submitting journal articles

As you've probably discovered, when academia and bureaucracy walk hand in hand, their progress is best described as glacial. When you're dealing with journals, keep in mind they're led by talented academics (who, by definition, already have quite a bit on their plates) who've assumed a significant, additional responsibility. Patience will be your best friend.

 

Generally, the review process entails the following steps:

 

• You submit your article electronically through the journal's website, or by attaching it to an e-mail.

 

• The editor(s) will generally send a form response, assuming the submission system doesn't do so automatically. This response will generally suggest a rough timeline for the process. In the case of special issues with specific deadlines, rather than the rolling deadlines for regular issues, you'll have a better idea of when decisions will be made.

 

• Your paper will be assigned to an editor, or, frequently, to an editorial assistant (often a graduate student at the editor's home institution). This first line of review will sort the submissions into a variety of categories, ranging from "ready for external review" to "needs minor/major revisions" to "how many 'p's in 'appalling'?"

 

• Those in the last category will receive a polite rejection, perhaps with a word or two of why the piece isn't right for the journal. Ironically, these authors often have the shortest wait to agonize over the fate of their papers.

 

• For those in the second category, comments from the editorial assistant and/or editors will be e-mailed to the author, along with an invitation to "revise and resubmit." This process can take several months.

 

• Those whose work is promising enough, and in a sufficiently-polished state, will be sent to external reviewers, stripped of any identifying information about the author. Often, authors are given the opportunity to suggest potential reviewers when they first submit (see handling feedback). 

 

• The external reviewers (generally two) will send comments, usually detailed, on your work, along with a recommendation to accept or reject. After reading the reviewer's remarks, the editor may: solicit an additional review; forward the comments to the author with an opportunity to "revise and resubmit"; or reject the piece. Generally, this process, too, will take several months. Those who are asked to revise and resubmit will generally have their revisions sent back to the same external reviewer(s) for comment.

 

• Once a piece has been accepted and revised, it will be sent to a copy-editor, who will work with you on preparing it for publication.

 

• Bottom line: the entire process - from first submitting to being assigned to an issue - typically takes 6-12 months, and a piece may not actually be published for another 3-6 months after that. If your initial response after submitting a piece included no indication of a timeline, it's appropriate to send a friendly e-mail asking for an update on the status of your submission after 6-8 weeks.