Writing a Good Journal Paper

Cecilia Wong

Professor of Spatial Planning and

Director of Centre for Urban Policy Studies

The University of Manchester

Cecilia.wong@manchester.ac.uk

Publish &/or Perish• Dissemination and publication is

part of academic life• lots of advice on how to publish:

substance/ strategy/ skills / luck

• Guide to academic publishing in Geography e.g. www.nuim.ie/nirsa/geo-pub/geo-pub.html

• research assessment culture and funding allocation regime

Build a publishing strategy• Think about publishing strategically in both

short and long terms• Plan ahead and consider alternative avenues

you may be taking • Copyright: don’t waste a publication e.g. once

publish on the web or in a book chapter, refereed journals will not accept it

• Update your plan and strategy from time to time to seize opportunities and to seek advice from senior academics

• Carving up your PhD thesis into different potential journal papers - lateral thinking

Different publication sources

• Books (edited or authored, research or text)• Invited book chapters in edited books• Journals (academic vs professional/popular)• Conference proceedings• Research reports• Newspapers• Popular electronic media

Author credits

• The norm varies from field to field e.g. name order, group credits and also from country to country

• Fairness vs the danger of stepping out of line• Norms about publishing with supervisors vary• Need to discuss openly about credit-sharing

with your supervisor(s), talk to his/her other PhD students

Seeking academic mentoring

• Normally will be your supervisors, research centre directors or project directors

• If not, seek out alternatives e.g. adopt a mentor from the senior academics you meet

• Find an author that you admire their writing style and use s/he as your model.

Academic journal papers: (1)

• Select a journal before writing the paper• Reputation – and its limit for your strategy• Citation – varies from field to field• International, refereed journals (double blind

review): carries more weight• Relevance to the topic• Recent editions of the journal: the expected

content, level of scholarship, format & style, what and who has published recently, and the 'notes for contributors’

Academic journal papers: (2)• Title• Abstract and key words• Introduction• Main content: literature review, conceptualisation

and framing, methodology, analysis and findings• Conclusion• Acknowledgements• References (footnotes and endnotes)• Supported by tables, figures and maps –

copyright and permission

Academic journal papers: (3)

• Strategise for an international audience• How to frame your arguments so that they

are of international interest• Try to contextualise the materials and

guide the readers – depends on how footloose is the topic

• Put yourself in the reviewer’s shoes• Seek comments and advice from others• Polishing and proof-reading

Academic journal papers: (4)• Electronic submission e.g. manuscript central• Follow the instructions carefully (e.g. don’t

forget to remove your name)• Review by ‘recognised’ academics in the field –

normally between 3-5, hope to have 2 back• Most stringent – double blind review• The role of editors• The role of editorial board• Guest edited issue

Academic journal papers: (5)

Typical review criteria:1. Importance of subject

2. Originality of approach

3. Soundness of scholarship

4. Level of interest and pertinence for the journal’s readership

5. Quality of article structure

6. Depth and strength of argument

7. Clarity of expression

8. Graphic material appropriate

Academic journal papers: (6)• It could be a lengthy reviewing process: range

from 3 -14 months• Reviewers’ reports (can be different for the

editor and for the author) will be sent to the editor

• The editor need to make a decision and then communicate back to you

• The dilemma of revisions!

Academic journal papers: (7)• How to deal with reviewers’ comments – can be

mean, rude and nasty, but many are constructive and helpful!

• How to make a cover letter to catalogue what have been revised? (some required track changes)

• Don’t argue with referees!?• Be positive and ‘thick skin’• Be persistent – move down the peck order of journals• Revision makes better papers• Hopefully, accepted for publication, wait for the

proofs arrived for final checking• Can take up to 12 to 24 months before in print

Academic journal papers: (8)

• to strengthen an argument• to bring in new material, ideas and thinking• to better structure the paper• to remove repetition and redundant material• to summarise passages of text into one or two

sentences• to delete references and quotations which are

not essential to your discussion• to replace lengthy descriptions by tables and

charts where possible• to butcher whole sections where these are not

central to your argument