How to Publish Your First Research Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide
Neha Trivedi | Jun 03, 2024
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Are you working on your first-ever journal manuscript? Are you not that familiar with the nuances of academic publishing? This easy-to-follow guide simplifies the publishing journey by providing insights on a wide variety of topics ranging from journal selection to navigating peer review and more.
The very thought of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal can sound daunting and intimidating to many. This makes it all the more crucial for early-career researchers to fully familiarize themselves with the publishing landscape.
To help early-career researchers navigate the challenges of publishing their first research paper in a peer-reviewed journal, Cureus Journals has identified and simplified several key aspects of the process.
Things to Consider BEFORE Manuscript Submission
Before attempting manuscript submission, prospective authors must review the following checklist to ensure compliance with the widely accepted standards for research and publishing ethics.
Originality and Plagiarism: Is your work original and does it cite all relevant (original) sources?
Ethical Approval and Consent: Do you have the necessary permissions for studies involving humans, animals, endangered species, etc.?
Authorship Criteria: Are there any ongoing authorship disputes? Are you maintaining compliance with the authorship criteria mentioned by reputed organizations such as the Committee on Publishing Ethics (COPE)?
Data Transparency: Do you have your data availability statements ready? Many modern-day peer-reviewed journals need them.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: Have you identified and declared any likely conflicts of interest?
Language and Clarity: Have you proofread your manuscript for its scientific language, grammar, etc.?
References Accuracy: Have you used reference management tools such as Mendeley, EndNote, or Zotero to accurately format your reference lists?
Cover Letter: If required, would you be able to draft a high-quality cover letter highlighting the novelty and significance of your work?
Other Checks: Ensure compliance with reporting guidelines such as STROBE, CONSORT, or PRISMA (if applicable). Include contributor roles (CRediT) and ORCID IDs (if required). Finally, review your manuscript for language quality, statistical accuracy, and overall presentation. These steps significantly reduce the risk of desk rejection. These steps reduce the odds of desk rejection.
Understanding the Publishing Process
To increase their odds of publishing successfully in a peer-reviewed journal, researchers must familiarize themselves with the following sequence:
- Step 1: Journal Selection
Journal types vary significantly. Whereas some journals support open access, some prefer institutional subscriptions or even adopt a hybrid model. In addition, journals also have widely varying turnaround times for peer review. Authors must therefore consider factors such as publication cost, access type, and average time required for peer review before making a decision. Most importantly, prospective authors must submit their manuscripts to journals whose scope aligns with the topic of research under investigation.
- Step 2: Manuscript Formatting
Prospective authors must make it a point to thoroughly review all journal-prescribed manuscript formatting guidelines BEFORE they start drafting their manuscripts. Ignoring this standard protocol can cause significant wastage of time and effort.
- Step 3: Manuscript Submission
Submitting a manuscript online is usually a swift process. Most journals ask authors to register themselves before attempting manuscript submission. Whereas some journals require a detailed cover letter describing the significance of the submitted work, some do not ask for it at all. Journals may also ask authors to submit other supplementary materials (e.g., raw data and multimedia files) along with their manuscript. Before attempting submission, authors must carefully review all guidelines on manuscript submission and ensure smooth compliance.
- Step 4: Editorial Screening
In-house journal editors cross-check all manuscripts for formatting and compliance. A significant number of manuscripts get desk rejected at this stage owing to non-compliance with the policies and guidelines stipulated by the journal. Manuscripts that clear this stage get selected for peer review.
- Step 5: Peer Review
As part of the peer review process, journals rope in experts with relevant experience in the identified field(s) of study. These experts then conduct peer review: a process designed to examine the soundness of the methodology, the validity of the study results, and the significance of the conclusions. Most manuscripts get constructive feedback at this stage.
- Step 6: Manuscript Resubmission
After going through the feedback received from peer reviewers, manuscript authors need to resubmit their work with the requested changes. In rare instances where authors do not agree with the feedback shared by peer reviewers, they can write a polite letter of rebuttal to the journal editor(s), explaining their position and why they believe the feedback is unreasonable.
- Step 7: Manuscript Publication
After the peer-reviewed (and mostly revised) manuscripts undergo final copyediting, they get published. This is the ultimate step where all the hard work pays off!
Following successful publication, authors should start sharing their findings via blogs, university websites, social media handles, science communication websites, press releases, and more.
Wish to submit to Cureus Journals? Make sure you check out our YouTube video.
FAQs on Manuscript Publishing
In this section, I have answered some of the most common questions that pop into the minds of early-career researchers.
Question: What are the distinct advantages of publishing in open access journals?
Answer: The most common benefits associated with open access publishing include global reach and increased citations, wider collaboration, higher Altmetric scores, more article downloads, more news and policy mentions, more citations by patents, easy licensing terms, more scope for interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and convergence research, compliance with funding agency mandates, and better funding opportunities.
Question: Is there a journal finder available?
Answer: Yes, many publishers make journal finders available to prospective authors. For instance, Springer Nature's journal finder can be easily accessed from here. In the journal finder text box, you need to enter your manuscript title, abstract, or keywords. Once you do this, the journal finder instantly displays a list of journals closely aligning with your research topic.
Question: What is the IMRaD format?
Answer: IMRaD stands for "Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion." This format is commonly prescribed by many peer-reviewed journals. However, authors should note that every journal has its own prescribed format, which must be adhered to.
Question: Why do we need reference management tools while drafting manuscripts?
Answer: Typing the individual reference for each citation is quite cumbersome and time-consuming. Reference management tools (or citation managers) such as Mendeley, Zotero, and EndNote simplify this task to a great extent. Using these tools, authors can also switch between various referencing styles with just a few clicks.
Question: What are the most common reasons for manuscript rejection?
Answer: Cureus Journals has written an entire blog on this topic. I encourage you to go through it.
Question: I have heard about preprints. What exactly is preprinting?
Answer: Preprinting involves the self-archiving of your manuscript on a preprint server. This step is usually undertaken before submitting a manuscript to a journal. This extra step lets authors obtain community feedback and identify issues before they get flagged by the target journal. However, authors need to note that unlike peer-reviewed journal articles, preprints are not subject to comprehensive scholarly review. To learn more about preprinting, click here.
Question: How should manuscript authors reply to referee comments?
Answer: Most manuscripts get constructive feedback from peer reviewers. While there is a lot of work that goes into revising a manuscript, these useful tips will surely help you craft your second draft with clarity and accuracy (read this article for an in-depth overview):
- Always thank the peer reviewers for their valuable comments in your response letter.
- Make sure your response letter is polite and professional.
- Make sure you address every point that was raised by the reviewers.
- Inform the editor beforehand if you think that you can’t make the resubmission within the deadline.
- Find out if the editor needs two copies of the revised manuscript; one with the changes highlighted and another clean copy.
- For points raised that you do not agree with, share your rebuttal in a scientific and objective manner, keeping the language respectful.
Conclusion
Publishing a research paper for the first time is both challenging and rewarding. It involves multiple stages such as journal selection, manuscript formatting, manuscript submission, editorial screening, peer review, manuscript resubmission, and manuscript publication after copyediting.
Each step requires extensive planning, attention to detail, and a thorough understanding of the manuscript publishing process. I encourage all first-time authors to follow practical tips outlined in this guide, as they have been specifically curated to help beginners initiate their publishing journal.
With critical thinking, patience, and a commitment to quality and research integrity, early-career researchers can confidently overcome the hurdles of the publishing process and contribute meaningfully to the growth of the scientific record.