The publication process requires planning. Before you start writing, take some time to understand what makes a good scientific paper, learn what journal editors are looking for, and find out how to choose the right journal for your manuscript.
Getting Started
Preparing to Write
To develop a strong manuscript, it is important to take the time to learn about what makes a good scientific paper and what editors really want. As you begin the process of preparing to write, ask yourself: What story are you trying to tell? What does your paper represent?
What Do Editors Really Want?
What Makes a Good Scientific Paper?
What Does Your Scientific Paper Represent?
Additional Resources
Creating a Good Research Question
Successful translation of research begins with a strong question. How do you get started? How do good research questions evolve? And where do you find inspiration to generate good questions in the first place? It’s helpful to understand existing frameworks, guidelines, and standards, as well as hear from researchers who utilize these strategies in their own work.
Publishing Journal Articles: A Scientific Guide for New Authors Worldwide
Scientific advice for new authors, junior researchers, and graduate students to publish their scholarly work and advance their academic careers.
Five Steps to Critically Reading a Manuscript (PDF)
A resource from Harvard Catalyst that provides a guide for analyzing a manuscript. These five steps also apply when writing a manuscript.
A resource from Harvard Catalyst that provides a guide for analyzing a manuscript. These five steps also apply when writing a manuscript.
Choosing the Right Journal
Before you begin to write, consider where you would like to publish your manuscript. Each journal has a unique audience, style, and structure and the submission requirements for each vary. The journals that you target for submission will depend on your field of research, the topic of the specific study, and the significance of the findings.
Resources
Open Access Journals
Two Types of Open Access Journals
(Click to enlarge)
There are two types of open access journals: gold and green. Open Access Gold journals publish in three ways: direct, delayed, and hybrid. Direct gold open access means that the entire journal is open access. It can be delayed, where the journal is subscription-based but after a certain time the articles are available open access. In a hybrid gold open access journal the journal is subscription-based but the article's author pays a fee to grant open access to their manuscript.
Green open access is a self-archiving of work by the author. It can be on your own website, on your insitution's website, or in a subject repository such as PubMed.
Image courtesy Elliott M. Antman, MD
Resources
Open Access Information for Journal Authors
This webpage from Elsevier provides information about Open Access journals and includes a link to their Journal Finder tool.
Your Guide to Publishing Open Access with Wiley (PDF)
A step-by-step guide to publishing Open Access.
Six Licenses for Sharing Your Work (PDF)
A simple, quick introduction to Creative Commons liceneses.
Reflection Questions
Reflect on the questions below as you get started developing your manuscript. Before you begin writing, spend time thinking about and researching your own answers, and review this question list with your mentors and colleagues.
Where should you submit your manuscript?
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Consider the audience:
- What is the target audience of the journal?
- Who typically reads the journal?
- Will publishing in this journal reach the people who are most important for your research?
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Consider the impact factor:
- What is the journal's impact factor?
- Why does impact factor matter?
What should you know about the journal to which you are submitting a manuscript?
- What are the submission requirements?
- Are there any specialized guidelines regarding the format of content? (e.g. the location of methods)
- What is the writing style of articles that are published?
- What are the general timelines for submission responses?