How to publish in high quality scientific journals

101 Hints and Tips to get you published

1st Edition

Introduction

Publish or Perish is a choice faced by many academics. Unless you publish, getting promotion becomes difficult, finding another job almost impossible and you are looked down upon by those who are publishing more than you are.

It is assumed, in my view rightly, that being offered an academic position is done with the expectation that you will carry out research and publish the results of that research in the scientific literature, preferably in outlets that are considered high quality. That is, your research will be peer reviewed and, if found to be acceptable, will form part of the scientific archive and your paper will be available to all future scientists, as well as the general public and the media.

The fact that you have, or are currently doing, a PhD suggests that you have an interest in carrying out research and expect to publish the results of that research. If you entered the profession with the hope of publishing high quality research that will make a difference, don’t let that aspiration die as you battle with all the other pressures that comes with an academic position. As somebody who has been trained (or is being trained) to undertake research, one of your main roles is to conduct research and publish it. You are also expected to teach and the more that your teaching can be informed by the research that you carry about, as well as drawing on other research, the better your teaching should be. Universities do not (yet) have the structure of the courses defined by external bodies and your ability to draw on your own research as you present your course material should be a positive experience for those in your classes.

The pressure to publish is more intense than it was a few years ago. Many institutions are introducing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), which give guidance (or even a directive) as to how many papers you should be publishing and the expected quality of those papers. This metric driven research, like it or not, is only likely to intensify in coming years.

If your institution is not yet pressuring you to publish, you have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and make a name for yourself. By publishing one or two high quality journal papers, it will raise your profile when compared to your peers and, perhaps, be a fast track to promotion, or being able to move to a different institution.

Do not be tempted to publish low quality research, or submit your research to low quality journals, in the misguided belief that quantity is more important that quality. You should aim high and only lower your ambitions, with regard to your target journal, if the paper does not get accepted. You should not aim low and then wish you had aimed higher after the paper has been accepted. You can target lower quality journals after a paper has been rejected but you cannot target a higher raking journal once the paper has been accepted.

Where to buy

The book is available on Amazon Kindle. This page has the details.

Resources

This section refers to resources that mentioned in the book

I have provided a sample response document, which shows you how I format a response to reviewers comments. Note that the response contant is not important. It is the layout that I am presenting here.

Sample hints and Tips

This page will give you a random hint/tip from the book, along with some of the text supporting that hint/tip