How to Publish an Academic Article, with Jack Meng-Tat Chia
In this episode we're lucky to hear from Jack Meng-Tat Chia who is a professor of history and religious studies at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on Buddhism in maritime southeast Asia and he's recently published a book called "Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea. He's also published a lot of articles in different journals, and serves on the editorial board and as an editor for a couple journals in Buddhist studies. So Jack is a really great person to tell us a bit about how to publish an article, and he gives us these instructions, aimed largely at graduate students and junior scholars, on how to find the right fit for your article, what journal might be right for you, and how to prepare your manuscript for publication. How do you publish a journal article? The academic job market is becoming more competitive. Job candidates often need at least a journal article in order to be competitive on the job market, so for many graduate students and junior scholars, getting a journal article published is something extremely important. So today I'm going to talk about how to publish an article in a good peer reviewed journal. You will need a computer, internet connection, and of course an article manuscript. Step 1, article manuscript. So what do you need in a good article manuscript? You need to have a clear argument. Your reviewers need to know what you want in your article, so therefore your article needs to have a very clear aim and a clear argument in order to get published in a good journal. And of course a good article manuscript needs to have a good structure and organization. Very often graduate students have wonderful ideas. You have a lot of materials that you have collected from your field work, you have done a lot of archival research, but what you need is a good structure and organization in your article in order to make it a very good piece of coherent scholarship for your reader.
And of course a good article manuscript needs to contribute to and advance existing literature, and very often you do so by having a strong literature review section in the article manuscript. And therefore a word of caution, do not submit an unrevised dissertation chapter. This is a very common mistake that many graduate students and junior scholars experience, that is, you use a chapter from your dissertation and just submit it as an article, and very often you are going to get rejected even in the very first round. The reason is because your dissertation chapter often does not have a clear argument, and also a clear discussion and explanation of how your work contributes to existing literature. So therefore, you have to revise your dissertation chapter into a clear piece of work, that has a very clear argument, a good, structured organization, and most importantly explains how your work contributes to existing literature and scholarship. Next, another important question that you want to ask, where should I publish my article? Most scholars of Buddhism will publish their work in Religious Studies journals, Buddhist Studies journals, as well as Area Studies journals. So some of you might want to publish your work in a religious studies journal which has a broader audience and broader scholarship that you might want your work to reach. You know, other scholars who work on religion other than Buddhist studies. So you might want to consider publishing your article in a religious studies journal, for instance, such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, which is the top journal in our field. Or for instance, if you work on the history of religions you might want to consider for example the History of Religions, or you can publish a work say in the Journal of Religion. There are also journals that specialize in Buddhist studies, such as for instance, the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, the JIABS, or like another specialist journal such as Contemporary Buddhism, and Buddhist Studies Review.
So some scholars of Buddhist Studies would prefer to publish their work in a more specialized journal for a Buddhist studies audience, and many scholars of Buddhism, including myself who work on Asia for instance, will publish our work in Area Studies journals. And some good Area Studies journals in our field for example in the areas of say Asian studies, the best journal in our field for example is the Journal of Asian Studies, and of course there are also more specialized Area Studies journals in specific regions. For instance there's the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, there's the China Quarterly for scholars who are interested in China, and so on. So of course if your work has a lot to do with other areas of focus, for example if you are working on philosophy you might want to publish your work or in a philosophy journal, and also there are scholars of Buddhism whose work might, you know, might include areas of for instance like anthropology and sociology, you can also consider publishing your work in leading journals of the other disciplines. But the most important thing that you need to know when you think about where you want to publish your article, you should ask yourself a very important question, and that is, what is the right fit? So finding the right fit is extremely important in publishing a journal article and therefore you need to read and know what has been published in that journal, and especially the last few issues of the journal so that you know the editorial direction and the specialization of the journal. So this is something extremely important. A world of caution, especially for graduate students and junior scholars, is to be aware of predatory journals. And what are these? These are journals that charge publication fees to authors and very often they have no peer review and then there's absolutely no editorial and publishing services offered to the authors.
