Academic Writing Month: How Does Academic Publishing Work?

Publish or perish is a phrase that we have all heard. It means that for an academician to stay relevant and climb the ladder in their field, they need to publish articles in scholarly journals. Scholarly journals are peer-reviewed. Peer reviewing is the process that allows other experts in the field to evaluate the quality of a work and give their feedback on a manuscript for publication. When other researchers are looking for articles relevant to their work, they will look specifically for articles that are published in peer-reviewed journals. Therefore, the best way to stay relevant in the researching world is by publishing in scholarly journals (University of Colorado, n.d.)

There is a lot that goes on in the scholarly publishing world. Usually, the first step to getting published is to submit a manuscript to a relevant journal (learn more about finding what journals are relevant here). Authors must ensure that the legitimacy of their work stands up to scientific critique. After the submission goes through, an editor will determine whether the manuscript should be sent to be reviewed by the editorial board. The editor will want the paper to express sufficient merit and relevance. In this part of the process, the author may either receive a rejection letter or the paper will be sent to reviewers. If the paper makes it to the reviewing process, the reviewers will look through the paper and send their comments and recommendations to the editor. Then, the editor will send the author either a rejection letter or will send the paper back with recommended revisions. The author is then expected to make the recommended revisions and then resubmit it to the editor (University of Colorado, n.d.). Learn more about the process of revising and resubmitting here.

The final part of the process comes after the author resubmits their paper with the revisions. When the editor receives the revised version, they will either send it back to the reviewers or make the decision to either accept or reject the manuscript. If accepted, the author will be able to provide editing and proofing of the final copy before the article gets published. Eventually, the paper will be published in a scholarly journal (University of Colorado, n.d.).

This process may seem tedious and long, but it is important to ensure the validity of the information presented in the article being published. Academic and scholarly publishers are expected to only publish valid, scientifically-sound papers. The process of peer-reviewing and editing helps with the validation of scientific findings. By doing this, the integrity of scientific knowledge is upheld, and the science being published in journals can be trusted, as readers know that it has been reviewed by other experts in the field and has gone through a rigorous process (Schiff, 2017).

Publishers formally state that they are committed to supporting public discourse and to presenting scientifically sound data. They are expected to validate and publish peer-reviewed data whether it is consistent with the current knowledge and assumptions or not (Schiff, 2017).

As publishing is an important pillar of building a standout research profile, it is paramount to make use of available author services, many of which are available on the eContent Pro website. Services such as English Language Copyediting, Scientific and Scholarly Copyediting, Journal Selection, and many other related services will greatly improve your chances of getting your manuscript accepted into a journal. You will find eContent Pro’s author services to be top quality, turned around exceptionally quickly, and affordably priced. Here are what our satisfied customers are saying about eContent Pro Author Services: