processes involved in paper submission and publication are explained

1. By: A’zam Shams

2. Publishing research papers
 When the paper writing is finished and the authors consider
the paper to be worth publishing, the next step is to submit
it for publication (e.g. to a conference, a journal or a book
editor).
 The selective focus here is on journal articles and
conference papers.

3. Processes of Publishing a Journal Article
A) Identifying a target journal
B) Following the journal’s instructions
C) Submitting the paper
D) Understanding the decision process
E) Revising a paper
F) Answering queries
G) Reviewing proofs

5. A) Identifying a target journal
 After preparing a manuscript, your next step is to choose a
journal for the publication of your research.
 There are several criteria that should be considered in
accurately selecting a journal for manuscript submission.

6. Criteria 1
 The most common yet avoidable
reason for journal rejection is
mismatch between the manuscript
and the journal aims and scope. First,
determine whether the subject matter
of your article matches that of the
target journal. Consider the sort of
research that the journal focuses on.
Is it theoretical or applied?
Match between the subject of your article
and the journal's aim and scope.

7. Criteria 2
 What is the readership and target audience?
If your paper is highly
specialized or technical, you’ll
do better to publish in a
journal with a small but very
specific target audience.
Reaching the right readership
can sometimes be more
important than reaching a
wide readership.

8. Criteria 3
Is the journal highly visible?
Once your paper is published, it
should be easy to find by other
researchers. Journal visibility
plays an important role in this
regard.
Is the journal available online?
Publishing in journals that are
only circulated in print can
seriously limit the number of
people coming across or reading
your work.

9. Criteria 4
 What is the “CV value of publication”?
Some authors put a premium on journal
prestige. Here are some factors to consider.
Editorial board members. Prestigious
journals usually have eminent researchers as
members of their Editorial Board. Visit the
journal website to check the names on the
Editorial Board. Are the Board members
well-known in your field of study?
Journal sponsorship. Is the journal owned or
sponsored by a prestigious society in your
field?
What is the journal's impact factor? Don’t
just look at the actual impact factor, since
impact factor values vary by field. Consider
the impact factor relative to those of similar
journals within your field.

10. Criteria 5
 What is the journal’s turnaround time?
How many issues does the
journal publish in a year? A
monthly journal is much more
likely to review your article
quickly compared with a journal
that only publishes once a year.
Some journals list the date
submitted and date accepted.
Comparing these dates will give
an approximate idea of the
turnaround time.

11. Checklist for journal selection
 While you choose a journal for publication, you should
ensure the following:
Does the subject of your article match the journal's subject focus?
Does the journal accept the article type you intend to submit?
Is the journal read by your target audience?
Does the journal have an online edition?
Is the journal's impact factor in line with your requirements?
Is the journal regarded as a prestigious one in its field by colleagues and peers?
What is the turnaround time for articles submitted to the journal?
How many times a year is the journal published?
What are the publication charges?
Is the length and structure of your manuscript acceptable to the journal?

12. B) Following the journal’s instructions
 Read the instructions to authors before starting to
prepare your paper, regard them while preparing your
paper and check the them again before submitting your
paper.
 Look at some recent issues of the journal. Doing so can
help you gear your paper to the journal.

13. -What categories of article does the journal publish?
-What is the maximum length of articles?
-What is the maximum length of abstracts?
-Does the journal have a template for articles? If so, how can it be
accessed?
-What sections should the article include? What are the
guidelines for each?
-What guidelines should be followed regarding writing style?
-How many figures and tables are allowed? What are the
requirements for them?
-In what format should references appear? Is the a maximum
number of references?
-In what electronic format should the paper be prepared?
Some Questions the Instructions May Answer:

14. C. Submitting the Paper
 Traditional submission (by mail)
 Electronic submission
 Inclusion of a cover letter (conventional or
electronic)
 Completion of required forms

