Accepted! Writing, Submitting, and Publishing Manuscripts in Journals

Alan J. Zillich, PharmD — William S. Bucke Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice, Purdue University College of Pharmacy — talks with us about getting your work published; from identifying great ideas, collaborating, writing, and revising your manuscript.

Key Lessons:

• From review articles to meta-analyses, from case reports to observational studies and controlled trials, getting your work published is immensely gratifying.  But it requires many months (and sometimes years) of effort.
• Working with a mentor who has experience producing scholarly work and getting published is a great first step.
• Good research questions arise from practice.  When there are gaps in our knowledge, that's where a scholarly project that's potentially publishable often emerges.
• Working with an authoring team - bringing together people with different skills - can really improve the quality and rigor of your scholarly work.
• Use explicit criteria to determine who qualifies as an author on a paper.  Be sure to acknowledge those who contributed but not meet the definition of author.
• Finding the "right" journal for your work is important.  Each journal has a different audience and mission.
• Getting rejected is part of the process. The feedback from peer reviewers can be extremely helpful and you are one step closer to getting published.  
• Beware of predatory journals (who don't provide a rigorous peer review but still charge high publication fees).
• Blocking time in your schedule to regularly engaging (at least weekly) in scholarly activities - researching and writing - is critical to success.  Make an appointment with yourself. Unfortunately, this might require early mornings, evenings, or weekends if you can't negotiate the time into your workday.