A path to publication in an international journal

Read, read, read


“Publication is the final stage of research.” (COPE)

 

“I had no idea that publishing articles that may look very simple and boring at first sight could be such a fine art.” (anonymous PhD student)

 

“It might seem that the language is the biggest thing or the only thing, but it's not just being in one language versus being in another.” (Artyom Rykun)

 

Scientific and academic journals exist to make available new research and new insights into theory and methodology, in a certain area of study. They exist so that scholars in different places in the world can discuss their scientific topic, and the purpose of an article is to add something to the discussion. This “something” is not usually large, but it is a new question, a new finding, or a new insight that is relevant and, most of all, useful to the other scholars.

 

Therefore, it is fundamental to:

 

1) determine your topic carefully, and

 

2) know what research already exists on this topic, worldwide.

 

That enables you to develop a research question that your research will specifically address, one that has the potential to add something relevant and new.

 

This is one of the most time-consuming parts of the process of research and publication, especially for those working in English as a second (or more) language. But it is inescapable. If a thorough review of existing research is not done, your article will be at high risk for being unpublishable because it only repeats existing work or ignores some important previous findings—making it useless, even if the research itself is performed well and the article is written well. Later, you will decide which of the items of previous research to analyze in your work and cite as references.

 

Your first goal is to be publishable, and the foundation of your article being publishable is your comprehensive current knowledge of the topic.