Publishing for the first time? Frequent questions and advice from Research Hive Scholars 2022-2023

BY ANDREA PEREZ PORRES, GEORGIA WETHERALL, AND DYUTI A

It is normal to feel anxious when thinking about publishing, especially as a PhD Candidate or an Early-Career-Researcher. If you have never published a manuscript before it can be very daunting and difficult if you don’t have anyone to guide you through each step, or to answer the questions you might have. We all have had different experiences in publishing; we come from different disciplines and backgrounds, so this is just our own personal advice, as publishing is very discipline specific and varies from journal to journal. Andrea has worked as an Editorial Assistant for a journal and dyuti has also been part of workshops on publishing, so together we have collected some questions from Sussex PhD Students and answered them as best as we could to help guide you.

When is the best time to submit to a journal?

There is no one specific “better or worse” time to submit a paper to a journal. Every journal has submission peaks during the year, and Editors will have different amounts of work at different times of the year, so it will vary. Publishing an article is about finding the right journal for your argument and submitting to that publication. Once an article is submitted, the Editor will first decide if the article should continue on to undergo the peer review process. If it continues, the article will then go through peer review, and the feedback received is what helps tighten and strengthen a piece.

Do you write articles and look for a publisher or do you write something to fit a particular journal?

We would recommend to first determine what your paper is about (your research questions, hypothesis, etc) and once you know what it will be about, look for journals that have published in this topic. We recommend that once you start writing, check where most of the sources for your paper are coming from and take an in-depth look at the papers published in those journals, as well as the gaps in them and what your research is adding to these identified gaps. This allows you to write a paper that focuses on a specific audience, engages with previously published papers in the journal you want to publish in, and increases the chances of acceptance.

Journals can be selected based on the discipline, thematic focus, region, ratings and readership. It is about finding and choosing the one where your argument fits the best.

How do I make sure my paper is good enough to be published?

Publishing is hard and acceptance rate varies from journal to journal, so it is impossible to guarantee that your paper will be accepted and published if you follow our advice. We can give you advice that can help make your paper better, but we can’t guarantee that it will be published. However, if your paper provides a substantial contribution to knowledge, if it is a topics other researchers might be working on as well, if you engage with relevant literature and papers published in the journal you are interested in, this will definitely increase your chances of getting published. You can look at Wendy Laura Belcher’s (2019) book “Writing a Journal Article in 12 Weeks”, for guidance and tips.

How do you find journals looking for submissions?

There are several ways of finding journals online. You can browse online databases for journal topics or check in which journal the papers you use in your research are published in. We would recommend defining your audience, which disciplines and subjects your research focuses on, identify keywords, and go to databases such as Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, or the Directory of Open Access Journals. There are also journal finder tools of journal publishers that will allow you to find other journals such as Sage’s Journal Recommender, Elsevier’s Journal Finder, Taylor & Francis’ Journal Suggester, and Springer Nature’s Journal Suggester.

What are the main things editors and reviewers will look at?

You need to make sure your research is easy to follow, well written and that you credit all the sources you use. Editors go through many papers a week to either desk-reject or send out to potential reviewers, so the abstract, title, conclusion, and references helps them quickly decide what to do with your manuscript. If your manuscript gets sent out for review, typically two or three reviewers will be appointed to review it. Some reviewers spend more time than others, so make sure you also check the guidelines for the journal you are interested in publishing to make sure you are adhering to them and increase your chances of getting accepted.

Can I submit one of my PhD papers to a journal?

Yes, but always explain this clearly in the cover letter. You will also want to make sure you are following the journal submission guidelines. Oftentimes theses or dissertations need to be rewritten and refocused to match the journal’s requirements.

Does my PhD thesis count as a prior publication?

No, PhD thesis and monographs are not usually considered prior publication, but if it has been published as a book it does constitute prior publication.

Can I present a paper at a Conference and then submit it for publication? What if it is published as part of the Conference?

Conference papers are considered as a “pre-print” in most journals, as it is normal for researchers to improve their papers before submitting it. We recommend to still let the Editor know that you have previously submitted a version of your manuscript to a Conference, to avoid any problems. Transparency is key.

What do I do if my paper is rejected?

Rejection is completely normal. Everyone gets rejected at some point of their academic career, regardless of if you are a PhD Candidate, an ECR or well into your academic career. If you get rejected from a journal you can still get it published somewhere else. There can be multiple reasons for a rejection, so make sure you read through the Editor’s or reviewers’ comments, if there are any. You can work on the suggested revisions and make some changes to submit the manuscript to a different journal that might fit your research better. You can also submit the same manuscript to another journal if you cannot address the comments and feedback received. Some journals might allow you to resubmit a revised manuscript again, but make sure this is allowed (we recommend checking the journal’s guidelines as well as the rejection letter carefully) and check with the Editor first, as in some journals if the paper is rejected and you resubmit without permission your paper will be rejected again.

In some journals, 50 percent of new submissions are desk-rejected, and just under 10 percent are published in the end, so don’t let a rejection discourage you from your research!

Sage has a variety of resources to help you get published – check them out:
Free How to Get Published webinars
How to Get Published resources
Sage Perspectives Author support blog posts

About the Authors

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Andrea Pérez Porres is a second year PhD Researcher at the Science and Policy Research unit. Her research focuses on social movements in the UK and how they are re-thinking innovation beyond economic growth for sustainability transitions. Her focus as a Hive Scholar is to represent international students that are self-funded and have to work part-time to support themselves along with researchers that are also part of the LGBTQ+ community. She wants to organise more inclusive events for all Sussex researchers, as well as allow for more spaces for researchers to meet each other, form communities and support bubbles. Andrea is originally from Spain and has lived in the UK for the last 5 years. She loves trying new vegan food and would travel anywhere if needed –no matter how far it is.

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dyuti a is in her final year as a PhD Researcher at the Department of Anthropology at the school of Global Studies. Her current research explores the imagination of ‘verbing the state’ by exploring the ways in which state is (re) produced, articulated, and experienced in the ‘space of appearance’ through the everyday interactions between ordinary Indian and ordinary Kashmiri. As a Hive Scholar she strives to make the Hive a welcoming and critical space for the research community across differences of race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, and PhD status. Her vision is to hold spaces for PhD scholars to write, interact across the divisions of school, departments and share pedagogical practices. She writes her name with small d because Hindi doesn’t have capital alphabets. In her head she is a comic, till you give her an audience then she is rather quiet!

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Georgia Wetherall is a second year PhD researcher in the School of Media, Arts and Humanities. Her research focuses on the body in Russian literature of the 1930s and 40s, embalming and death practices, and the treatment of the body after death. Her main aim as a Hive Scholar is to ‘open-up’ and de-mystify higher education and the years that follow, making the whole process seem a lot less daunting! She wants to ensure that anyone struggling to balance a PhD alongside other commitments (such as work, childcare, care work, etc) finds the support they need.