I’m sure supervisors, academics, and lecturers have been
asked many times on how to publish a paper. There are of course many ways to
answer this question. A simple Google search will reveal the many tips, steps,
guidelines, and the likes that people have used as their best-practice model
for publishing an academic paper. I am still learning too but in response to a
similar question received recently, I shared a simple guide that I’ve followed
and found helpful:
- While working on a paper and writing the literature review, I make a note of the journals where papers that are similar to the one I am drafting are published.
- Then, I shortlist a few journals that are relevant to the paper that I am writing. For each journal, I look at their aims and objectives, and choose the one that matches my paper.
- Next, I download a few recent papers or most cited papers from that journal and read them carefully to understand their writing style.
- At the same time, I will read through the journal’s 'Instruction to Author' (usually on their website). This is important because I want to make sure that the paper adheres to the journal’s formatting and writing style and its author’s guidelines.
- Next, I will draft, reorganise, and rewrite the paper according to the journal’s writing style, author’s guidelines, and aims/objectives. In whatever journals, we have to write and emphasise that the paper is about something new (theoretical novelty, practical novelty, or/and methodological novelty).
- Once the paper is sufficiently written and proofread, I will write a personalised cover letter to the Editors. Online or traditional submission almost always require a cover letter, so this, too, has to be written properly.
This guide works for me - it may work for you too.