The submission process- The final hurdle!

First of all, nice job you ;) !

A celebratory glass of OJ is soon in sight. But, let’s not get too over excited - there is still a final stage of manuscript processing before final publication!

  1. First of all, you may be asked to make some Editorial changesby the CopyEditor: “Cleaning the article” in Editorial speak. This could be with regard to text sizes on graphics, minimum linewidths etc., these were specified in the Guidance to authors, and it saves a lot of time to have ensured you met these regulations from the beginning. It can also be requested that you make some ditorial changes, such as ‘ removing the word novel – as all work appearing in our Journal is assumed novel’. Just get on with these.
  2. The article is next sent to Typesetters, who integrate your figures and text with their article formatting and design in order to create the Authors proof. These will be emailed to you, the author, as well as the production and Journal Editors.
  3. When you receive the proofs, please, please read them incredibly carefully. Do not assume the article is as submit - some poor sod has literally been writing this up using Journal software.
    1. Pay particular attention in checking equations and formula thoroughly, superscripts and subscripts, which can be misplaced. I know you may never wish to read this again by now, but I cannot emphasise this enough! Oh, and by the way – you usually have a deadline of 48 hours to do this to ensure publication online is as soon as possible after acceptance! If you see some minor corrections, it is okay to change them at this final stage, but really they should have been caught earlier in the process.
  4. The production Editor reviews the author corrections and returns the proof to the typesetter to implement the corrections. This is again checked by the production Editor and, provided they are happy, signs it off as ready for publication online! You will be given a publication date!
  5. Publication online! Yay, your paper now has it’s very own DOI and is fully available and citable! Depending on the Journal, your article may also be published in print in the next available issue.
  6. Tell everyone. =) This can include your institution, department, group, your colleagues etc, any document or person who will be able to promote your research! It is also advisable to update your online professional profiles (personal or institution associated).
  7. It is finally over! Congratulations! - remember to thank your co-authors and all those who have helped you through the process!
  8. Drink that glass of special OJ ;)

Congratulations!

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Posted by: Ilana Wisby