Submission

Before you submit your paper, it is imperative to consider the following points:

• Submitting the same paper (or a paper that contains substantial overlap with another paper under consideration) to more than one journal at a time is considered unethical. Resist the temptation to make more papers out of a research effort than warranted. This will weaken the multiple papers and endanger your chances of any of them being accepted. Furthermore, if multiple papers are accepted that contain substantial overlap you will be faced with violating copyright laws if they are published. See the Ethical Considerations section of this CD for more information.
• To find out the journal's present contact information, editorial policies, and staff, refer to the journal's web site or its latest issue.
• Take some care in choosing the paper's title. This should be descriptive without being overly long. It is often hard to come up with a good title that balances brevity with information. But the title will be a vital and permanent part of your published paper so take care in choosing it.
• What about ordering the authors? If your paper is multi-authored then an ordering must occur. There are various conventions including alphabetical, most senior first, most junior first. However, the usual way (and the assumed way) is to list authors in the order of their contribution to the paper. As a junior academic, your standing on the paper is definitely affected by the ordering of authors while for a senior person, being a second (or even third) author is not usually detrimental. A corollary to this is "How many authors?" Many new academics, especially female, may be overly generous in listing authors who have little to do with the paper. Authors should be authors - that is, fully participated in the research and writing of the paper. People who have contributed in a more marginal way can be identified (and thanked) in the Acknowledgements section. And, it is true that some fields normally have long authors lists (medicine and some sciences) while most engineering disciplines typically have shorter (one to three) author lists.
• Who is corresponding author? The corresponding author is the author to whom the editor will communicate (confirm receiving the paper, give its assigned number, return reviews and decisions, ask questions, etc.). Therefore, a primary author with a permanent and easy to reach address is chosen for corresponding. If a student is the first author but will likely be graduating and moving on prior to the paper's acceptance, the first faculty member author is usually selected as corresponding. If no corresponding author is named, the assumption is that the first author is corresponding. When published, journals generally denote a corresponding author (and always do if it is different from the first author). This indicates to whom readers should address queries and comments.
• What about your affiliation if it changes during the paper's processing? This is a tricky question. It is usually to your benefit to have your current affiliation listed in the published paper as it reflects your current position and brings recognition to your current institution. However, if you did the research at one institution and have since moved on, then you are faced with the dilemma of whether to list your new one (better for you) or the institution that actually supported the work. There is no right or wrong answer for this. If you are publishing a paper with your advisor and have since moved on to an academic post at another institution, then you can list your new institution and your advisor will be listed (with your former institution). Readers will understand that the work was done while you were a student at one institution but now you have assumed a faculty post elsewhere. Sometimes, a paper will explicitly note (as a footnote to the author list) if an author with a different affiliation actually did this work / paper when s/he was at another affiliation.
• Format your paper as directed in the journal's "Instructions for Authors." A journal will normally have specifics for citations and reference lists, for including tables and figures, for captions, for listing the authors and their contact information. Almost always you will double space paper submissions (for ease of the reviewer) and include page numbers (again, so that the reviewer can reference them). A 12 point font is preferred as smaller type may tax your reviewer. Your submitted paper will not be formatted like the published ones in the journal!
• After your paper is finished, wait a short period of time (less than one month) before submitting. Though you may think it is completed, you will almost always find that some mistakes remain. It is a good idea to ask a colleague who was not involved with the research to review the final copy for edits prior to submission. At a minimum, you should review the paper after it "sits" awhile and prior to submission.
• The introduction, abstract, and conclusion should be particularly scrutinized. These three parts stand out to the editor and referees and if careless mistakes are left, it may seem that you, as a researcher, may have created sloppy work.
• If your English is less than fluent, it is recommended that you find a good professional editorial service before you submit. If a reviewer cannot understand your paper due to English then it has no chance of acceptance even if the research is sound.

When submitting your paper consider the following:

• Most papers are now submitted on the internet - either as an emailed or uploaded filed. The journal's web site will tell you how to do this and which file formats are acceptable.
• If you have a choice of file format, you may want to choose pdf. Pdf will help ensure that the article the reviewer and editor print out looks the same as what you intend. If you use pdf, print out your pdf prior to submission to make sure that all of the figures, equations and formatting have been maintained properly.
• Even with electronic submission, it is a good idea to write a cover letter (email or uploaded) that explains why you are submitting this paper to this journal concisely and includes your current contact information (assuming you are the corresponding author).
• Keep a copy of all files submitted (paper, cover letter, separate figure files, etc.). Even after you go through a review cycle, until your paper appears in print it is prudent to keep a copy of all versions and all correspondence (including response to reviewers) for this paper.