How to Make Your Article Acceptable for Publication

Some hints and suggestions about how to write and format an academic article and submit it for publication in a prestigious journal.

1. Prof. David Alexander
How to Make Your Article
More Acceptable for Publication
in a Major Research Journal

2. Innovation:-
•an international journal does not want a purely
local study
•have you made it clear what your article offers
that is new?
•have you completed an adequate, and broad
enough, literature review?
•have you emphasised the connections between
your contribution to knowledge and the body
of knowledge to which it contributes?

3. Scope of the journal:-
•is this the right journal for your article?
•most desk rejections occur because the
article is "out of scope"
•has the journal published similar articles?
•does the journal really embrace the field
or sub-field of your paper?
•editorial policy differs in terms of how
closely editors define the scope of their
journals

4. Presentation -bad formatting:-
•a facsimile of the eventual
publication
•small print, crammed into the page
•no page or line numbers
•double columns
= too difficult for referees to
comment on it in detail

5. Presentation -good formatting:-
•double-space everything
•add page and line numbers
•ensure references are complete and uniform in
style (preferably the journal's house style)
•use a clear, sans-serif typeface such as Arial
12-point
•ensure headings and subheadings are
consistent
•use the right format for the abstract (see the
journal's house style)

6. The object of the exercise is to judge
your manuscript in terms of its
suitability for publication.
The title and abstract are the first things
that editors and reviewers see, and the
first on which they make a judgement.
Make sure they are written in correct
English

7. Abstract:-
•it must be an accurate summary of
the whole paper
•the most common error is to make
the abstract an introduction to the
problem studied rather than a
summary of the content of the paper
•is the abstract in the right format for
the journal?

8. Language:-
•linguistic errors in the title and
abstract of the paper are an instant
enthusiasm-killer
•English that is ungrammatical and
idiosyncratic is not very acceptable to
editors and reviewers
•bad English lowers the reviewers' and
editor's opinion of your scientific work

9. Plagiarism:-
•there is an increasing "copy-and-paste"
culture, amounting to an epidemic of
plagiarism
•CrossCheck may detect this sort of
plagiarism
•don't do it: always write with your own words
and interpretations
•make sure your coauthors do as well
•if you must use someone else's work,
acknowledge it in full

10. Plagiarism:-
Any sizeable use of published work (a
paragraph of prose, a figure, a table) needs
written copyright release from the author
and publisher (the intellectual property
owners) before submitting your article for
publication: anything else is illegal
copyright infringement and misuse of
someone else's intellectual property.

11. Submission:-
•do it with care
•do not submit to a special issue
unless you are sure your article will be
welcomed by the guest editors
•make sure nothing is missing from the
submission
•make sure the pdf is properly
formatted and has no mistakes in it

12. SUMMARY - malpractice by authors:-
•irrelevant submission (out of scope)
•plagiarism (including copy-and-paste)
•submission to more than one journal at once
•false authorship
- improper use of people's names
- so-called "honorary" authorship
- papers written by surrogate authors or AI
•falsification of data and results (mainly in the medical
field)
•citation cartels
•other ethical violations (particularly political issues)

13. Endnotes:-
•many authors have little understanding of
the process of translating their thoughts
into a printed communication in an
international journal
•a professional, well-prepared article is
more likely to succeed: it puts the editor
and reviewers in a positive frame of mind.

14. Thank you
for your
attention