How to Submit a Manuscript
What is a query? This means you reach out to the journal’s editor before submission, very briefly describe the goal and method of your study, and ask whether they would be interested in reviewing it as a submission. If you’ve previously heard about having an “elevator pitch” in job-hunting, fundraising, or a similar initiative, you can relate a query to that concept; it is a quick, big-picture summary that you hope will make the audience interested in hearing more. A query email should be brief but contain details and language that clearly explain why the paper might interest them. If you believe the study has valuable implications, you can share that, but be careful not to exaggerate the significance of your results The section of a research article where researchers share the results from the research. This section takes the results and directly connects them to the research questions or hypotheses posed at the start of the article. Also can be called “Findings.” in a way that might make the editors feel misled later. Query emails are always a valid option but are usually not required in LIS An interdisciplinary field that examines how physical and digital information is organized, accessed, collected, managed, disseminated and used, particularly in library settings. journals.
One benefit of a query is that you might query editors at several journals before deciding where to submit. Most journals do not allow simultaneous submissions; you must wait until the first journal declines your manuscript before you can submit it somewhere else. If you have an unusual topic, perhaps something situated between two journals’ areas of specialty, querying both editors first may help you more quickly determine which is a better fit. Alternatively, if you find yourself slogging through your writing — perhaps because you’ve started to worry that no one will want to read it — sending a query to your preferred journal may also be a way to reassure yourself of the work’s relevance and motivate you to complete it.
Whether or not you send a query in advance, you may wish to include a brief (less than one page) cover letter with your submission which explains the paper’s main theme or research question, how it adds to knowledge or practice in the field, and why you think it will be a good fit for this specific journal’s scope and aims. Do not repeat your abstract The concise summary of a research article that provides a broad overview of the research being presented.; this letter should primarily say things that your article does not. Including explicit acknowledgements that you have no conflicts of interest and that the paper is not currently under review by any other journals is also a good practice, although some online submission systems may also have you attest to these facts.
Activity
Complete the following reflective activity. You will answer a series of questions, and you may write down your answers in your LPOL Workbook or elsewhere.
Use the 5.1.4: Elevator Pitch reflection activity in your LPOL Workbook or a personal journal to answer the following prompt:
How might you develop an “elevator pitch” for your article? How could you sum up what you did and why in about 1-3 sentences? You may also want to take some time to look through sample submission cover letters, like those below from the American Psychological Association’s (APA) style website, to find and download a template that you like and can adapt for your work.
“APA Style: Cover Letters”
How do you know you’re ready to submit?
Your paper should be fully complete before you submit, but you’ll want to avoid getting caught up in perfectionism. Here’s a checklist for determining when a paper is “done enough”:
- All sections have been fully written.
- You no longer have any “placeholders” in your text, such as TBD or Need to cite this statistic.
- If possible and desired, a peer has provided informal feedback on your paper, and you have incorporated any recommended revisions.
- You have double-checked that each reference in the text matches a citation in the References list, and each citation in the References list matches a reference in the text.
- You have verified that your citations follow the journal’s prescribed citation style.
- You have tested all hyperlinks.
- Your figures, if any, are labeled and included in the format requested by the journal.
- You have re-read the journal’s formatting and style guidelines and verified that your paper conforms to them (more on this below).
- Your manuscript is fully anonymized for peer review (more on this below).
- All co-authors (if applicable) have reviewed and approved the manuscript version to be submitted.
Some publishers are moving away from strictly prescribing how a paper should be formatted or even what style manual citations should be followed. If this is the case, the author submission guidelines on the journal’s website will be very clear about their willingness to “do it your way.”
However, when the author submission guidelines are specific about features like heading styles, page formatting, line and paragraph spacing, and citation style, you should do your best to conform to these guidelines. An editor can — and often will — reject a paper before peer review when the author has clearly disregarded instructions for how to style their manuscript.
Finally, be sure you have fully anonymized your paper for peer review. A journal using a single-anonymized system may not require this, but it will be required in more cases than not. An editor may return a submission to you for changes if it contains identifying information, so handling this before submission will allow the editorial and peer review process to progress more quickly. Here’s a checklist for ensuring an anonymized submission:
- Your author byline, the author contribution statement (if applicable), and any funding statements (if applicable) are removed.
- Any potentially identifying information within the paper itself (author names, roles, institutions, etc.) is redacted.
- All references to identifying institutions are replaced with a consistent placeholder, such as [UNIVERSITY].
- Any citation referenced as a previous work by one or more of this paper’s authors is redacted.
- Any identifying information from your document’s file properties are cleared.
- If you need to submit multiple files — for example, the main article and a separate file containing images, as some journals request — make sure that these anonymization steps have been taken in every file. One exception may be if a journal wants you to submit a separate cover page with the author affiliation information included.
