Abstract
Publication of research is an essential part of science. Indeed, a key characteristic of science is the accumulation of knowledge. This accumulation depends not only on the completion of research but also on preparation of reports that disseminate the results. Publication can serve other goals as well. Preparing a manuscript for publication helps the investigator to consider the current study in a broader context and chart a course for a series of studies. There are of course many professional and career goals served by publishing one’s research. Publication of one’s research signals a level of competence and mastery that includes developing an idea, designing, executing and completing the study, analyzing the results, preparing a written report, submitting it for publication, and traversing the peer-review process. This chapter focuses on publishing one’s research. The topics include preparing a manuscript, selecting a publication outlet, submitting the manuscript for review, and revising the manuscript as needed for publication.
Keywords
- Journal Publication
- American Educational Research Association
- Manuscript Submission
- Publication Outlet
- High Rejection Rate
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Notes
- 1.
Preparing a manuscript for publication entails several format requirements, such as print style and size, citations of sources, use of abbreviations, structure of tables and figures, and order in which sections of the article appears. These are detailed in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association(APA, 2010) and are not covered in this chapter.
- 2.
An objective quantitative measure of impact has multiple uses for different parties who have interest in the impact of a journal (e.g., libraries making subscription decisions, publisher evaluating the status of a particular journal they have published). Administrators and faculty peers often use impact of the journals in which a colleague publishes as well as how often their work is cited by others among the criteria used for job appointments and promotions in academic rank, and salary adjustments.
- 3.
Excellent readings are available to prepare the author for the journal review process (The Trialby Kafka, The Myth of Sisyphusby Camus, and Infernoby Dante). Some experiences (e.g., root canal without an anesthetic, income tax audit) also are touted to be helpful because they evoke reactions that mimic those experienced when reading reviews of one manuscript.
- 4.
Thanks to my dissertation committee for letting me quote from their comments.
References
American Educational Research Association. (2006). Standards for reporting on empirical social science research in AERA publications. Educational Researcher, 35, 33–40.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association(6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
American Psychological Association. (2011). Journals by title. Retrieved August 2011, from http://search.apa.org/publications?query=&facet=&pubtype=journals§ion=title&sort=titleBa
American Psychological Association Publications and Communications Board Working Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards. (2008). Reporting standards for research in psychology: Why do we need them? What might they be? American Psychologist, 63, 839–851.
Association for Psychological Science. (2011). Journal listing. Retrieved August 2011, from www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications
Bailar, J. C. I. I. I., & Patterson, K. (1985). Journal of peer review: The need for a research agenda. The New England Journal of Medicine, 312, 654–657.
Case, L., & Smith, T. B. (2000). Ethnic representation in a sample of the literature of applied psychology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 1107–1110.
Cicchetti, D. V. (1991). The reliability of the peer review for manuscript and grant submissions: A cross-disciplinary investigation. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 14, 119–186.
Des Jarlais, D. C., Lyles, C., Crepaz, N., & The TREND Group. (2004). Improving the reporting quality of nonrandomized evaluations of behavioral and public health interventions: The TREND statement. American Journal of Public Health, 94, 361–366.
Gunther, A. (2011). PSYCLINE: Your guide to psychology and social science journals on the web. Retrieved August 2011, from www.psycline.org/journals/psycline.html
Lindsay, D. (1988). Assessing precision in the manuscript review process: A little better than a dice role. Sociometrics, 14, 75–82.
Miller, L. R., & Das, S. K. (2007). Cigarette smoking and Parkinson’s disease. Experimental and Clinical Sciences International, 6, 93–99.
Moher, D., Schulz, K. F., & Altman, D. (2001). The CONSORT statement: Revised recommendations for improving the quality of reports of parallel-group randomized trials. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285, 1987–1991.
Smith, R. (2006). Peer review: A flawed process at the heart of science and journals. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 99, 178–182.
Spier, R. (2002). The history of the peer-review process. Trends in Biotechnology, 20, 357–358.
Suresh, S. (2011). Moving toward global science. Science, 333, 802.
Thomson Reuters. (2011) Journal search: Psychology. New York: Thomson Reuters. Retrieved August 2011, from http://science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jlresults.cgi?PC=MASTER&Word=psychology
Thursby, G. (2011). Psychology virtual library: Journals (electronic and print). Retrieved August 2011, from http://www.vl-site.org/psychology/journals.html
Web of Knowledge. (2011). 2010 Journal citation reports. New York: Thomson Reuters. Retrieved August 2011, from http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/analytical/jcr/
Weiss, B., & Weisz, J. R. (1990). The impact of methodological factors on child psychotherapy outcome research: A meta-analysis for researchers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18, 639–670.
Additional Resources
American Psychological Association. (1997). Journals in psychology: A resource listing for authors(5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kazdin, A. E. (2003). Research design in clinical psychology(4th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Kupfer, D. J., Kraemer, H. C., & Bartko, J. J. (1994). Documenting and reporting the study results of a randomized clinical trial (spicy meatballs, not pabulum). In R. F. Prien & D. S. Robinson (Eds.), Clinical evaluation of psychotropic drugs(pp. 237–260). New York: Raven.
Pryczak, F., & Bruce, R. R. (2011). Writing empirical research reports: A basic guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences(7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.
Wilkinson, L., & The Task Force on Statistical Inference, APA Board of Scientific Affairs. (1999). Statistical methods in psychology journals: Guidelines and explanations. American Psychologist, 54, 594–604.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kazdin, A.E. (2013). Publishing Your Research. In: Prinstein, M. (eds) The Portable Mentor. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3994-3_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3994-3_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3993-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3994-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)