Australian Historical Association
3 March 2009


Publishing a Journal Article – Some Brief Advice

Martyn Lyons



1. Choose the journal

Publishing in itself is not enough – it matters very much WHERE you publish. Keep up with the journals in your field, get to know their speciality, ideology, style. Read their requirements about length and presentation. Don’t publish in postgraduate-specific journals or postgraduate conference proceedings, go for refereed quality journals – because those are the ones that will actually count on your C.V.


2. An article is not a thesis chapter

A thesis chapter assumes a great deal of context and argument which has preceded it within the text of the thesis. It also assumes a development and conclusion which comes after it. So to produce an effective article, the material of the chapter has to be properly framed, and the argument has to be ‘pointed’. Successful articles are those which revise accepted wisdom, or explore specific hypotheses in new contexts.


3. The ethics of sending drafts to different publishers at once

Don’t believe what publishers may tell you. They want your exclusive attention, but it is quite ethical to send your draft to more than one publisher. However, as soon as you have made a commitment to one, however informal, you should inform the others. Otherwise you are not being fair and open with them.


4. What do you do when you get the readers’ reports?

They will either say –

    A.     This is not ready for publication and it needs a lot more work before it can be resubmitted for consideration
    B.     This is potentially very good and it just needs some revisions and amendments before it is ready for publication
    C.     This is fine work as it stands, and the author should just be invited to consider the following minor changes … if they say this you are a lucky author.
Common author’s reactions are –

    a)     The readers are imbeciles
    b)     They see me as a competitor in the job market and they want to ruin my career prospects
    c)     They haven’t actually read my article
    d)     But I ALREADY SAID THAT on page 7 footnote 43
Take a break, chill out and then think about it a bit more objectively. Decide whether or not

    a)     I can actually deal with those problems by adding one or two extra paragraphs
    b)     It probably would be a good idea if I consulted those articles/books the reader recommends and at least acknowledged them in a footnote
    c)     Although I referred to that problem in my draft, the message obviously didn’t get through, so I will have to foreground it better and weave the point into my argument more strongly from the outset.

Then write back accepting the need for revisions, and detail for the journal editor how you are going to tackle the problems raised.

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