ELOQUENT SCIENCE

A Practical Guide to Becoming a Better Writer, Speaker, and Atmospheric Scientist

DAVID M. SCHULTZ

American Meteorological Society

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Publishing a scientific paper involves interactions among authors, editors, re-viewers, copy and technical editors, and the publisher, with the goal to publish the best-quality research as timely as possible. This chapter describes the publish-ing process, starting with how to submit a manuscript to a journal, what editors and reviewers do, how manuscripts navigate the peer-review process, and how an accepted manuscript undergoes layout and printing, finally becoming part of the scientific literature.

THE PROCESS OF PUBLISHING SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Scientific journals have been established since 1665 when Journal des Savans debuted on 5 January, followed by Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London two months later (Fig. 1.1). Both are still published today. Despite scientific journals being around for over 300 years, many experienced scientists do not understand the publication process.

This chapter describes this process as it happens at many scientific jour-nals. Although most articles have two or more coauthors, most of the time in this book I refer to a single author, specifically the corresponding author. The corresponding author is the person who represents all coauthors by being the one who submits the article to the journal, maintains correspondence with the journal, keeps coauthors informed about the status of the manuscript, and is responsible for revisions. The corresponding author may or may not be the first author listed on the manuscript.

1.1 SUBMISSIONBefore the manuscript is written, the author usually has a vision for where it should be published, the target journal. Each journal has its own rules for submission. Some journals place few restrictions on submitted manuscripts,

D. M. Schultz, Eloquent Science David M. Schultz 2009

4 | CHAPTER 1: THE PROCESS OF PUBLISHING SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Fig. 1.1 The first scien-tific journals: Journal des Savans and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.

as long as they have certain information on the cover page and are set in 12-point font, whereas other journals have strict rules about the format of their submissions.

When the manuscript is completely written and formatted as required by the target journal, the author submits the manuscript to the journal. Even as recently as the first few years of the millennium, the author would send four to six photocopies of the manuscript to the target journal by post, which cost paper resources and money for postage, as well as slowed down the review process. Today, nearly all journals have Web sites where authors can upload digital files. Typically, the manuscript, figures, and a cover letter are uploaded in their native format (e.g., Microsoft Word, LaTeX). Often, a PDF docu-ment is created from the uploaded files, and authors are required to approve the rendered PDF. Authors who fail to approve the rendered PDF document can delay the submission process, so pay special attention to the journals requirements.

Other information that may be required at submission includes a complete list of coauthors, their contact information, and a list of suggested reviewers.

1.2. EDITORS AND REVIEWERS | 5

Some journals even allow a declaration of people who should not act as re-viewers because of potential biases or conflicts. Some journals may want the author to describe the manuscripts scientific contribution upon submission. A statement may be required that all coauthors agree to the submission of the current version of the manuscript. Authors may also have to state that the work has not been previously published and has not been submitted else-where. Authors (and sometimes all coauthors) often must sign a form that transfers copyright to the publisher. Some publishers may require a fax or electronic copy of this form before peer review can start.

The final step before peer review is an initial screening at the journal to ensure that the submitted manuscript meets basic standards of length, organi-zation, and format for the journal. Following the format required of the target journal is essential for making the submission process go smoothly. Read about these requirements on the back pages of the journal or on the journals Web site within the section for authors considering submissions.

1.2 EDITORS AND REVIEWERSAfter the manuscript is approved to start the review process, notification is sent to the chief editor of the journal. The chief editor then decides which

WHAT IS STYLE?

The word style means two things to an editor. The first meaning is that implied in the title The Chi-cago Manual of Style. Publishers refer to style in this sense as house style or press stylerules re-garding the mechanics of written communication. . . . Authors more often think of style in its other sense, as a way of writing, of literary expression. The Chicago Manual of Style (1993, p. 65).

The American Meteoro logical Society has adopted The Chicago Manual of Style as its choice of press style, supplemented by its own online style manual ( Authors Guide; American Meteoro logical Society 2008). Authors are required to follow these guidelines; not doing so may hinder acceptance or prejudice re-viewers and editors. If submitting a manuscript to a

journal you may be un familiar with, read the Instruc-tions to Authors on the journal Web site and look at papers that have already been published to get a sense of press style and literary styles that are acceptable to that journal. Although some authors view press style as oppressive, outdated, and sometimes nonsensical (e.g., why is punctuation placed inside the quotation marks in U.S. publications?), without widely accepted press style, the lack of consistent caption style, acro-nym expansions, and treatment of variables could be quite annoying, if not confusing.

