Personal Development

Submitting your article for peer review

Before you actually go to submit your article, it is helpful to check the instructions to authors to find out what documents and information you might need. This may include aspects such as forms giving patient consent, ethical approval details and reference numbers, details of data deposit, and the correct institutional information for all authors, including their email addresses.

The vast majority of journals ask for articles to be submitted online via a manuscript management system. If you have not submitted to a specific journal before, you will need to set up a log in for that system. It may feel like a lot of effort but this information is needed, either for the metadata it provides for you and your article, or for the journal to be sure that you are who you claim to be. With increased incidences of research fraud, journals are taking additional care to confirm that authors are genuine researchers.
 

 

Follow the process

Once you are logged in, the process is usually fairly straightforward and clearly signposted within the system. The journal may ask you to include separate files for figures or tables, for the references and/or for any appendices. Make sure these are clearly labelled with the article title, but also make sure that they are anonymous as this will help the editorial team if the article is sent for double-blind peer review. If you’re supplying any figures, check the format requirements for these – resolution, file type – and make sure you follow these requirements.

You may have the option during the submission process to suggest possible peer reviewers and/or to specify certain people who you would prefer not to peer review your article. If these are optional, you don’t have to give any suggestions. The first option helps the journal team to ensure that they are aware of all the people working in this field to select the most appropriate peer reviewers – this would still be double blind (see below) if your suggested reviewers were invited, so they wouldn’t know it was your article. The second option is mainly used in fields where there are a number of different institutions/departments working in competition with each other – if you know a particular department is also researching the same dressing that you are, you may not want them to see your results before any paper is published.

Make sure that you complete the submission process. This may sound strange, but as the corresponding author, you are likely to receive a PDF or HTML proof of the article to sign off or confirm before the submission is complete. Make sure you have checked this and followed any processes online to confirm that you are happy with this document. You will receive a number of emails from the journal, and when the submission is complete, you should be allocated a unique manuscript reference number which you can use in any subsequent correspondence with the journal.
 

What happens next

If the editor feels your article is suitable for the journal (which should be more likely if you have been in touch with them first and followed the instructions to authors), your article will be sent for peer review. This is usually (not always) a double blind process – the reviewer doesn’t know who the author is and vice versa to try and maintain objectivity.

What reviewers are looking for:

• Does the article add to the body of knowledge?
• Is it relevant to the target audience?
• Does it have a sound theoretical, research or philosophical basis?
• Is it well organised and are the arguments logically developed?
• Are the conclusions justified from the data presented?
• Are the references appropriate and up to date?
• Does it make recommendations for practice or future research?
• Are there any issues with plagiarism?

The reviewers make recommendations to the editor – the options tend to be accept (very rare), minor revisions, major revisions, or reject. Hopefully if you’ve taken the time to think about the correct audience for your article and have followed the instructions to authors, your article won’t be rejected.

Sometimes reviewers or editors may recommend submission to a different journal if feel that is more appropriate - this is more likely if you’re submitting to a journal from a larger publishing house which publishes lots of different journals.

The editor makes the decision based on these recommendations.
 

You have a decision from the journal

It is extremely unlikely, especially early in your writing career, that your article will be accepted for publication without requiring any revisions.

No one likes criticism, but editors and reviewers tend to have good reasons for suggesting changes. Consider the recommendations carefully. However, don’t forget that you don’t have to address all the comments – if there is something you disagree with, politely respond to that comment, explaining why you don’t agree and so won’t be addressing it.

 It is good practice (and very helpful for the editor and the reviewers) to clearly outline in an accompanying letter the changes you have made (and those you have not) in response to the reviewers’ comments. This makes it much easier for them to see what has been done and is likely to make any re-review that is needed much quicker.

There may be another (hopefully shorter) round of review and revisions, but you should end up with your article being accepted for publication. If so, congratulations!
 

Getting it published

Your article should be copy-edited, and you are likely to receive a proof for checking and to address any queries. Copy editing addresses any grammar and spelling issues, and ensures that the article meets that particular journal’s house style. It also ensures that the meaning of your article is clear to readers – editing is generally done fairly sympathetically – the copy editors are not trying to rip your article to pieces but to ensure that readers can easily find out what you are saying. As copy editors haven’t been closely involved with the article until now (unlike you and your coauthors), they are likely to improve the readability, so be prepared to accept their suggestions unless they have actually changed the meaning of your article. They may also pick up minor issues not picked up by the reviewer – ie discrepancies in numbers in tables.

After this is complete, you will be a published author! Well done. Depending on the size of the publishers, there may be some support for you to engage with their social media and marketing processes, so do take any of these opportunities offered to you – this helps to get your article out to a wider audience. Your next steps are to tell your friends, family and colleagues, update your CV, and start thinking about the topic of your next article.