The best research projects always start with a thorough review of related academic literature. This will help you pinpoint your own research, and it will help you see if someone else has already researched the same subject.
- Write the paper.
- Find internal reviewers to make sure you haven’t made any mistakes and to help anticipate objections.
- Find a well-regarded journal that publishes in the area of your research.
- Make sure to cite that journal in your review a few times to demonstrate that your paper is suitable.
- Journals usually have websites where you submit your paper. Go to their website and they will give you advice about the format of your article. This can usually be found under “author guidelines”.
- Make sure your paper is written in perfect academic English.
- Be sure to follow their advice so you don’t get rejected.
- Submit in the way the journal tells you to do.
- Wait for reviews and a decision.
- If you are asked to revise and resubmit, be certain to address all reviewer concerns as best as you can and do the revise as quickly as possible.
- Resubmit.
Only a small proportion, 5 to 10%, of papers are accepted the first time they are submitted, and usually they are only accepted subject to revision. In fact, anything apart from a “reject” is a positive review. These include:
- Accept: Which almost nobody gets.
- Accept with revision: Make some minor changes.
- Revise and resubmit: They’re still interested in you.
- Reject and resubmit: They still want the paper.
Read every criticism as a positive suggestion for something you could explain more clearly.
Impact factor of a journal
Impact factor is still and important metric. It indicates how many people on average are likely to read your article published in that journal. So a journal with higher impact factor will attract more readers and more citations.
