Getting your research work accepted/published in a reputable journal can boost your academic career marginally. Following is a list of things you should check for to see if your paper aligns with the requirements of prospects journals you wish to submit your paper to: 

Content 

  • Does the title and abstract of your paper reflect the discipline of the journal? 
  • Does the general thesis statement of the paper align with the disciplinary strain that your journal is taking? (To cut a long story short: Ensure that you are not submitting your natural science paper to an anthropology journal. This can get a little tricky with interdisciplinary papers)
  • Does this journal care about the research question you are trying to address? 

Formatting

  • Have you adhered to the proper citation style and other style considerations specified by the journal? 
  • Is your paper formatted appropriately? 
    • Margins 
    • Font and font size 
    • Section arrangement 
    • Proper labelling of figures/diagrams and tables 
    • Page numbers 
    • Table of contents

Scientific and ethical considerations 

  • Have all your sources been cited correctly? 
  • Does every entry in your reference section have references to text in your paper? 
  • Have you exceeded your plagiarism limit? (Depending on your discipline, this can be anywhere between 1% and 15%. For example, literature reviews and theoretical articles have more leeway than empirical studies)
  • Acknowledgements section abnd 

 

Logistical Concerns

  • Name(s) of authors and affiliations
  • Contact information
  • Cover letter