So be very careful. You know, if you're unsure you might visit thinkchecksubmit.org to find out more about how you can submit your research to a trusted journal. Next, the most exciting and important part of the publishing process, that is, submission. So now you are going to submit your article manuscript to a journal. So what should you do? First and most important, read the instructions for authors on the journal webpage. So you know first what is the stylistic guideline, if the journal is using Chicago, MLA, or APA style, this is extremely important because if you do not follow the style guideline sometimes the journal might not even, very often does not send your manuscript out for peer review. So therefore always remember to check the style guidelines of the journal. Next, another important thing is to find out how you can submit your manuscript to the journal. Some journals use online software such as the Editorial Manager or ScholarOne Manuscripts for you to submit your journal online. Other journals might prefer you to email the journal editor, so therefore pay attention to the instructions for authors to find out how you can submit your manuscript to the journal. Also most importantly, your manuscript must not be previously published and not on offer to any other publisher. So submitting an article manuscript is very different from applying to graduate school or applying for jobs where you know you can submit as many applications as you want and if you do get a few offers, you know, you can decline and then you know accept the best offer. But journal publishing doesn't work this way. You can only submit an article manuscript to a journal at one time, so you cannot submit to many journals and then decide where you want to publish your work.
And so this is how the instructions for authors looks like, and this is the Journal of Southeast Asian studies. So under the instructions for authors you will see for instance like where you can submit your journal, how you can download the instructions for contributors, and very often this document contains the style guide, where you know that you have to follow a certain citation style, and for instance whether the journal uses American or British English and so on. So this is extremely important. So also in the instructions for author's page, you know, usually what is the word count, the journal editors need you to keep your manuscript for instance between how many words... you know you shouldn't exit the word count, and also there are other important instructions that you can find in the instructions for authors. So pay attention to that and always read through that before submitting your manuscript to a journal. And now, what happens after you've submitted your manuscript to a journal? So after the editor receives your manuscript submission the first stage is known as the preliminary screening. Alright, so for the screening stage, this is the first stage where editors and members of the editorial board will read your submission and decide whether to send your manuscript out for external peer review. So there are a few reasons for desk rejection. So sometimes a manuscript does not even get sent out for peer review, and what are some of the reasons for so-called desk rejection? So first, a very common reason for desk rejection is that your manuscript is not within the aim and scope of the journal. So that's the reason why you have to pay attention to the instructions for author's page. For instance, I'm on the editorial board for the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, and one of the main reasons why we have to reject a manuscript in the very first round is because we receive a manuscript that is not even on Southeast Asia, and our journal is the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.
.. so this explains why, you know, some manuscripts don't even get sent out for peer review. For instance if you receive a manuscript on like China or on North America then you know it's definitely not within the aim and scope of our journal. Another reason for desk rejection is of course, poor language. Especially for graduate students and junior scholars, if you are not a native English speaker, if English is not your first language, you can hire a copy editor or ask a friend to proofread, you know, to read your manuscript for you, because very often poor language is one of the main reasons for desk rejection. Because if the editor or members of the editorial board do not even understand you know what is going on in the article because of poor language, chances are it is not going to be sent out for peer review. And finally, sloppy organization and structure, and as I mentioned earlier, if you submit an unrevised dissertation chapter to a journal, chances are its probably not going to pass the first screening by editors and members of the editorial board. So next stage, if your manuscript clears the first round, congratulations, its up for peer review. So what happens next? So usually most journals use a double blind peer review. By double blind peer review it refers to the peer review process where the reviewers and the authors do not know who they are. So this is the reason for double blind peer review. So the double blind peer review process usually takes about from three to six months, sometimes longer, so keep your fingers crossed. So what happens after the peer review? You are going to receive the reviewer's suggestions, and of course the editors' decision on your manuscript. So usually the editor might recommend a manuscript to be accepted with minor revision, revise and resubmit, or a clear rejection. So very often many scholars, including myself, will receive a revise and resubmit decision, but if we are lucky our manuscript might get accepted with some minor revision.
So what should we do next? So of course a very simple answer is that of course you have to revise your manuscript, and this is what we do in our line of work, we are always revising something. So what you need to do is after you receive the reviewers' reports and the editors' decision, you need to revise your manuscript, and one very important thing you need to do is that when you revise your manuscript you also need to craft a good cover letter detailing the changes made to your manuscript. So in your cover letter you need to explain what are the changes you have made, according to the reviewer's suggestions. So this is extremely important because you need to explain the changes you have made and how this manuscript is going to be a publishable piece of work in that particular journal. But of course there are also times when you have a revise and resubmit situation. So for a revise and resubmit manuscript sometimes they are sent out for another round of double blind review, and that might take another three to six months, and again sometimes longer. So fingers crossed you know, it's always lot of waiting and hoping things will work out well. And if your manuscript unfortunately gets rejected, you know, stay strong, hang in there, and keep trying. You know and this is again what we always experience in our line of work, you know, we experience rejections, but always stay strong and hang in there and eventually I'm sure your work will be published in a good journal. And what happens next... Congratulations! If your manuscript has been accepted, what can you expect? Your manuscript will be sent for final production, the journal will copy edit the manuscript and then send you the proof for proof checking, so you will have to go through your proof before eventually it gets published.
