Submission process

You have finalised your article and are ready to submit it to a journal. Below, you find an overview of the most important steps and what to expect during this process.

  • What to consider when picking a journal:

    • What is the topic/relevance of the journal compared to your article?
    • What type of article are you writing?
    • What is your target audience?
    • Do you have funding requirements?
    • Is the journal Open Access?
    • Do your PI and/or co-authors have suggestions?
    • Do the journal's length requirements match your article?

    Don't know where to start? 

    • What journals have you been using and reading?
    • What do your co-authors recommend?
    • Check out Bison, to help find Open Access journals that fit your article.
    • Use our journal Search Tool to determine if we have an agreement or funding available to help publish Open Access in the journal of your choice.

  • Submitting to a journal involves more than just writing the manuscript. The actual submission process will take time, so plan accordingly. Here are a few things you should do before you start the submission process:

    • Read and follow the journal's 'Author's Guide'
    • Format the text, figures and references accordingly (some journals allow flexible formatting on the first submission)
    • Receive approval from all co-authors and incorporate feedback
    • Compile all authors' information (e.g. ORCID, funding, institute information, email, etc.)
    • Organise data and code into a repository (as needed)
    • Check OA possibilities and requirements of your institution and funders
    • Decide which CC License you want to use (we recommend CC BY for scientific manuscripts)

  • When submitting your article to a journal, it is advised to write a cover letter to state your case why your article should be considered for publication in this journal. This is an example of how this letter could look like and which parts you should include:

    Cover letter

  • If your article is accepted by a journal, it will go through a review process. Several peers will read your article, suggest revisions, and provide a detailed list of what needs changing. Similar to the structure of a scientific article, most reviews follow the following format:

    review_structure

  • Responding to reviews can be difficult, but remember: peer review generally improves your publication. If you are unsure how to respond to a review comment, ask an experienced colleague for help. Here is a general outline for how to tackling responding to reviewer comments:

    respond_to_review

    Recommended resources:

    • Want to see how other researchers respond to reviewer comments? Some journals publish both the reviewer comment and the author response. Nature Communications articles provide a "Transparent Peer Review file" in the Supplementary Information of articles. F1000 Research similarly published the peer review process. 

  • Rejection happens to us all. Don't let it get you down! It generally means your article was considered not a good fit for the journal. This is a great opportunity to think about the purpose and target audience of the paper, find a journal that fits that criteria, edit the paper, as needed, and re-submit.

  • Congrats! Take a moment to celebrate. Then, check out the publication process to see the next steps.

Further resources

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