Almost all research scholars would have received rejection slips from journal-editors informing them that their articles have not been accepted for publication. In some cases, the articles are returned with suggestions for correction and improvement. While there is no magical formula for getting articles published, here are seven tips that will certainly help all research scholars in their writing process and increase the chances of their papers getting published.
Scope for improvement
1. Ensure that your research paper contains something new or original and not yet articulated. If you rehash or repeat what others have already expressed, your article will certainly not invite the attention of the editors. Not that it has to be an earth-shaking proposition but something original and not yet articulated so far. Therefore, the most important aspect of any research paper is originality without which chances of getting your paper published are remote. But do not start writing immediately even if you have a couple of original insights. Let your ideas and thoughts incubate. Only when ideas interact with other ideas and with the author, will they blossom, mature, and ripen for a good harvest.
2. Ensure that your content, style and presentation are appropriate to your discipline and the journal you are writing for. I have come across dozens of research papers with a sprinkling of original ideas but poorly articulated or expressed. Ensure that the three Cs — clarity, coherence and cohesion — are taken care of. Muddled thinking will lead to a clumsy style.
3. Do not fill your paragraphs with quotations, though they help bolster your argument or viewpoint, especially in humanities. In literature and social sciences, many research papers are nothing more than a pastiche of quotations put together mindlessly. While quotations are essential, especially in humanities, for they bolster your argument or viewpoint, you should never litter your paper with quotations. Ensure that there are not too many quotations and that too from the same author(s). Quote only when required and keep them as short as possible and relevant to the discussion as well.
4. Ensure that your methodology and documentation are meticulous. Different disciplines follow different manuals. While literature students should adhere to the MLA Handbook, those in Social Sciences follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). Researchers in Chemistry follow the TheACS Style Guide developed by the American Chemical Society. Both for in-text citations and for references/works cited, observe the guidelines in the research manual meant for your discipline. Some journals have their own style sheets. Follow these scrupulously. Any non-adherence or violation may lead to the rejection of your paper.
5. Ensure that your references are up-to-date. If you are submitting an article in October, ensure that your quotations and references have been culled from books and articles published until September of that year. Today, when there is a surfeit of publications, books, journals and web resources, there is no excuse for not updating your references. Therefore, take all efforts to refer to the latest but reliable publications in your field. At the same time, do not rely extensively on web sources, for most are not peer reviewed and validated. In any case, stay away from plagiarism and dishonest practices in writing.
6. Get one or two more people, apart from your research supervisor to read and comment on your manuscript. Your peers/lab mates would be in an ideal position to read your paper and give you their feedback. But do not give it too many people, for too many suggestions may confuse you. At the same time, ensure that your data/ideas are not hijacked and plagiarised by some unscrupulous soul.
7. Do not revise and finalise your paper immediately after writing it. Put it on the backburner and forget about it for some time. When you revise it immediately after writing it, you may not have the required detachment and objectivity to look at what you have written critically. But when you come back to it after a cooling-off period, the time gap will enable you to look at your paper objectively and critically. Do not hesitate to revise it as many times needed both at the macro- and micro-levels. Many a time revision boils down to cleaning up spelling and grammatical errors. Therefore, revise at the conceptual and discourse level and pay attention to spelling, vocabulary and grammar. Ensure that you have adopted a gender-sensitive language and not used too many adjectives, adverbs and intensifiers.
Follow these seven guidelines meticulously and the chances of getting your research papers published are better and brighter. Bear in mind that you mature as a writer over a period of time, so keep writing and (re)re-writing.
The writer is Dean, School of English & FL, Gandhigram Rural Institute. josephdorairaj@gmail.com
