Skip to Main Content

Academic Writing Guide

Your guide to academic, scholarly, and professional writing in your health care career.

Academic Writing Guide

Publication Process

Publication Process Checklist handoutThe Publication Process Checklist is based on articles listed under Sources and is organized into the following tasks and related steps:

  • Determine the audience
  • Identify possible journals
  • Identify the top 3-5 journals
  • Submit the manuscript

As the publication process is iterative, tasks may not always be sequential.  The effective writing and publishing scientific papers 12-article series by Cals, J.W. & Kotz, D. addresses the entire process from starting to write the first draft of a paper to responding to reviewers' comments. 

Sources:
  • Cals, J. W., & Kotz, D. (2014). Effective writing and publishing scientific papers, part X: choice of journal. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 67(1), 3. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.09.014
  • Chipperfield, L., Citrome, L., Clark, J., David, F. S., Enck, R., Evangelista, M., Gonzalez, J., Groves, T., Magrann, J., Mansi, B., Miller, C., Mooney, L. A., Murphy, A., Shelton, J., Walson, P. D., & Weigel, A. (2010). Authors' Submission Toolkit: a practical guide to getting your research published. Current Medical Research and Opinion, 26(8), 1967-1982. DOI: 10.1185/03007995.2010.499344
  • Downey, S. M., & Geraci, S. A. (2017). Manuscript Development and Publishing: A 5-Step Approach. American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 353(2), 132-136. DOI: 10.1016/j.amjms.2016.12.005
  • Fowler, J. (2011). Writing for professional publication. Part 8: targeting the right journal. British Journal of Nursing, 20(4), 254. DOI: 10.12968/bjon.2011.20.4.254
  • International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (2023). Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals. https://www.icmje.org/
  • Kotz, D., & Cals, J. W. (2014). Effective writing and publishing scientific papers, part XI: submitting a paper. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 67(2), 123. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.10.004
  • Roush, K. (2017). Navigating the Publishing Process. American Journal of Nursing, 117(6), 62-67. DOI: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000520256.42212.fc