15. Letter for the submission
 Dear Editor
 Please regard my article titled : “Speech Acts and Language
Functions Found in Conversation Models ob Prospect 1” for
publication in your journal of “IJLLALW”. I undertake that my
article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
 I am looking forward to hearing from you at your earliest
convenience.
 Sincerely yours
 A’zam Shams MA

16. Some Categories of Editors at Journals
 The main roles (except authors) involved in the journal
editing and publishing process and their responsibilities
are as follows: (Helpful to know because you might
interact with each)
 Reviewer: Each journal has an editorial board that includes
a number of reviewers who are responsible for reviewing
submitted manuscripts assigned to them by an editor.
Having reviewed a paper, each reviewer independently
advises the editor whether to accept or reject the paper.
 Editor-in-chief: The most important function of an editor-
in-chief (can also be a group of persons) is to make the
final decision whether to accept or reject a submitted
 paper.

17.  Associate editor: In case a journal has a board of associate
editors, then for each submission an associate editor is
assigned as an intermediary between the authors, the
reviewers and the editor-in-chief. Associate editors handle
the communication with the corresponding authors and
they control the reviewing process, including the selection
of reviewers and processing of revisions. Based on the
reviewers’ recommendations, they make a
recommendation to the editor whether to accept or reject a
submitted manuscript.

18. Initial Screening by the Journal
For appropriateness of subject matter
For compliance with instructions
For overall quality (sometimes)

19. Dear author,
Thank you very much for considering the international
journal of language learning and applied linguistics world
to publish your research paper. Your paper will be checked
in terms of Plagiarism using www.Plagscan.com . If the
similarity is less than 20%, it will be sent to two reviewers.
You will receive the review result and further instructions
soon.
Best regards,
Article Submission

20. Peer Review
 Evaluation by experts in the field
 Purposes:
 To help the editor decide whether to publish the paper.
 To help the authors improve the paper, whether or not
the journal accepts it.

21. D) Understanding the decision process
 Based on the peer reviewers’ advice, the editor’s own
evaluation, the amount of space in the journal, other factors
 Options:
 Acceptance without revision (a rare event)
 Acceptance with minor revisions
 Revise (major changes – usually with additional experiments
required; Editor usually sends the revised manuscript back to
one or more of original reviewers)
 Reject (with encouragement to re-submit after extensive
revisions and addition of new experimental data to address
the flaws/issues in the original manuscript)
 Reject (submit to another journal)

22. review result
 I am writing with regard to the paper that you submitted for possible
publication in the international journal of language learning and
applied linguistics world (ijllalw). I am glad to inform you that based
on the reviewers’ comments your paper has been ACCEPTED to be
published in the current issue with minor revision required.
In order to receive the detailed review results and the comments of
both reviewers for the better enhancement of the manuscript, please
sign and send the copyright form along with the publication fee
payment not later than 2 days. You can pay the publication fee through
Pay Pal or Bank transfer. To pay the publication fee through Pay Pal,
please pay the fee (165 USD, 25 $ EXTRA AS PAYPAL TAX) to
ijllalw@gmail.com. If you wish to use bank transfer, please find the
necessary information in the attached file. For bank transfer, please
pay 170 USD (30 USD extra as the bank transfer commission).
Best regards,

23. E. Revising a Paper
 The goal is to improve the paper and get it
accepted for publication. So
 Revise and resubmit promptly.
 Include a letter saying what revisions were made. If
you received a list of requested revisions, address each
in the letter.
 If you disagree with a requested revision, explain why
in your letter. Try to find a different way to solve the
problem the editor or reviewer identified.

