From Journal Selection to Manuscript Review
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Ochner and Mineo. HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine (2020) 1:1 https://doi.org/10.36518/2689-0216.1023 Education A Brief Tutorial on Manuscript Preparation: From Journal Selection to Manuscript Review 1,2 1,2 Christopher N. Ochner, PhD, Jocelyn Mineo Author affiliations are listed at the end of this article. Abstract Correspondence to: Description Dr. Christopher Ochner This article is designed to introduce the novice researcher to the process of journal selection, 450 East Las Olas Blvd, manuscript submission and manuscript review. PubMed indexing, journal readership, scope, Suite 1100 focus, impact factor, fees and acceptable manuscript types are discussed in the first section. The remainder of this article focuses on manuscript preparation, submission and review, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 including formatting, pre-submission inquiry, submission portals, and the manuscript review (Christopher.Ochner@ process. Specific recommendations are provided to assist the reader in navigating these hcahealthcare.com) stages. Keywords publication; GME; manuscript; journal selection; scholarly communication; journal impact factor Introduction as well as a collection of techniques of which Several factors need to be taken into consider- more experienced authors may also be able to ation when attempting to bring a manuscript take advantage. from preparation to publication in a reputable academic journal. For authors unfamiliar with Journal Selection this process, it may seem daunting. This article Journal selection is discussed prior to man- is designed to familiarize the reader with the uscript preparation in this article, as these journal selection, manuscript submission and authors recommend identifying several appro- manuscript review processes. Although writ- priate journals to which the manuscript may be ten primarily for inexperienced authors, some submitted prior to completing the manuscript. suggestions offered in this article may help This is for two main reasons, both stemming even seasoned authors maximize the proba- from the strong recommendation to conduct bility of manuscript acceptance. With regard what is called a “presubmission inquiry” (dis- to journal selection, PubMed indexing, journal cussed in the second half of this manuscript) readership, scope, focus, impact factor, fees prior to submitting an article for publication. and acceptable manuscript types are discussed. First, it will be easier and faster to format the The remainder of this article focuses on man- manuscript for the journal to which it is to be uscript preparation, submission and review. In submitted prior to completion. Second, the Ed- this latter section, formatting, presubmission itor-in-Chief of a target journal may be inter- inquiry, submission portals and the manuscript ested in an article but ask the author to pivot review process are discussed in detail. Specific and make changes to the article, which is easier recommendations are provided to assist the to do prior to completion. A number of rele- reader in navigating these stages and consider- vant factors should be taken into consideration ing factors relevant to each. This article should when gathering a short list of journals to which serve as a guide for new authors and those to potentially submit a manuscript, discussed with relatively little authorship experience, below. www.hcahealthcarejournal.com HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine © 2020 HCA Physician Services, Inc. d/b/a Emerald Medical Education 3 HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine PubMed indexing peal, authors are likely better off submitting to The first, and potentially most important, a targeted journal focused on the area related factor discussed is that of PubMed indexing. In to the content of the article. 1996, the National Library of Medicine estab- lished the PubMed Index system.1 With the Journal focus exception of new journals that have not yet Journals often prefer to publish manuscripts had the opportunity to earn PubMed indexing, that are either more clinically oriented or more authors should look to publish in journals that research oriented. Most journals will not state are indexed on PubMed, as this is a quick litmus this overtly, but authors can determine the test of journal legitimacy. Journals indexed on journal focus (clinical practice vs. research) by PubMed can generally be considered to be rep- looking at the types of articles accepted and utable, peer-reviewed academic journals and the titles of articles recently published. If only journals not indexed on PubMed can generally review and original research articles are ac- be considered to be less reputable and/or non- cepted and recently published articles are more peer reviewed, again, with the exception of new academic in nature, with heavy emphasis on 2 journals that are yet to be indexed. Although precise methodology and statistics, the journal far from a perfect indicator due to a number likely has a research