1. P UBLISHING IN A CADEMIC J OURNALS : T IPS TO HELP YOU SUCCEED ESRC Research Methods Festival, July 2014 Helen Wheeler Managing Editor - Education Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 1

2. C ONTENTS  Publishing cycle  Peer review process  Know your audience  Choose the right journal  Introduction to Open Access  Writing for your chosen journal  Preparing your manuscript  A word on etiquette  What to do when your paper is published or rejected  Help for prospective authors 2

3. S TART OF THE P UBLISHING C YCLE 3 1. Idea 2. Choose Journal 3. Read back issues 4. Write first draft 5. Use critical friend 6. Refine further drafts 7. Check notes for contribut ors 8. Proof- read and submit

4. T HE P EER R EVIEW P ROCESS 4 1. Editor receives manuscript 2. Reviewers 3. Accept Minor amendments Major amendments Reject 4. Feedback to author 5. Amend 6. Publisher proof stage 7. Article Published!

5. K NOW Y OUR A UDIENCE Tip 1: A journal article is not a magazine article, a book manuscript or your PhD thesis (but you could write a Book Review…)! Q. Do you: a) Write an article for a specific journal? b) Find any journal for your article A. Be in the minority: 30% of authors write for a specific journal, 70% write the article and panic. 5

6. C HOOSE THE R IGHT J OURNAL 6 Tip 2: You are joining a conversation with other contributors Research the journals in your field: Visit your university library Look at publishers and journal websites Talk to your peers Pick your type: Generalist, or niche? Read the Aims and Scope Check http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/ Ask the right questions and know the right answers: Editor? Editorial Board? Publisher? Authors? Readership? Online/Print? Impact Factor? Peer Review? Submission process? Open Access policy?

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8. What is Open Access (OA)? “Open access is, simply, the idea that research articles should be freely, immediately and permanently available online to anyone, rather than locked away in subscription journals….” Zoe Corbyn, THES Gold Open Access: article is made freely available online upon publication after payment of an Author Publishing Charge (APC). Green Open Access: deposit of the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM ) in an institutional or subject repository. Platinum Open Access : no APC. Costs are covered through volunteer work, donations, subsidies, grants, etc. 8

9. J OURNAL C ITATION M ETRICS Citation metrics (rightly or wrongly) are widely used as measures of quality by:  Librarians  Tenure & promotion committees  Grant awarding bodies  Authors  Publishers In the simplest terms, they calculate the average number of citations over a specified time period.  Impact Factor/Social Sciences Citation Index  SNIP/ Scopus  Eigenfactor Score ®  Article Influence Score ® 9

10. W RITING FOR Y OUR C HOSEN J OURNAL Tip 3: Think like an Editor “...I think authors need to be a little bit empathetic, they need to think ‘what is it like to be an editor of a journal? How many papers is the Editor receiving per day, per week? What is going to actually make the journal pay attention to my paper?” Monica Taylor, Former Editor of Journal of Moral Education 10

11. P REPARING Y OUR M ANUSCRIPT 11 Look at accepted papers Quote from articles in the journal Fit the Aims & Scope Format your article to the journal’s standard Know where or who to submit to Check spelling and grammar Consider English ‘Polishing’ Ask a colleague to read it × Overlook the title × Rush the abstract × Dismiss the submission guidelines × Ignore the bibliography × Leave acronyms unexplained × Forget to clear any Copyright × Miss out attachments (figs, tables, photos) × Send the incorrect version of your paper Absolute Do’s and Definite Don’ts:

12. W HAT M AKES A G OOD T ITLE ? Tip 4: The title and abstract are the most visible parts of your article. "We would typically expect a strong title, a good title that really expressed what the article was about and made it clear to the reader exactly what the topic was, and it's amazing how often writers neglect to do that.” Professor Mark Brundrett, Editor of Education 3-13 12

13. W HAT M AKES A G OOD A BSTRACT ? “A good abstract will tell you what the key issue that’s addressed is, it’ll give you an idea of the methods that have been used and the conclusions that have been arrived at. So that abstract ought to tell someone whether it’s worth them spending part of their life reading this paper. If the abstract doesn’t do that the chances are the paper will have further weaknesses.” Professor David Gillborn, Editor, Race, Ethnicity and Education 13

14. A W ORD ON E TIQUETTE Mind your P’s (and Q’s)! Plagiarism: is it on the increase or are we just better at detecting it? It doesn’t matter, just don’t do it! Be wary of self-plagiarism Don’t submit a manuscript to more than one journal at a time Don’t send an incomplete paper just to get feedback Always acknowledge your co-authors and/or fellow researchers Always mention any source of funding for your paper. 14

15. W HAT TO D O IF Y OUR P APER IS R EJECTED ? Do nothing for a few days: calm down! It’s not usually worth getting into a discussion with the Editor about the reviewers, it won’t alter the decision and could do you harm. Use the reviewers’ comments, alter the paper and submit to another journal. If you do submit elsewhere, take care to alter your paper to the new style of that journal. Editors can easily detect a paper that was submitted to a rival publication. If asked to make heavy amendments and resubmit, you must decide if it is worthwhile. Remember, you may get rejected again! It may be better to go elsewhere. 15

16. P UBLISHED ? P ROMOTE YOUR P APER ! Reading Lists Departmental website or personal webpage Social and Academic Networking e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In, MyNetResearch, Academici, CiteULike Discussion Lists Blogs Library Recommendation Free Sample Copy Email signature Send e-prints to your colleagues 16

17. N EED HELP ? V ISIT THE T AYLOR & F RANCIS AUTHOR SERVICES WEBSITE 17 http://journalauthors.tandf.co.uk/ Featuring audio interviews with academic editors providing advice on how to get published and how to write a research paper. Comprehensive guidance is also available on: writing an article, editing or language polishing, translating, checking references, artwork, providing supplementary data, how to choose a journal; systems and interfaces (ScholarOne Manuscripts, Rightslink etc.); the review process and what to expect; the production process and checking proofs; post-publication, errata, reprints, optimising citations; article versions and institutional repositories: what authors can and can’t do with their articles. Our Authors’ Newsletter is freely available online.