Science journals - how does it work?

[NPK]

When someone has completed a research project and written an article on it, how do they decide which journal to try and get it published in?

Do they just try one journal, or do they apply to many of them?

There are so many journals out there, many of which are about the same topics and have lots of content overlap.

How does the whole process work??

[swansont]

When someone has completed a research project and written an article on it' date=' how do they decide which journal to try and get it published in?

Do they just try one journal, or do they apply to many of them?

There are so many journals out there, many of which are about the same topics and have lots of content overlap.

How does the whole process work??[/quote']

 

In physics (or my corner of it, anyway) the topic division and hierarchy of prestige are pretty well defined. You select based on topic and importance of research, and submit an article to the journal; you may have to pick from two or three that publish material on that topic. At that point it's preference - it may depend on what professional societies to which you belong, as you'd probably tend to publish in a journal to which you already subscribe.

 

As an example, for research in laser cooling and trapping, you'd like to publish in Physical Review Letters or Physical Review A, as these are prestigious (or, if it was truly groundbreaking stuff, Science or Nature which are the tops) If the research isn't quite up to that level, there are journals such as Journal of the Optical Science of America B and Optics Communications.

 

If they or the reviewers think it is not appropriate for their journal (either topic or importance), they will say so, and perhaps suggest an alternative.

[CPL.Luke]

would you apply to say a range of prestiege?

[swansont]

would you apply to say a range of prestiege?

 

AFAIK you apply to only one at a time. You might go, e.g. for a Phys Rev Letter and if they reject it, move "down" to a journal that isn't quite as discriminating.

 

The review and acceptance process generally gets faster as you move down the ladder.

[Mokele]

That sounds pretty much like biology. You have journals that have specialities, and various levels of prestige. For instance, I'm going to be publishing a paper on locomotion soon, so it'll hopefully go into the Journal of Experimental Biology (which has a strongly organism-physiology focus). I'll write it up, and then submit it to the peer reviewers, who will accept or reject it with various reasons. I have to then either make changes (if they are valid criticisms), or respond refuting the criticism (if I feel it's invalid). Then the editor decides to accept or reject it. If it's accepted, it gets published.

 

As simple (NOT!) as that.

 

Mokele

[CPL.Luke]

is it possible to publish in a lower journal and then move on to a higher one?

 

also is your work copyrighted (is there a better word) from the fact that you submitted a paper at some ime period. As, I could imagine a situation in which two researchers are working on similar projects, but are working seperatly and then one of them goes to publish his results, but in the process of getting it published the other researcher finishes and then publishes in a lower journal getting the credit for the discovery

[Mokele]

is it possible to publish in a lower journal and then move on to a higher one?

 

If the results attract more attention than you expected, yes, though it's usually not published in full form (like in "letters to Nature", which are often summaries of findings published in lest prestigious journals).

 

also is your work copyrighted (is there a better word) from the fact that you submitted a paper at some ime period.

 

I think there's *something* about submission versus publication (also because some journals publish every month, some every week, some every 3 months, etc) in terms of who gets the credit, but I think it's often decided on a per-case basis.

 

Mokele

[swansont]

also is your work copyrighted (is there a better word) from the fact that you submitted a paper at some ime period. As, I could imagine a situation in which two researchers are working on similar projects, but are working seperatly and then one of them goes to publish his results, but in the process of getting it published the other researcher finishes and then publishes in a lower journal getting the credit for the discovery

 

As Mokele sad, there is often a "submitted" date attached so credit is properly given. The copyright is typically transferred to the journal.

[Glider]

Most journals will, once they have accepted your paper, ask you to sign a copyright release. This gives the journal full rights.

 

I finds that a good way of deciding which journal to target is to read your own reference section. The journal(s) cited most frequently there are the ones publishing work that is most related to your own.

[JPQuiceno]

mmmmmmmmmmm Theoretical Physics.