focus. The Editor-in-Chief of exceptions, the vast majority of reputable, of these journals will likely have a PhD as op- peer-reviewed journals are indexed on PubMed posed to an MD or DO degree. If the journal and very few (if any) illegitimate or non-peer accepts case reports and most of the articles reviewed journals are indexed on PubMed. appear to be relevant to clinical practice, the PubMed indexing is, in fact, so important that journal likely has more of a clinical orienta- the Accreditation Council on Graduate Med- tion. The Editor-in-Chief of these journals will ical Education considers PubMed-indexed likely have an MD or DO, as opposed to a PhD publications to be one of the highest forms of degree. Overall, journals with a clinical orienta- scholarly activity achievable, it considers non- tion are more accepting of, and more likely to PubMed-index publications to be on par with publish, articles relevant to clinical practice. poster presentations. PubMed indexing can be checked by going to PubMed and searching Journal scope the name of the journal. If articles from that Every journal website lists the scope of that journal appear on PubMed, the journal is likely journal, which informs potential authors about PubMed indexed. the range of topics that journal thinks would be of interest to its readership and is willing General readership vs. targeted to publish. In order to increase the chances of audience publication, a manuscript should only be sub- General readership journals cover an extensive mitted to a journal if it fits within the scope array of topics and appeal to a broad audience. of the journal. If a manuscript falls outside the For example, journals such as Nature and Sci- stated scope of a particular journal, it is better ence could potentially contain articles covering submitted to a more appropriate journal, as any aspect of nature or science. Similarly, their journals very rarely make exceptions in accept- readership could be anyone interested in nature ing manuscripts with topics that fall outside or science, a very general readership. Converse- their stated scope. ly, targeted journals typically publish articles relevant only to a particular specialty or sub- Types of manuscripts accepted specialty. The Journal of Cardiovascular Mag- Journals only accept particular types of arti- netic Resonance, for example, is clearly a more cles, which will be listed on the journal’s web- esoteric journal, which publishes articles relat- site, typically in the author guidelines. Some ing only to this specialty and is likely read only journals will accept brief reports, or short by individuals with some interest in this partic- reports, which are similar to original research ular specialty. There are exceptions, but general manuscripts, but brief reports have strict readership journals tend to be more selective length limits. This type of manuscript is suit- in accepting manuscripts for publication. Thus, able for preliminary studies and small-scale unless an article has very clear broad-based ap- research. Less than 50% of journals accept 4 Ochner and Mineo. (2020) 1:1. https://doi.org/10.36518/2689-0216.1023 case reports, and even fewer journals accept uscript is rare. If encountered, authors should mini-reviews. If an author is writing a case re- consider removing that journal from their list port or mini-review manuscript, they may have of candidate journals. An increasing number of to spend some time finding the relatively few legitimate journals are charging a publication journals that are relevant to the topic they are fee, but there are also less reputable “open writing about and accept the type of manu- access” journals that charge $1500 to $3000 or script they are composing. more to publish articles. These journals, known as “predatory journals,”5 are rarely indexed Impact factor on PubMed and should generally be avoided. The impact factor of a journal describes its It should be noted that not all open access overall influence. Technically, it is calculated by journals are predatory journals, as there are an algorithm that assesses how many times a number of reputable and PubMed-indexed, articles published in that journal are cited by open access journals (e.g., PLOS Medicine); articles published in other PubMed indexed however, nearly all predatory journals are open journals.3 As the name implies, the impact access journals. factor serves as a marker of how large of an impact the articles published in a particular Manuscript Preparation, Submis- journal have on its content area but can also be thought of as an indicator of the breadth sion and Review of a journal’s reach. Impact factor ranges The manuscript preparation, submission and from 0.1 for journals that are less reputable review process can be intimidating for inexperi- enced authors. This section reviews and pro- up to around 80 for the New England Journal vides essential tips to navigate this process in a of Medicine. There are a considerable number of journals with impact factors below 3.0 and way that maximizes the chance of manuscript relatively few journals with an impact factor publication.