So the average timeline to get published in a journal usually takes about a year or two, sometimes three years or even more. So it really depends on the journal and also the reviews you receive, and also how efficient you are in revising your manuscript. So there are many factors involved but the average timeline is usually one to two years. And of course if your article is published that's a really wonderful experience. Share your article on social media, and yes, you have a published article. Alright so I hope you find this section useful and I wish you all the very best in publishing your first journal article. Thank you.
And of course a good article manuscript needs to contribute to and advance existing literature, and very often you do so by having a strong literature review section in the article manuscript. And therefore a word of caution, do not submit an unrevised dissertation chapter. This is a very common mistake that many graduate students and junior scholars experience, that is, you use a chapter from your dissertation and just submit it as an article, and very often you are going to get rejected even in the very first round. The reason is because your dissertation chapter often does not have a clear argument, and also a clear discussion and explanation of how your work contributes to existing literature. So therefore, you have to revise your dissertation chapter into a clear piece of work, that has a very clear argument, a good, structured organization, and most importantly explains how your work contributes to existing literature and scholarship. Next, another important question that you want to ask, where should I publish my article? Most scholars of Buddhism will publish their work in Religious Studies journals, Buddhist Studies journals, as well as Area Studies journals. So some of you might want to publish your work in a religious studies journal which has a broader audience and broader scholarship that you might want your work to reach. You know, other scholars who work on religion other than Buddhist studies. So you might want to consider publishing your article in a religious studies journal, for instance, such as the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, which is the top journal in our field. Or for instance, if you work on the history of religions you might want to consider for example the History of Religions, or you can publish a work say in the Journal of Religion. There are also journals that specialize in Buddhist studies, such as for instance, the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, the JIABS, or like another specialist journal such as Contemporary Buddhism, and Buddhist Studies Review.
So some scholars of Buddhist Studies would prefer to publish their work in a more specialized journal for a Buddhist studies audience, and many scholars of Buddhism, including myself who work on Asia for instance, will publish our work in Area Studies journals. And some good Area Studies journals in our field for example in the areas of say Asian studies, the best journal in our field for example is the Journal of Asian Studies, and of course there are also more specialized Area Studies journals in specific regions. For instance there's the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, there's the China Quarterly for scholars who are interested in China, and so on. So of course if your work has a lot to do with other areas of focus, for example if you are working on philosophy you might want to publish your work or in a philosophy journal, and also there are scholars of Buddhism whose work might, you know, might include areas of for instance like anthropology and sociology, you can also consider publishing your work in leading journals of the other disciplines. But the most important thing that you need to know when you think about where you want to publish your article, you should ask yourself a very important question, and that is, what is the right fit? So finding the right fit is extremely important in publishing a journal article and therefore you need to read and know what has been published in that journal, and especially the last few issues of the journal so that you know the editorial direction and the specialization of the journal. So this is something extremely important. A world of caution, especially for graduate students and junior scholars, is to be aware of predatory journals. And what are these? These are journals that charge publication fees to authors and very often they have no peer review and then there's absolutely no editorial and publishing services offered to the authors.
So be very careful. You know, if you're unsure you might visit thinkchecksubmit.org to find out more about how you can submit your research to a trusted journal. Next, the most exciting and important part of the publishing process, that is, submission. So now you are going to submit your article manuscript to a journal. So what should you do? First and most important, read the instructions for authors on the journal webpage. So you know first what is the stylistic guideline, if the journal is using Chicago, MLA, or APA style, this is extremely important because if you do not follow the style guideline sometimes the journal might not even, very often does not send your manuscript out for peer review. So therefore always remember to check the style guidelines of the journal. Next, another important thing is to find out how you can submit your manuscript to the journal. Some journals use online software such as the Editorial Manager or ScholarOne Manuscripts for you to submit your journal online. Other journals might prefer you to email the journal editor, so therefore pay attention to the instructions for authors to find out how you can submit your manuscript to the journal. Also most importantly, your manuscript must not be previously published and not on offer to any other publisher. So submitting an article manuscript is very different from applying to graduate school or applying for jobs where you know you can submit as many applications as you want and if you do get a few offers, you know, you can decline and then you know accept the best offer. But journal publishing doesn't work this way. You can only submit an article manuscript to a journal at one time, so you cannot submit to many journals and then decide where you want to publish your work.
