Checklist: Is my Article Ready for Submitting to Journals?

• May 06, 2022
• 5 min read

Getting your research work accepted and published in a reputable journal can boost your academic career marginally. It’s a milestone worth rejoicing! 

But to get to the rejoicing, it’s also important that you have everything in order. Down to the T. The 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 the 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 

Logistical Concerns

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

Is there anything else you would add to this list? Try using this list for your dissertation. Let us know if it helps you. Comment here or even write to us.
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