24. review details
 Dear author,
Thank you very much for paying the publication fee. Attached you can find the review result
for the paper that you submitted to the IJLLALW. The reviewers may have made some changes
in RED. Please, use the attached file to revise your paper. Please
1) Insert your paper in the journal template and format the paper as mentioned in the review
details form.
2) Highlight your changes in BLUE so that we can easily find out what revisions you have
made.
3) After highlighting the changes in the main paper in BLUE, you should complete the
REVIEW CHECKLIST and send it to the journal with the final revised paper inserted in the
template. In the REVIEW CHECKLIST, in every section including the abstract, introduction
and …you should explain in short, how you have answered the reviewers’
comments (if any comment has been given).
4) Refer to the review result form for further possible comments.
5) Send the revised version (with changes highlighted in BLUE) and the cover letter not later
than 5 days.
6) The final version should only be sent in word file.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:
AFTER THE FINAL SUBMISSION, THE PAPER WILL BE PUBLISHED AND INDEXED
SOON. ANY CORRECTIONS IN THE NAMES OR AFFILIATIONS OF THE AUTHORS
AFTER THE PAPER IS PUBLISHED RESULTS IN MULTIPLE UPLOADING OF THE SAME
MATERIAL WHICH COSTS THE JOURNAL 40 USD. THIS AMOUNT SHOULD BE PAID BY
THE AUTHORS. Best regards,

25. F. Answering Queries
 Queries: questions from the manuscript editor
 Some topics of queries:
 Inconsistencies
 Missing information
 Ambiguities
 Other
 Advice: Respond promptly, politely, and completely yet
concisely.

26. G. Reviewing proofs
 After acceptance, authors are sent proofs of their
manuscript but only changes to the title, author list,
spelling, grammar, formatting, or scientific errors will be
permitted. All corrections must be approved by the
publishing team.
 When all editorial issues are resolved, your paper will be
formally accepted for publication.

27. Final Step
First, Celebrate Publication of Your Paper!
Then: Some journals publish the paper
online as a PDF file of the final
manuscript that was accepted for
publication (days to weeks).

28. final revised paper & review checklist
 Dear author,
I am glad to inform you that your paper has been
published now. Many thanks once again for considering
the international journal of language learning and
applied linguistics world as an academic place to share
your latest findings with other scholars.
Best regards,

29. Do’s and Don’ts When Submitting Papers
 Do look into whether the journal has page charges or
submission fees, or fees for color illustrations or photos, or
reprint charges.
 Do prepare a cover letter for your paper including the name
of the manuscript , the names of the authors, academic
degree, position, affiliation, the address, telephone number,
e-mail address.
 Don’t interpret the editor’s decision letter too literally.
Usually there are qualifiers in the decision letter like: “We
can only accept your paper after major revisions” or “Your
paper is not acceptable in its current form. Should you
choose to revise your paper….”. These are generally
statements that are leaving the door open for you to revise,
rebut and resubmit.

30. Processes of Publishing a Conference Paper
 The review system at scientific conferences is quite similar
to the journal paper review system, at least in computer
science. Nevertheless, there are some differences in the
publishing process, which are explained in this section.
Generally, papers published in conference proceedings do
not have a reputation as high as journal papers. This is
particularly true for the natural and social sciences.
 Several months before the conference date, the conference
 chairs issue a call for papers (often referred to as ‘CFP’ in
both written and oral
 communications) to invite authors to submit papers to be
published in the conference
 proceedings and to be presented at the conference venue.

31. CFP information
 The CFP, which can normally be downloaded from the
conference website, comprises the following information:
 Title, acronym and venue: for example, Eighth European
Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning (EC-TEL 2013),
Paphos, Cyprus.
 General information/theme: this section can be found on most
CFPs describing the scope or special theme of the conference,
i.e. putting the main topic of the conference in the light of
current developments.
 Topics of interest: encloses a list of topics of particular interest
for the respective conference’s subject area. During the
submission process in the conference management system, the
author usually has to select a subset of the topics that best fit
the submission. This selection is mostly relevant for assigning
peer reviewers, who also select a subset of the conference
topics as their area of expertise.

