Publish Your First Research Paper: A Complete Guide

Conquer the world of academic publishing! This guide walks you through every step of publishing your first research paper, from choosing a journal to navigating peer review.

In academia, to publish a research paper for the first time is no small feat. Students, scholars, and academics who aspire to thrive in research know the equity that’s put into publishing the first-ever manuscript. While it is exciting, the task of actually publishing can be quite daunting and intimidating to many. This makes it crucial for researchers to fully familiarize themselves with peer-reviewed journals and how to publish a paper. To enable first-time authors to tackle the challenges that come with publishing a research paper for the first time, we have curated the key aspects and critical steps pertaining to the publishing process.

 

Understanding the Publishing Process:

Successful publication of a research paper consists of several steps which are crucial for authors. Here are the steps authors must be aware of:

• Choosing the right journal for publishing: It is important for authors to carefully decide where to publish their research paper as the right journal can be highly beneficial to them in terms of speed of publication, quality of peer review, affordability, scope of the journal, finding the right target audience, etc. 
• Formatting the manuscript as per the author guidelines: For simple and seamless manuscript publication, authors must adhere to the formatting guidelines of the publication they finally opt for. Once the editing and formatting are done as per the publisher’s requirements, the paper is ready for submission.
• Submitting the manuscript: Submitting a manuscript online is usually a swift process depending on the journal. Most of them ask authors to register themselves followed by providing specific information about their papers before submitting. They must also choose between open-access and subscription-based journals for publishing. Along with manuscripts, researchers are usually required to submit cover letters, figures, and supplementary data in platform-specific format.
• Initial quality check: This is a step that ensures the preliminary requirements of the submitted manuscript are met. In the next step, editors are assigned to carry out the peer review process.
• Peer review: The peer review process is a measure to ensure the quality and authenticity of the content submitted. Reviewers may be chosen at random and/or authors may refer them to assess the quality of paper submissions.
• Editing the draft if required and resubmitting the manuscript: Post peer review, authors hear back from the editors with the necessary corrections in case needed. After completing the revision, authors can resubmit their manuscripts for further review and processing.
• Getting published: This is the ultimate step where all the hard work pays off and after the resubmitted draft is authenticated, based on its publishability, it gets published in a journal.

Choosing the Right Journal:

If you are wondering how to publish a paper in a journal, the first and most important step is choosing a journal that aligns with your scholarly objectives. The journal choice makes a large difference in the impact of research and its visibility. To chose the right journal, you need to consider the following factors:

• Readership of the journal:

Your target journal should effectively communicate your research to all relevant audiences such as peers, prospective collaborators, graduate students, lawmakers, and taxpayers. While it is important to choose a journal with a target audience that fits your paper, it is equally important to ensure that the journal selected has a high volume of readers. 

• Scope of the journal:

Matching your paper with the scope of the journal is another aspect of the process one cannot miss. For example, a journal publishing in physics will generally not serve an author in humanities. Hence, it is important to match the topics, themes, domains, etc. that a journal publishes about and make sure your research fits in.

• The business model of the journal: 

Authors must also make a choice between the traditional publishing route or the open-access journal way of publishing. While the traditional subscription-based models have been widely accepted, open-access journals bring a plethora of possibilities for researchers. As opposed to traditional publishing, open access allows authors to retain the copyright of their papers while enabling fellow researchers to reuse and adapt the published material.

• Speed and affordability of publishing:

Another important question authors often ask before publishing is how to publish a journal article quickly and in an affordable manner. To overcome this, authors need to do their due diligence in finding out the average time and cost it takes to publish in a certain journal. Based on the speed and price points, the decision to publish in a journal becomes easier. 

Crafting a Compelling Manuscript:

For authors to easily comprehend how to write a paper for publication, we have broken down the entire process of writing a riveting manuscript. Here are the must-follow steps that can help researchers come up with quality pieces:

• Understand the essential structure of a research paper: 

To publish a research paper with success, authors must know the nomenclature and structure of writing. Authors must carefully review the stipulated guidelines and draft their manuscripts in the prescribed format, such as the IMRaD format (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion). However, authors should also note that every journal has its own prescribed format, which must be adhered to.  

• Keep the writing clear and concise: 

While your research paper needs to be a certain size, authors must remember to keep their papers short, easy to read, simple to comprehend, and straightforward. Peer-reviewed journals can effectively identify deviations and filler content in submissions and reject manuscripts that do not confirm to the established publishing standards.

