4 Submission and Peer Review
Your manuscript and all other materials are finalized. Now you’re ready to submit!
4.1 Before you submit
4.1.2 Write a cover letter
Cover letters are an opportunity to describe to the journal’s editors what your manuscript adds to the literature and a why it’s good fit for their journal. [expand]
Some journals require cover letters, some do not.
4.1.3 Assemble your materials
Manuscript Tables and figures Supplementary information Meta data for the study
If you’ve followed the steps in this Handbook, you should already have most of the information the journal will ask for in your Project Log.
Conflicts of interest declaration
Journals will typically ask that you suggest peer reviewers. [suggestiosn for this]
4.2 Article preprints
[what they are, advantages/things to consider, what to expect when submitting (minimal screening)]
4.3 Submitting to a peer reviewed journal journal
Typically, the system will generate a PDF proof with all of your materials. Give it one final look, verify that everything is there that you uploaded the correct drafts, properly formatted. If everything looks good–hit submit.
Congratulations!
Send an email update to your co-authors, attach the auto-generated PDF proof, and let them know you’ll keep them in the loop about the journal’s decision.
4.4 How peer review works
[editors review articles, make a decision as to whether to send to peer reviewers] [typically several peer reviewers…] [be prepared for this to be a slow process…]
4.4.1 Types of editorial decisions
- Desk rejection. The editors made a decision to reject your paper without sending it on to peer reviewers. Sorry. This is common, don’t sweat it, just move on and submit to the next journal on your list!
- Rejection after peer review. The editor thought your paper was fit to send to peer reviewers, but after receiving those reviews, decided to reject the paper. Sorry, again, not uncommon at all. Ideally you’ll be able to see the comments from the peer reviewers, which you can bring to your team and decide whether and how to address them before re-submitting or submitting to a different journal.
- Revise and re-submit. [expand] Below I discuss strategies to address reviewer comments.
- Accepted. Congratulations! Typically, you’ll need to go through several rounds of revisions before you reach this stage. It is very rare for papers to be accepted without revisions, but it does happen.
4.5 Addressing reviewer comments
Every comment needs to be addressed. Take a professional and respectful tone, even if the comments themselves are not. It’s common, but not necessary, to thank reviewers for their suggestions.
As you respond to comments, make it easy for the editors and peer reviewers by saying where you made changes and what you changed text to.You don’t have to agree with everything the the reviewer suggested. [expand]
[give your co-authors a chance to respond and give them a deadline; if they don’t respond by then (and you’re not waiting on critical input), you can move ons]
[who to talk to about reviewer comments]
[add link to ‘Ten Simple Rules’ for peer review article]