32.  Submission guidelines: most CFPs comprise a section where general
guidelines for
submissions are communicated to the authors. Additionally, if the
conference proceedings are published by a well-established publisher,
the publisher is also mentioned in the CFP.
 Deadlines: this section lists a number of deadlines to be met by
authors. Typically,
 these include at least:
 Submission deadline: this is the deadline for submitting the complete
paper. There are also some conferences that initially require an
extended abstract for various reasons (e.g. pre-selection or paper
bidding by the program committee) and then a full paper
submission. Most submission deadlines are firm, whereas failure to
meet the deadline results irreversibly in not being considered for
presentation and/or publication. Since conferences take place in
different time zones, the exact submission deadline has to be taken
into account by the authors. Since most conferences are annual
events, researchers in the community know well in advance when
paper will be due for submission.

33.  Notification date: this is the date when the author is notified of
acceptance or rejection. The notification date given is often not very
accurate, as the program committee cannot anticipate the number of
submissions, to mention one reason; also, the peer reviewers often fail
to submit their reviews on time. Thus, the review process may take
longer than expected. Conferences that use peer review to decide
whether a submission should be accepted or not typically emit one of
only two messages to each submitting author at the notification date:
 – Accept: the paper has been accepted and will be published in the
conference proceedings. However, reviewers may have suggested
minor modifications to be incorporated in the published paper.
Usually, acceptance letters (or mails) sent by organizers include the
invitation (typically the obligation) to orally present the paper at the
conference. This is a very good opportunity to receive immediate
feedback in discussions with peers after the presentation.
 – Reject: the paper was rejected and will not be published in the
conference proceedings. Most reviewers supply valuable comments to
authors on how to improve the rejected paper. Unlike journals, most
conferences do not consider the option of asking authors for revision.
Papers are normally either accepted or rejected right away.

34.  Some conferences implement a rebuttal process, which
allows authors to respond to the reviews before a final
decision is made. The reviewers may then elect to change
their reviews based on the arguments brought forth by
authors during the rebuttal period. This can go either way,
i.e. result in lower or higher scores.
 Depending on the reputation of the conference and the
response to the call for papers, the acceptance rate will vary
significantly among different conferences. Most serious
conferences disclose the acceptance rate in the preface to the
proceedings and/or on their website. The top conferences in
computer science usually have an acceptance rate of 10–15%
or lower. Most other conferences with a good reputation will
typically accept no more than one quarter of the
submissions.

35.  Camera-ready paper deadline: in case of acceptance, this is the
submission deadline for ‘camera-ready’ papers, i.e. final versions
to be included in the conference proceedings. At some
conferences, failure to meet this deadline may result in the
accepted paper not being included in the conference
proceedings.
 As with journals, it is vital to meet all deadlines and to comply
with all guidelines (such as paper formatting instructions). See
Figure 4 for an example of the ‘important dates’ section in the
website of the Eighth European Conference on Technology
Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2013. Note that in this example the
submission deadline was extended once. Such extensions of the
submission deadline are common, yet not a rule.
 Other information: Other information of interest, e.g. call for
workshops to be collocated with the conference, tutorials, panel
discussion proposals, demonstrations and information on
sponsors, publisher, invited speakers.

37. What is an Impact Factor ?
 A journal’s “impact factor” is an annual measure of the
extent to which articles in that journal are cited.

38. ISI Journals and Impact Factors
 The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was
founded by Eugene Garfield in 1960. It was acquired by
Thomson Scientific & Healthcare in 1992, became
known as Thomson ISI.
 ISI publishes the annual Journal Citation Reports
(JCR) which list the Impact Factor for the journals.
 A list of over 14,000 journals is maintained by the ISI.

39. Why submit to an ISI Journal?
 If published: better visibility, higher credibility, good
incentive
 If rejected: valuable experience with free useful reviews.
 If your paper is of high quality but submitted to a non-ISI
journal, you have wasted a rare chance

40. What makes a paper publishable in
ISI journals?
 Title: interesting and new.
 Relevant literature –why this research is important and what is the
missing information.
 Presents new knowledge (novelty).
 Methodology clearly explained.
 Professional presentation and followed guidelines to authors.
 Fall under fields (s) prescribed by the journal.
 Good English: clarity