The Do’s and Don’ts of publication
This section will point out some of the big Do’s and Don’ts when submitting your paper. These general principles fit most journals. Adhering to them will make submission simple and quicker and means you are much more likely to get your paper accepted.
Do:
Don’t:
This section will point out some of the big Do’s and Don’ts when submitting your paper. These general principles fit most journals. Adhering to them will make submission simple and quicker and means you are much more likely to get your paper accepted.
Do:
- Check the Instructions for Authors carefully as different publishers use different formats, reference styles, etc.
- Write your paper in plain English
- Make sure your paper has a logical structure
- Make sure your co-authors all agree to submission
- Keep in contact with the Editorial team. If you are unsure of something email them and similarly answer their queries as soon as you can
- Look carefully at the peer reviewers comments and make amendments where you feel appropriate
- When you resubmit a paper after peer review comments include a detailed covering letter explaining any changes.
- Make sure you don’t breach copyright
Don’t:
- Submit a paper that does not conform to the Author guidelines
- Submit a paper where the English is poor. ABC Journals publishes English language papers. If your first language is not English it may be helpful to ask a native English speaker to look at it first
- Submit a paper concurrently to another journal
- Leave yourself open to accusations of plagiarism. If you are submitting a paper which is similar to other papers you have published or that others have published, make sure you discuss this in the paper and fully reference the work
- Get upset with the peer reviewers comments. Take them constructively and try to improve the paper. If you don’t agree with the comments, that is fine as long as you explain why in your cover letter when you resubmit your manuscript.