Topic 4 References
Macdonell, Cameron. “The Ultimate Journal Article Submission Checklist.” Scribendi. N.d. https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/journal_article_submission_checklist.en.html.
Schrock, Andrew R. “How to Submit a Journal Article (and Get it Published!).” Medium. December 27, 2017. https://medium.com/@aschrock/how-to-submit-a-journal-article-48bbca709c70.
“Slide Deck: Manuscript Submission Checklist: Everything You Need to Consider Before Submission.” Editage Insights. May 08, 2015. https://www.editage.com/insights/manuscript-submission-checklist-everything-you-need-to-consider-before-submission.
How to Submit a Manuscript
What is a query? This means you reach out to the journal’s editor before submission, very briefly describe the goal and method of your study, and ask whether they would be interested in reviewing it as a submission. If you’ve previously heard about having an “elevator pitch” in job-hunting, fundraising, or a similar initiative, you can relate a query to that concept; it is a quick, big-picture summary that you hope will make the audience interested in hearing more. A query email should be brief but contain details and language that clearly explain why the paper might interest them. If you believe the study has valuable implications, you can share that, but be careful not to exaggerate the significance of your resultsResults The section of a research article where researchers share the results from the research. This section takes the results and directly connects them to the research questions or hypotheses posed at the start of the article. Also can be called “Findings.” in a way that might make the editors feel misled later. Query emails are always a valid option but are usually not required in LISLibrary and Information Science An interdisciplinary field that examines how physical and digital information is organized, accessed, collected, managed, disseminated and used, particularly in library settings. journals.
One benefit of a query is that you might query editors at several journals before deciding where to submit. Most journals do not allow simultaneous submissions; you must wait until the first journal declines your manuscript before you can submit it somewhere else. If you have an unusual topic, perhaps something situated between two journals’ areas of specialty, querying both editors first may help you more quickly determine which is a better fit. Alternatively, if you find yourself slogging through your writing — perhaps because you’ve started to worry that no one will want to read it — sending a query to your preferred journal may also be a way to reassure yourself of the work’s relevance and motivate you to complete it.
Whether or not you send a query in advance, you may wish to include a brief (less than one page) cover letter with your submission which explains the paper’s main theme or research question, how it adds to knowledge or practice in the field, and why you think it will be a good fit for this specific journal’s scope and aims. Do not repeat your abstractAbstract The concise summary of a research article that provides a broad overview of the research being presented.; this letter should primarily say things that your article does not. Including explicit acknowledgements that you have no conflicts of interest and that the paper is not currently under review by any other journals is also a good practice, although some online submission systems may also have you attest to these facts.
Activity
Complete the following reflective activity. You will answer a series of questions, and you may write down your answers in your LPOL Workbook or elsewhere.
Use the 5.1.4: Elevator Pitch reflection activity in your LPOL Workbook or a personal journal to answer the following prompt:
How might you develop an “elevator pitch” for your article? How could you sum up what you did and why in about 1-3 sentences? You may also want to take some time to look through sample submission cover letters, like those below from the American Psychological Association’s (APA) style website, to find and download a template that you like and can adapt for your work.
“APA Style: Cover Letters”
How do you know you’re ready to submit?
Your paper should be fully complete before you submit, but you’ll want to avoid getting caught up in perfectionism. Here’s a checklist for determining when a paper is “done enough”:
Some publishers are moving away from strictly prescribing how a paper should be formatted or even what style manual citations should be followed. If this is the case, the author submission guidelines on the journal’s website will be very clear about their willingness to “do it your way.”
However, when the author submission guidelines are specific about features like heading styles, page formatting, line and paragraph spacing, and citation style, you should do your best to conform to these guidelines. An editor can — and often will — reject a paper before peer review when the author has clearly disregarded instructions for how to style their manuscript.
Finally, be sure you have fully anonymized your paper for peer review. A journal using a single-anonymized system may not require this, but it will be required in more cases than not. An editor may return a submission to you for changes if it contains identifying information, so handling this before submission will allow the editorial and peer review process to progress more quickly. Here’s a checklist for ensuring an anonymized submission:
Topic 4 References
Macdonell, Cameron. “The Ultimate Journal Article Submission Checklist.” Scribendi. N.d. https://www.scribendi.com/academy/articles/journal_article_submission_checklist.en.html.
Schrock, Andrew R. “How to Submit a Journal Article (and Get it Published!).” Medium. December 27, 2017. https://medium.com/@aschrock/how-to-submit-a-journal-article-48bbca709c70.
“Slide Deck: Manuscript Submission Checklist: Everything You Need to Consider Before Submission.” Editage Insights. May 08, 2015. https://www.editage.com/insights/manuscript-submission-checklist-everything-you-need-to-consider-before-submission.