And so this is how the instructions for authors looks like, and this is the Journal of Southeast Asian studies. So under the instructions for authors you will see for instance like where you can submit your journal, how you can download the instructions for contributors, and very often this document contains the style guide, where you know that you have to follow a certain citation style, and for instance whether the journal uses American or British English and so on. So this is extremely important. So also in the instructions for author's page, you know, usually what is the word count, the journal editors need you to keep your manuscript for instance between how many words... you know you shouldn't exit the word count, and also there are other important instructions that you can find in the instructions for authors. So pay attention to that and always read through that before submitting your manuscript to a journal. And now, what happens after you've submitted your manuscript to a journal? So after the editor receives your manuscript submission the first stage is known as the preliminary screening. Alright, so for the screening stage, this is the first stage where editors and members of the editorial board will read your submission and decide whether to send your manuscript out for external peer review. So there are a few reasons for desk rejection. So sometimes a manuscript does not even get sent out for peer review, and what are some of the reasons for so-called desk rejection? So first, a very common reason for desk rejection is that your manuscript is not within the aim and scope of the journal. So that's the reason why you have to pay attention to the instructions for author's page. For instance, I'm on the editorial board for the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, and one of the main reasons why we have to reject a manuscript in the very first round is because we receive a manuscript that is not even on Southeast Asia, and our journal is the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies.
.. so this explains why, you know, some manuscripts don't even get sent out for peer review. For instance if you receive a manuscript on like China or on North America then you know it's definitely not within the aim and scope of our journal. Another reason for desk rejection is of course, poor language. Especially for graduate students and junior scholars, if you are not a native English speaker, if English is not your first language, you can hire a copy editor or ask a friend to proofread, you know, to read your manuscript for you, because very often poor language is one of the main reasons for desk rejection. Because if the editor or members of the editorial board do not even understand you know what is going on in the article because of poor language, chances are it is not going to be sent out for peer review. And finally, sloppy organization and structure, and as I mentioned earlier, if you submit an unrevised dissertation chapter to a journal, chances are its probably not going to pass the first screening by editors and members of the editorial board. So next stage, if your manuscript clears the first round, congratulations, its up for peer review. So what happens next? So usually most journals use a double blind peer review. By double blind peer review it refers to the peer review process where the reviewers and the authors do not know who they are. So this is the reason for double blind peer review. So the double blind peer review process usually takes about from three to six months, sometimes longer, so keep your fingers crossed. So what happens after the peer review? You are going to receive the reviewer's suggestions, and of course the editors' decision on your manuscript. So usually the editor might recommend a manuscript to be accepted with minor revision, revise and resubmit, or a clear rejection. So very often many scholars, including myself, will receive a revise and resubmit decision, but if we are lucky our manuscript might get accepted with some minor revision.
So what should we do next? So of course a very simple answer is that of course you have to revise your manuscript, and this is what we do in our line of work, we are always revising something. So what you need to do is after you receive the reviewers' reports and the editors' decision, you need to revise your manuscript, and one very important thing you need to do is that when you revise your manuscript you also need to craft a good cover letter detailing the changes made to your manuscript. So in your cover letter you need to explain what are the changes you have made, according to the reviewer's suggestions. So this is extremely important because you need to explain the changes you have made and how this manuscript is going to be a publishable piece of work in that particular journal. But of course there are also times when you have a revise and resubmit situation. So for a revise and resubmit manuscript sometimes they are sent out for another round of double blind review, and that might take another three to six months, and again sometimes longer. So fingers crossed you know, it's always lot of waiting and hoping things will work out well. And if your manuscript unfortunately gets rejected, you know, stay strong, hang in there, and keep trying. You know and this is again what we always experience in our line of work, you know, we experience rejections, but always stay strong and hang in there and eventually I'm sure your work will be published in a good journal. And what happens next... Congratulations! If your manuscript has been accepted, what can you expect? Your manuscript will be sent for final production, the journal will copy edit the manuscript and then send you the proof for proof checking, so you will have to go through your proof before eventually it gets published.
So the average timeline to get published in a journal usually takes about a year or two, sometimes three years or even more. So it really depends on the journal and also the reviews you receive, and also how efficient you are in revising your manuscript. So there are many factors involved but the average timeline is usually one to two years. And of course if your article is published that's a really wonderful experience. Share your article on social media, and yes, you have a published article. Alright so I hope you find this section useful and I wish you all the very best in publishing your first journal article. Thank you.