time on the decision will range anywhere from three to six months—give the editor three months and then contact the editor.
How to read a review:
- If you get an acceptance, rejoice! These are exceedingly rare. Then do whatever small revisions are asked for and mail it back.
- If you get a rejection, read the reviews, do any changes you deem legitimate and send it to the next journal on your list—keep it moving.
- If you get a revise and resubmit, that’s a very good thing. Believe that they’ll publish you if you take the reviews seriously and complete a revision—so, do a revision. Don’t let it languish.
How to submit a revision:
- This time, write a longer cover letter, in which you detail what you did and didn’t take from the reviewers’ suggestions—argue for your judgment.
- If it comes back to you yet again for further revision, consider it and then call the editor and negotiate voice to voice. Don’t do this over email or in a letter. You’ve earned the right to be talked with. Then make sure you put the conclusions you two came to in an email or on paper and send a copy to the editor.
