How To Publish Your Ideas: Some Tips For Academic Publishing

Found in Scholarship and Professional Development > Scholarship and Professional Development Resources

I. Some Myths about Writing

a. Writing must be perfect, done in a single draft.
b. Writing must be spontaneous and inspired.
c. Writing must proceed quickly.
d. Writing must be original.
e. Writing is inherently difficult.

II. Some Control Principles for Academic Writing (adapted from R. Boice, 1988)

Establish one regular place for doing scholarly writing and nothing but (e.g., a library carrel, a table in your office, a desk at home, etc.).
Keep your writing site free of temptations (e.g., exams to correct, magazines or newspapers, personal correspondence, etc.).
Establish a regular schedule for scholarly writing. No matter how busy you are you can find short periods most days, ideally at the same hour, which can be dedicated to scholarly writing.
Resist the temptation to use your writing time for "preparatory things" (e.g., putting your materials in order, cleaning off your desk, etc.). Writing time is only for writing.
Limit social interruptions during writing time by:

            a. unplugging your office phone
            b. closing your office door
            c. posting a "please don鈥檛 disturb" sign
            d. asking colleagues or the departmental secretary
                 to head off potential disruptions

Find another writer to join you for mutually quiet periods of work. This will reinforce motivation for both of you.
Make your writing site as comfortable (for you!) as possible.
Make the doing of other (more fun?? less stressful??) activities contingent upon writing for a minimum period of time first.
Write while you are fresh.
Avoid writing in binges! It is (most scholars) folly to assume that writing is best done in large, uninterrupted blocks of time. (And such blocks of time rarely if ever materialize!)
Write in small, regular amounts; 30-minute sessions may be enough for most academics.
Schedule writing tasks so that you plan to work on specific, finishable units of writing in each session.
Plan beyond daily goals. Schedule the stages of a manuscript in terms of weeks, again with specific and measurable goals, so that you鈥檒l feel clear about where you are headed and about knowing when you鈥檝e done enough.
Share a draft of you writing with supportive, constructive colleagues before you go public with the "finished product." (Colleagues are most likely to be willing to offer advice on a draft than they would on a finished manuscript.)

III. A Baker鈥檚 Dozen Strategies for Getting Published in Refereed Journals

Manuscript evaluators for journals are influenced by

            a. relevance of the topic
            b. clarity of the argument
            c. persuasiveness of the presentation and conclusions

Know your journal鈥檚 guidelines for papers; don鈥檛 send an article on basic research in the discipline to a journal which publishes only applied research (and vice versa).
Have at least one colleague (whom you trust) read your manuscript critically and give you feedback. Two colleagues are even better. Consider this feedback as you revise the manuscript.
If you are not certain that your article is really appropriate for a given journal, contact the editor and ask. Don鈥檛 just send it in and wait to get feedback.
If you need to publish (lest you perish), aim for journals whose rejection rate is not so high. (You can get this information from editors.)
It is often easier (and frequently more prestigious) to publish in foreign journals. (And some foreign journals actually pay for contributions!)
Footnotes are like Brillcream. . . "A little dab鈥檒l do ya!" Don鈥檛 over-footnote! (That鈥檚 what separates term papers from published articles!) Don鈥檛 tediously rehash what others (or you yourself) have already published. If you have nothing new worth saying, don鈥檛 say it in print!

Do your homework! Make sure your information and insights are accurate and represent current thinking. If the editors (or manuscript evaluators) conclude that your manuscript is inaccurate or outdated, your paper will be rejected. (But note that there is a fine line between "inaccurate" and "controversial.")
Keep an eye on the length of your paper. Most journals cannot (or will not) deal with submissions over ca. 20 pages in length (and are not interested in those under 5 pages). Adhere to the journal鈥檚 manuscript preparation guidelines without failure!
Consider finding a co-author. . .ideally one who brings to the writing task skills and knowledge which complement your own. Two heads are often better than one.
When a manuscript has multiple authors, list the names alphabetically unless one of the authors is the major one in terms of the work involved.
If you are a novice at academic publication, test out your ideas (and writing) by submitting manuscripts to a local source before you attempt a national journal. Most disciplines have state associations which publish newsletters, whose editors are always eager to receive contributions.
If your submission gets rejected, don鈥檛 give up! Ask the editor for reader feedback (if this hasn鈥檛 been sent to you already). Consider a revision which takes into account the objections/ recommendations of these readers. If you do this revision, resubmit the paper to the same journal. (It will probably be sent out again to the same readers for a second evaluation.)

Reprinted with permission from the author, Howard B. Altman, University of Louisville.