Publication Strategies

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Publication Strategies

• Vivian Siegel, PhD
• Director, Center for Science Communication
• Departments of Medicine (Genetic Medicine)
• and Cell and Developmental Biology

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Strategic Issues

• Deciding what constitutes a paper
• Writing the best possible paper
• Manuscript architecture
• Prereview
• Anticipating the needs of editors and reviewers

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Why do you publish?

• To claim priority for a discovery
• To share what you have learned and how you have
  learned it, so that others can build on that
  knowledge

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How do you publish?

• Through peer-reviewed journals of the highest
  possible stature

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Priority and stature

• Sometimes competition means you need to publish
  fast
• High profile journals generally require big
  stories

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Whats new and why should I care?

• What is the question you have answered with your
  data?
• How sophisticated do you have to be to appreciate
  the importance of that question?
• How much work would it take to answer a bigger
  question - one that you dont need to be quite so
  sophisticated to appreciate?

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Writing the best possible paper
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There are two very distinct audiences for your
paper

• The Scientist in Your Field
• Methods
• Data (figures, tables, etc.)
• Legends

• The Outsider (scientists, editors, others)
• The body of the paper (introduction, results,
  discussion)

Each piece needs individually to tell your story
in a way that is best suited to the appropriate
audience.
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medschool.mc.vanderbilt.edu/editors_club/
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Writing Studio
www.vanderbilt.edu/writing/index.php
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Anticipate what editors and reviewers need and do

• Editors need to know whats new and why its
  important
• Reviewers need to believe your conclusions
• Reviewers will always ask for more
• If Reviewers ask for more, Editors ask for more

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Ironically, it takes longer than ever to get a
paper published

• 26 papers in JCB
• June 1985
• June 1997
• June 2008
• Time from Submission to Acceptance
• Scatter plot, red line is the Median

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Overall P0.0015 (Kruskal-Wallis) Dunns
Multiple Comparison Test June 1985 vs. June 1997
Pgt0.05 June 1985 vs. June 2008 Plt0.05 June 1997
vs. June 2008 Plt 0.01
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It has become painful to publish
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What can you do?

• Take every opportunity (cover letter,
  introduction, etc.) to express clearly why the
  question being answered by the paper is worth
  answering - this helps the editor
• Provide enough experimental detail for reviewers
  to judge the technical quality of the work
• Be honest (dont hide work that undermines your
  conclusions, or oversell the paper, just to get
  past the editor)
• Be strategic - manage expectations write the
  paper so the reviewer asks for what you can
  provide
• Be respectful in your response to the decision

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• Randy Schekman The Role of an Editor A Delicate
  Balancing Act
• Vivian Siegel and Zena Werb How to Read and
  Respond to a Journal Rejection Letter
• William Wells Me Write Pretty One Day How to
  Write a Good Scientific Paper
• Liana Holmberg What Happened to My Figures?!

http//www.ascb.org/files/WICB_Pub_Vol_I_II.pdf
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Thank you.
vivian.siegel_at_vanderbilt.edu