Academia 101: Publishing (Part 1)
When I started my academic journey there was a lot that I didn't understand - academic processes can be very confusing to the uninitiated! This Academia 101 blog series will provide guidelines for basic academic concepts for new PhD students (or anyone else new to academia).
Publishing is a major part of academic life. For better or worse, your articles are a form of academic currency. I often say to my students 'If it isn't published, then it didn't happen'. This sounds harsh, but is true - the purpose of research is to discover new things, and the way discoveries are communicated is via publishing. But for first-time authors, the process can seem opaque and daunting, so in this two-part blog, I will explain the process of publishing a paper.
Manuscript preparation: This is the process of preparing your work for publication in a document called a manuscript. This is the initial draft of your work that will be sent for consideration for publication by a journal. Make sure you’ve decided on the format of your manuscript; there are different types of articles (research articles, review articles, communications, letters etc) and you should decide on this before you start your draft. Normally, the primary author will prepare a draft of the manuscript in collaboration with a broader team of researchers involved. This involves making all figures, writing the body of the text which provides context for the work, describes the research, and concludes in comparison to other studies. You will likely have other people involved in your research, so rely on them for guidance, especially if this is the first time you are writing a publication - reach out to people, ask questions, send your team working on it drafts for early comments and guidance. The more help you get, the easier the process of editing will be for your supervisor.
Choosing a Journal: So you’ve finished a draft of your manuscript, but which journal do you should send it to? Speak with your supervisor and they will likely have an idea, but you can also find where similar research has been published. It’s also worth considering the impact factor of the journal (aim for high impact factor where you can).
Every publishing house has different rules for what documents are necessary and the formatting of those documents, and the rules can also vary between journals of the same publisher, so check the 'guide to authors'. They will dictate that you use certain headings, write a cover letter (addressing the editor and informing them of your work and its importance), provide supplementary information (extra figures/data/text which supports your findings, but is not in the main document), and often a graphical abstract. Follow the rules as the editors may reject your work if you haven’t.
The order of this step can change depending on the circumstances; you may know what journal you’re submitting to before you write your draft (in the case of invited articles), you may decide this whilst writing your draft, or in discussion with other authors, which journal to submit to, or in many cases, you will have to resubmit to another journal if it’s rejected from your first choice. Given that journals have different requirements, particularly for content and formatting, it can be useful to decide this early in the process to avoid having to make major changes to your document for submission. But you will also need to be flexible as you might have to change it (multiple times) before it is accepted for publication in a journal.
Authorship list: It is common to publish your research as part of a team. This team is comprised of the people who helped to conduct the study and should include anyone who contributed to experiments, data analysis, writing and other inputs.
An authorship list will often look like this:
Jane Doe (person that did most of the work), John Smith (person who helped with the study, but contributed less), Jimmy James (someone who helped with measurements), and Prof. Big Shot (supervisor and director of the research).
Authorship lists can be shorter or longer than this, and there are no concrete rules here. However, the first author should be the person who did the most work and the last author (often called the corresponding author) is generally the more senior researcher who directed the research and finalised the project. This authorship order is used to judge how much a person contributed to a piece of work, so it's important that you get fair representation in the authorship list.
“If you are a student or a postdoc who did most of the work, then you should be first author.”
So, an important note: if you are a student or a postdoc who did most of the work, then you should be first author. In my opinion, it is not ok for a senior academic to place themself as first author when a junior colleague did a large proportion of the work. It is important for junior researchers to build up their publication record with first authorships and your supervisor should support this.
Importantly, everyone who contributed should be listed as an author. If you are unsure whether someone has contributed enough for an authorship, journals will often have guidelines for this, but it’s best to err on the side of caution - authorship does not cost you anything, but failing to include someone who contributed is unethical and can damage your working relationship with colleagues.
Preparing for submission to a journal: Once a draft has been finalised, it should be sent to all other authors to approve and recommend any changes – it is necessary for all authors to confirm that they are happy with the work that will be published with their name on it. It is good idea to set a deadline for them to respond so that this process doesn't drag indefinitely, but make sure that it is enough time for them to have the chance to read and respond properly, and make sure you are flexible here - if people need more time, then grant it.
“Authorship does not cost you anything, but failing to include someone who contributed is unethical and can damage your working relationship with colleagues.”
Submission to a journal - The time has come: you've written the manuscript, been through several rounds of revisions with your co-authors, the manuscript is ready to go, and you want to get your work published. How exciting! In conjunction with your supervisor you can submit your documents to the journal for initial screening. Sometimes a journal editor will decide that your research is not right for their journal and will reject your work based on this – this doesn’t mean that it’s bad, it just might not be the right audience for your work. This is called a 'desk rejection' and it happens all the time! Do not be disheartened - move to the next journal and try again. Your work will find its home!