• Fully familiarize yourself with referencing styles and required formatting:

As mentioned above, different journals follow different formatting and referencing styles. It is mandatory for authors to incorporate those guidelines into their papers. By adhering to the stipulated guidelines, authors can improve their odds of getting published in their target journal.

Submission and Peer Review:

The typical manuscript submission process followed by most peer-reviewed journals includes the following stages:

• Initial approval: Manuscripts undergo an initial assessment to determine eligibility for peer review. At this stage, they may get desk-rejected for non-compliance.
• Peer review and revisions: Once the prescribed number of peer reviews are completed, the manuscript becomes available for author revisions.
• Resubmission and reassessment: Following resubmission, the revised manuscript is reevaluated to ensure all necessary changes have been addressed.
• Copyediting and publication: Following the above cross-check, manuscripts undergo final copyediting, after which they get published.

To publish a research paper successfully, authors must pay careful attention to the peer review stage and the subsequent editing requirements. During peer review, subject-matter experts are called upon to authenticate and check the manuscript for quality. Based on their comments and observations, the author is expected to make amendments to the text and provide justifications wherever necessary.

While dealing with a peer-reviewed manuscript, authors need to take certain critical factors into consideration. Authors usually receive a communication with comments from peer reviewers, outlining all the suggested corrections. Addressing these changes and suggestions diligently is paramount. Here are some useful tips for authors revising their manuscripts:

• Always thank the peer reviewers for their valuable comments in your response letter.
• Keeping the response letter polite and professional is vital.
• Make sure you address every point that was raised by the reviewers.
• Find out the exact deadline as submission deadlines vary depending on various factors.
• 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.

While there is a lot of work that goes into revising a manuscript, these commonly applied steps will surely help you craft your second draft with complete clarity and accuracy.

Publication and Beyond:

Journal editors typically assign peer reviewers and often allow authors to recommend a certain number of reviewers for their manuscripts. Based on the content and initial evaluation, articles end up in various categories that may be labeled differently on different platforms. Manuscripts that are not desk-rejected, deferred for revision, or blocked are approved for peer review. The peer review process is a robust way of ensuring that submissions are high in quality. 

Once articles are reviewed, edited, and resubmitted by the authors, they are sent for editorial approval. This is where an editorial member determines the suitability of the submission the journal. Editors also ensure that the reviewers’ comments have been addressed. Even at this stage, issues such as the illegitimacy of the paper, incorrect submission, or failure to address reviewers' comments may result in deferral or rejection of the manuscript. Once the editors are satisfied with the resubmission, authors can go ahead and publish a research paper.

The next step is copyediting for approved articles. This is where minor spelling, punctuation, grammar errors, etc. are corrected. Once the manuscript reaches this stage, it is ready to be published. Accordingly, authors are notified about its final approval.

Authors need to understand that mastering the art of writing a research paper is as essential as evaluating the available publishing options. Accordingly, authors need to choose between traditional and open-access publishing. Open-access publishing, of late, has become a common means for authors and universities to publish research papers as it empowers authors with a lot more flexibility and freedom than traditional publishing.

In terms of affordability, open-access publishing clearly trumps its counterparts. Speed of publishing is another aspect that lends weight to open-access publishing. Authors' ability to retain the copyright of their papers is also a factor that tips the scale toward open-access publishing’s direction. Authors must choose the right platform based on its scope, domain, and all of these other factors combined.

After successfully publishing a paper, it is time to promote the research. To ensure their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed, manuscript authors must also focus on research promotion to reach and engage new audiences. Authors can independently promote their research by leveraging professional networks, online communities, social media, and other platforms. Some journals also offer scientific communication services for a fee.

Conclusion:

As we have seen, whether it is scientific journal publication or publishing in any other domain, the steps that need to be taken are more or less the same across platforms. Publishing a research paper for the first time involves several steps, starting with selecting the right journal and drafting a manuscript that adheres to all author guidelines, followed by submitting the initial draft, undergoing peer review, incorporating revisions, resubmitting, reevaluation, and finally, copyediting.

We advise authors to follow the steps and tips we have curated for them in order to gain success in their first-ever attempt to publish a research paper. We’re sure that with care, diligence, and sincerity, students and scholars can go through the publishing process with flying colors.