Publishing in Journals

Publishing research results in refereed scholarly journals has long been a hallmark of success for researchers. These contributions to the literature have served as traditional avenues for researchers to share their results with colleagues. In the near future, NIDRR’s indicators for the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) will attach special significance to publishing articles in refereed journals as a demonstration of NIDRR’s overall performance (B. J. Berland, personal communication, May 6, 1999).

Publishing articles in refereed journals achieves the following goals:

• Fosters scientific rigor. Publication in refereed journals adds status to the research information, and to the source of the information, since the inclusion of an article is the result of scrutiny by experts in the field who signify that the research information is significant and the data have passed their critical evaluation.
• Validates research strategies. Acceptance by experts indicates that the research information is original, useful, and provides valuable new knowledge.
• Facilitates replication of research studies and generalizability of results. Journal articles generally provide in-depth and complex information that may serve as a basis upon which other researchers may conduct similar research or directly apply the research information to real world situations.
• Improves accountability. Publishing in refereed journals has been the classical means by which academicians account for their research activities to their institutions. Journal publishing can provide accountability to stakeholders who review the researcher’s publications to determine whether they are a credible source of information.

Submitting a manuscript to a scholarly journal does not mean it will be published, as many journals have very high rejection rates. The American Psychological Association (APA) publishes 25 journals and 2 special journals. The average rejection rate for APA journals was 73 percent in 1997. This ranged from 3 smaller journals with rejection rates of 31-54 percent and circulation of less than 2,000, to 17 larger journals with rejection rates of 72-96 percent and circulation from over 3,000 to over 10,000. American Psychologist, a special journal with over 110,000 subscribers, rejected 78 percent of the manuscripts submitted in 1997 (APA, 1998).

Several NIDRR grantees have asked the NCDDR to share information helpful to increasing the acceptance of articles for publication. NCDDR staff contacted editors of journals that have published articles by grantees and staff members of grantees with a successful publishing record. In these discussions, editors and authors were asked for suggestions that could be shared with NIDRR grantees to enhance successful writing for journal publication.

Tips for Journal Article Submissions

In selecting articles for publication, editors consider the importance of the subject, scientific merit, research methodology, quality of writing, interest to their readership and its fit with the journal’s mission. Successful articles in refereed journals are viewed by editors as having original, well-conceived hypotheses, and maintaining high levels of internal, ecological, and external validity. Two editors, Dr. Barbara Uzell of Applied Neuropsychology and Mr. Bradley Johns of the American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, agree that the author of a publishable article must:

• Use sound research methods and contribute something new to the field. Editors initially look for a sound scientific method that fits with the review of literature. If nothing new is found, it may be difficult to find a journal with interest in publishing the article.
• Choose a journal that is consistent with the type of information and research topic of the article. Authors should review journals that relate to their research topics and match their submission to journals that include similar content. In some fields, particular journals may include more theoretical articles or position papers, whereas other journals may present basic or applied research articles.
• Prepare the article according to the journal’s preferred style. Submission guidelines are available upon request from the journal’s publisher and many journals provide them in each year’s first edition. Also, many journals post their guidelines on their Web sites. Authors need to acquire, review, and follow these guidelines when developing their submissions. If, for example, the references are prepared in the wrong style, the editor will know immediately that the author failed to look carefully at the journal’s requirements.
• Write and rewrite the article as many times as necessary to achieve a clear and flowing text. Authors may circulate drafts to colleagues for an internal review to assist in developing clarity of the concepts, as well as figures and graphs. The assistance of an editor or someone with an English or grammar background can be useful to ensure the quality of the writing.
• Include a concise abstract that gives the reader an accurate picture of the article’s content. Many editors consider the abstract the most important part of an article, since some readers will read only the abstract, while others will read the abstract to see if they want to read the article.
  A well-written abstract should:
  1. state the principal objectives and scope of the investigation,
  2. describe the methods employed,
  3. summarize the results, and
  4. state the principal conclusions (Day, 1994, p. 30).

In writing an abstract, every word should be carefully thought out and every sentence should clearly describe an important aspect of the research (B. Uzell, personal communication, June 23, 1998; B. Johns, personal communication, June 26, 1998).

Tips from a Successful Grantee

The Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC) has a successful track record of publishing articles in a variety of journals. Dr. Jerry C. Parker, Co-Director and Director of Research, discussed a number of key elements in MARRTC’s research and publication process.

• Maintain core staff. Perhaps the most important foundation for success in research and publishing is working with research assistants and other key people so that they stay with projects over time and build long-term expertise in database and research systems. Paying attention to the positive effects of longevity pays dividends in the quality of research performance. This requires strong institutional support.
• Emphasize project design at the beginning. Researchers should invest time and energy in designing well-conceptualized projects with a minimum of "front-end-flaws," keeping in mind potential reviewer concerns before beginning a research project. MARRTC has designed a number of studies that yield both primary data for an initial article and secondary data for subsequent articles.
• Create a research culture and close working relationships. Developing research teams for each project, with cooperative activities assigned to each team member, helps establish a strong research culture. Providing collaborative and accessible resources will help each team complete tasks on time. Teams with minimal vertical hierarchy will encourage maximum cooperation. Scheduling meetings to monitor the status of projects allows each team to make necessary changes, keep abreast of each person’s work, and provide a forum for critiques and suggestions. Utilize the insight and intuition of research participants by including them as team members.
• Monitor projects closely and set expectations for productivity. Research teams should develop project timelines with key objectives to be attained by defined, but flexible, dates. The Research Director may monitor each project according to its timeline and assist in developing strategies to alleviate slippage.
• Keep the paper moving. Identifying specific staff members with time allotted to facilitate the process of developing manuscripts is important to keep a paper moving. For example, MARRTC has a typist whose first priority is preparing and revising manuscripts. If staff members have to try to ‘work in’ time for articles, things may slow down and the process may become more cumbersome.
• Edit the paper rigorously. Since clarity of the paper is of utmost importance, researchers and other staff need to work together to effectively edit the paper. Development of an editing sequence and structure facilitates the editing process, so that authors know exactly who and what processes the paper must go through. An editing structure eliminates duplication and confusion in bringing the paper to a final form. It is also beneficial to have a person with extensive publishing experience review the paper for sentence structure, wording, and grammar.
• Target a journal carefully. Choosing a journal that is consistent with the topic and preparing the article according to the journal’s style cannot be overemphasized. Authors increase the chances that their articles will be selected for publication in a specific journal when they ensure that the article meets specific selection criteria.
• Make responsive revisions. When an article is returned for revisions or in some cases, rewriting, the author should look constructively at the reviews and attend to the reviewers’ comments by making changes to meet their concerns (J. C. Parker, personal communication, June 26, 1998).

New Roles and Opportunities

Choosing an appropriate journal and carefully following the author guidelines are critical to a successful submission. Several grantees employ a dissemination specialist to oversee the development of all publications, and to help focus staff efforts. A dissemination specialist may work closely with both researchers and clerical staff to develop final drafts for submission.
Current publishing activities maintain a tradition of rigorous peer review and concern for quality. New challenges to this tradition are emerging with electronic and online publishing. These challenges provide opportunities to improve and, in some cases, streamline the peer review process as well as increase the availability of research information through both print and online journals.

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