The document provides essential guidance for researchers preparing to publish their work, including common terminology, types of journals, and types of publishable material. It outlines the typical publication process, challenges faced during submission, reasons for rejection, and tips for improving acceptance rates. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of publishing for career advancement and contributions to the scientific community.

1. What you need to
know before
publishing
10/25/2021 What you need to know before publishing
Enuh Blaise Manga Ph.D(c)
Biotechnology and Biosafety
Enuh B. Manga
enuhblaise
Blaisonyl_0
Enuh Blaise
www.enuhblaise.com
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2. Why bother about
publishing?
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Answer at end?

3. Common Jargon
• Open Access
• Indexing
• Peer-review
• Paper/Manuscript/Article
/Publication
• Journal
• Editor/Editorial board
• Reviewer
• Citation
• Impact Factor
• Quarter
• Licensing and rights
• (Hirsch) H-index
• i10-index
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4. What is a Journal
• A journal is a scholarly publication containing articles
written by researchers, professors and other experts.
Journals focus on a specific discipline or field of study. Unlike
newspapers and magazines, journals are intended for an
academic or technical audience, not general readers.
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5. Requirements for publication
People related
Journal related
Content related
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6. Common types of journals
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7. Types of publishable material
• Jump to section
• Book review
• Case report
• Clinical study
• Commentaries
• Conference
materials
• Data notes
• Datasets
• Letters & Short
Reports
• Posters & Slides
• Registered reports
• Research article
• Review article
• Software tool articles
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8. 10/25/2021 What you need to know before publishing

9. Typical path (example from PloS)
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10. When, what, who and how
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11. Common challenges
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12. 10/25/2021 What you need to know before publishing AOPL Webinar
Common reasons for rejection

13. • Plagiarism: The writers have the primary
responsibility for plagiarism prevention. It is critical to
develop the ability to write any manuscript in one's own
words and to substantiate quotes with proper
references when using relevant evidence.
• The consequences of plagiarism could range from
disciplinary charges such as retraction of the article to
criminal charges.
• Language: One of the important limitations to
publication is the problem of writing in English.
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14. How to deal with rejection
10/25/2021 What you need to know before publishing
• Assuming you have a something
publishable ready
• Up to more than 90% rejection rate
possible for some journals.
• Even Nobel prize winners get rejections

15. 10/25/2021 What you need to know before publishing
• Then did winning the Nobel Prize
improve your acceptance rate with
journals?
• I don’t think it made any difference. If
anything, journal editors and reviewers
possibly became stricter. Incidentally, my last
paper, of which I am rather proud actually,
was published in Science, but was rejected
without a review by Nature. I am not too
surprised about this, because things are so
specialized these days
• Part of an interview extract on editage.com

16. “The most amusing letter I received from a journal was about the work
that eventually got me the Nobel Prize. The editor said something to the
effect that the journal would publish my paper, but ‘in nothing like its
present form’. I had to rewrite it completely and without any new data:
the editor found the first version to be way over the top and euphoric. To
tell the truth, I knew that I’d made an important discovery, but I failed to
explain it effectively.”
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17. Tips
• 1. Do not rush submitting your article for publication.
• 2. Select an appropriate publication outlet.
• 3. Read the aims and scope and author guidelines of your
target journal carefully.
• 4. Make a good first impression with your title and abstract.
• 5. Have a professional editing firm copy-edit (not just
proofread) your manuscript, including the main text, list of
references, tables and figures.
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18. Responding to reviewers
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19. • Do's:
• a) Find a clinically relevant unusual phenomenon/concept in a usual entity or vice versa.
• b) Do a literature search on the same and confirm uniqueness of your study/concept.
• c) Find out which journals have published such reports/studies. Select an appropriate journal based on
this knowledge.
• d) Plan your study/manuscript well.
• e) Strictly follow the instructions to author for a particular journal.
• f) Keep ethical issues in mind.
• g) Be crisp and to the point.
• h) Prepare your manuscript in separate files like: Cover page, certificate from authors, Title page,
Manuscript without author's details, Legends, Images/photographs/tables etc depending on the
journal's requirement.
• i) Keep high resolution images/photographs/graphics with appropriate annotations ready for
uploading. Keep the number of images especially color images to absolutely essential ones. Remember,
color images/photographs increase cost of printing significantly.
• j) Pay particular attention to syntax and grammar. Wrong spellings, sentence structure and grammar
tend to exasperate the reviewers.
• k) Pay attention to the reference style, photographs/images and legends.
• l) Read your manuscript several times before you make it final.
• m) Get your manuscript critically reviewed by your colleagues before you upload it.
• n) Have perseverance and be persistent.
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20. Dont's:
• Use unethical means
• Plagiarize in any form and extent
• Disclose patient's identity by any means.
• Loose heart at the beginning if your article is rejected or
unfavorable comments are given by reviewers. Have a positive
outlook for criticisms and comments by reviewers and improve
your manuscript accordingly.
• Do not submit the manuscript in more than one journal at a time.
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21. Try not to get rejected
• Tell a story: Believe it or not, a scientific paper tells a story.
• Write first, edit later
• Choose the right journal
• Explain why your work is important
• A picture is worth a thousand words
• Read, Read, Read
• If at first, you don't succeed.
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22. Believe it or not
Journals want to publish as well
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23. • Considering all this, do I really need to publish? You may be asking
yourself.
• Here are some few reasons
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24. • The act of putting your research to paper will help you clarify your goals for
the research, will help you in reviewing and interpreting your own data and
force you to compare your work with that of others.
• Peer review gives you important feedback on the validity of your research
approach, and can provide insight on next steps for advancing and
interpreting your work.
• Communicating the information that you have found will help other
researchers advance their work, thus building on the body of knowledge that
exists in your field.
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25. • Writing and publishing puts your research into larger context.
• Your published paper can help in the public understanding of a research
question.
• Having a robust body of published works helps advance your career as you
are considered for academic appointments and promotions.
• Publishing helps establish you as an expert in your field of knowledge.
• Peer-reviewed publication provides evidence that helps in the evaluation of
merit of research funding requests.
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26. Thank you for listening
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27. References
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02404-4
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5405644/
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4388989/
• https://www.scientifica.uk.com/neurowire/7-tips-to-get-your-first-paper-published-in-a-
journal
• https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-02404-4
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