Maximising your chances of getting published
Refine your submission to perfection
#EditorObservations 06 Refine your submission to perfection (YouTube, 1m 26s)
The originality and significance of the research question under investigation is probably the single most important factor that determines if a newly submitted manuscript is desk rejected or passed on to experts for detailed evaluation. Yet, sometimes, brilliant studies are unreadable. They are diamonds in the rough, and that can make it very difficult for them to move successfully towards publication. The best way to do your study justice is to spend a lot of time refining the manuscript.
The manuscript must be easy to read. This is best achieved by avoiding acronyms, writing simple, short sentences, offering examples and illustrations, including a small number of meaningful figures, and making sure the article is free of grammatical and typographical errors. A good habit is to team up with colleagues and agree to read each other’s manuscripts before they are submitted. Someone who has never seen the manuscript before will be able to provide a much more objective assessment of the flow of the narrative and will also spot those errors authors are already blind to.
The #editorobservations in this section illustrate a wide variety of ways in which the manuscript can be polished to ensure it is identified as a gem.
#editorobservation
Myth
Impress editors/reviewers with long complicated sentences, technical terms and words they need to google.
Reality
If we can’t understand, our readers will not understand. We must reject.
Tips
Use short, simple sentences.
Avoid technical terms and acronyms.
#editorobservation
Article titles matter. They matter a lot.
Optimally, the title of an article contains the key finding. If that’s not possible, the title should at least tell the reader what the study is about.
Confusing titles confuse editors-in-chief and associate editors, which increases the risk of desk rejection.
Confusing titles confuse reviewers, which increases the chance of rejection.
Confusing titles reduce the likelihood of other scholars identifying the article as relevant to their work, which reduces the influence of the study.
I looked through my publication list to find some examples. The green titles below I am happy with; I believe these are well-worded article titles. The red title is a bit of a disaster, really. It is a study that provides empirical proof for the best survey response format in the context of destination image measurement. But you’d never know, would you.
#editorobservation
Abstracts matter.
Writing an abstract is not merely ticking a box in the manuscript submission process. Rather, the abstract is your main sales pitch. When crafted well, the abstract attracts the editor’s (or reviewer’s or reader’s) attention; makes them curious and interested. If poorly written, readers will probably stop reading right there and editors and reviewers need to be won back through the rest of the paper, which is much harder than winning them over from the get go.
A good abstract succinctly explains the problem and the solution, mentioning only briefly the research design. A good abstract uses simple language (tame your LLMs, authors 😉), short sentences and is punchy, rather than being longwinded, technical and academic.
#editorobservation
I think I am having one of those bad editor days.
#editorobservation
Readability is ease of understanding due to writing style.
In 2015, 75% of articles published in Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management and the Journal of Travel Research were “very difficult” to read (see The readability of articles in tourism journals).
I am afraid ChatGPT and its friends are making things worse. I now routinely receive “totally unreadable” manuscripts; they are littered with unnecessarily complicated language (possibly to impress?).
So, a new tip for authors keen to publish their work: make sure that readers understand what you are trying to say.
#editorobservation
As researchers we tend to get quite excited about every aspect of our findings.
But discussing every aspect in detail and providing a figure and a table about it overwhelms editors, reviewers and readers who are desperately trying to pinpoint the most important, the most exciting contribution.
A more promising strategy is to assist readers by distilling the key contribution, focusing the discussion on this contribution and including only one excellent figure that conveys it well.
#editorobservation
Manuscript readability skyrockets when authors commit to trimming papers to perfection. My first drafts always look like out-of-control hedges.
Untidy branches poking out everywhere – not pretty!
Those hedges need a lot of pruning to make them look neat and tidy.
#editorobservation
Great tips, @scientistswrite!
Features of poor article titles:
- Too long
- Too detailed
- Unspecific
- Noun-heavy
- Use filler words
- Contain acronyms
- Use jargon unsuitable for target audience
- Do not adhere to journal guidelines.
#editorobservation
In some submissions I can almost physically feel the author’s publication pressure – how existential it is for them to publish
Often unavoidable – always heartbreaking – to desk reject
#editorobservation
More is not always merrier
More tables + figures in an article do not make readers + reviewers merrier
Best to choose one key insight and develop one UNFORGETTABLE illustration
Other tables + figures: delete or move to supplementary materials
#editorobservation
Authors ask for reasons when their paper is rejected.
Sometimes it’s hard to give feedback without being perceived as rude.
This paper started with a title that had no spaces between words 🤨
and ended with a dog’s breakfast of a reference list 😭.
#editorobservation
Apologies for this trivial #editorobservation
When submitting an article to a journal, avoid typos in the first sentence of the abstract
The (possibly wrong) impression of sloppiness and lack of attention to detail lingers as the editor evaluates the full manuscript.
#editorobservation
Sad editor day😢
Please submit to Annals of Tourism Research your best articles: the coolest new tourism research ideas investigated using the simplest valid research design and presented so compellingly that my eyes are glued to the screen in anticipation of your findings.
#editorobservation
As publication pressure increases, so does the temptation to cut corners.
I see more and more submissions that I consider unfinished – in need of some serious polishing.
Submitting prematurely reduces publication chances and damages author reputation – lose lose.
#editorobservation
It is a very good investment of the authors’ time to carefully proofread the entire manuscript before submitting it to a journal.
