The Basic “Rule of Thumb”, Essay Example

Outline the basic “rule of thumb” that researchers follow when formatting a manuscript for publication.

When formatting a manuscript for publication, it is important to first research the journals that you will be submitting to. Each journal typically has unique submission requirements and it is necessary to ensure that these are met to enhance the likelihood that the article will be selected for publication. Therefore, it is advisable to make a list of the top three journals that are desired for publication, and to be aware of the requirements from each. It is essential however, to upload research ethics, that the manuscript only be submitted to one journal at a time. The highest ranking journal should therefore be selected for submission ahead of the others. If the manuscript is rejected by this journal, it is then permissible to submit to a different journal. To ensure that a manuscript will be submitted the second or third time, it is important to select a journal that is considered either to be on the same level as the one that rejected the manuscript or one with a slightly lesser reputation.

The next important consideration when formatting a manuscript is that different journals typically require different word limits, number of images, quality of images, and page formats. It is essential to determine these specific requirements and alter the manuscript to meet them. Occasionally, this may mean altering key content if the original manuscript overshot the word limit. However, it is important to not be dissuaded by this process and the researcher must be willing to write several versions of the same work according to the requirements of each journal of interest. This editing process may include increasing or lowering the quality of images, shortening the length of the work, and possibly consulting additional professionals to ensure that under their opinion, the journal requirements have been met.

Although many journals use APA as the standard method for citations, some journals use their own variation of this citation method and it is important to be aware of this. An easy way to ensure that citations can be changed quickly and easily to the journal’s format of interest is by using formatting programs like EndNote. Since many citations are typically needed in the manuscript, it would be extremely time consuming to change all of these sources by hand.

A final consideration that is important when publishing a manuscript is that you may receive it back before the journal agrees to publish it. Typically, the potential journal article is reviewed by several experts in the field who ultimately decide if the manuscript is ready to be published or not. It is important to consider that a request for edits does not mean that the article is unfit for publication. Rather, professionals in the field may feel that additional analyses and discussions are needed to significantly contribute to research in the area. Therefore, they may write back to the author with additional comments and recommendations that are expected to be added to the manuscript before resubmission. It is assumed that the author will follow this advice if he or she wishes the manuscript to be published. It is possible that after this revision process, the review team will still ask the author to make edits, and it is important to do this to ensure that the article has the highest chance of being published.