In contrast, the second definition of style, literary style, depends on the individual author. Authors of scientific journal articles are usually given wide flex-ibility in determining their own tone and voice, with some dependence on the opinions and sensibilities of the editor and reviewers. Both of these definitions of style are used in this book.

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editor or editors will oversee the manuscript (or if the chief editor will handle it), and responsibility is transferred. The editor is typically someone who has a broad knowledge about the topic discussed in the manuscript. In some cases, the editor may recommend transferring a manuscript not appropriate for the target journal to another journal where the topic may be better received. In other cases, the editor may reject the manuscript before any peer review occurs because the manuscript is not written well, has questionable science, or both. This summary judgment by the editor spares potential reviewers the trouble of reading a poor-quality manuscript.

For most papers, the editor decides to start peer review of the manuscript and typically enlists two or three reviewers to provide comments. Reviewers are likely scientists who have done research on the topics in the manuscript. Sometimes reviewers may be outside of the discipline and thus provide a dif-ferent perspective on a manuscript, especially for small, specialized research communities. The names of potential reviewers are obtained from the editors friends and colleagues, the associate editors of the journal, the reference list of the manuscript, Web or publication searches, or the recommended reviewers provided by the author. Sometimes the most appropriate or most experienced scientist is unavailable to perform the review, so the reviewer may be someone

ASK THE EXPERTS

COPYRIGHTKen Heideman, Director of Publications, American Meteorological Society

A number of publishers require that each author either transfer copyright for papers published in the publishers journals or certify that the manuscript was prepared as a work of the government and in accordance with governmental regulations. By hold-ing copyright, the publisher can act as a steward for the intellectual property of the authors, ensuring that authors always receive credit for their work and that their papers are preserved for the long term. Moreover, the publisher as copyright holder acts as a watchdog to preempt, identify, and respond to at-tempted plagiarism or improper use of the intellectual content contained in its suite of journals.

One additional advantage of the transfer of copy-right is illustrated by the electronic legacy content composed of all articles published by the AMS prior to 1997, spanning well over 100 years. AMS makes these articles free and open to all, but, without the copy-rights in hand, none of the articles could be posted without seeking out every single author to receive ex-plicit permission to have their paper included in the legacy database. So, mandating copyright transfer is not an arbitrary policy. From a scientific, legal, and practical standpoint, the best interests of the author and the publisher are generally served.

For the author, the practical aspects of copyright policy depends on the publisher. The AMS copyright policy explicitly provides permission to authors to post their published articles on their own personal Web page. The policy, however, does not allow a copy of an AMS copyrighted work to be placed on a non-AMS server (e.g., a department Web site). However, authors are allowed to post a link to the article.

1.2. EDITORS AND REVIEWERS | 7

with less experience who is available. Reviewers typically remain anonymous so that criticisms can be made without fear of reprisal.

The reviewers read the manuscript and provide a written report on the suitability of the manuscript for publication. Reviews are merely recommen-dations that the editor uses to make a decision. As such, the term reviewer is preferred to referee (incorrectly implying the power to make decisions, like referees in a sporting match). Recommendations issued by the reviewers typi-cally fall into one of five categories:

1. Accept as is occurs in less than 1% of papers submitted to AMS journals.

2. Return for minor revisions is a good outcome that portends eventual publication pending the author making small changes. This recommen-dation usually indicates the reviewer does not wish to see the manu-script again.

3. Return for major revisions usually indicates that the number and se-verity of the comments are such that the reviewer wishes to see a revised manuscript before recommending acceptance.

4. Reject means the reviewer recommends the manuscript not be published.

5. Transfer to another journal may be suggested because the subject mat-ter is not appropriate for the target journal. (The author and editors of both journals must consent to the transfer.)

Journals may try new ap-proaches to peer reviewing. Cartoon by Nick D. Kim.

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The editor weighs the reviewers recommendations and makes a decision on the manuscript. How this decision is determined varies by the editor and the paper. Examples are provided in the Ask the Experts column How edi-tors make decisions on page 226. The editor may follow the advice of trusted reviewers, let the majority rule, take the harshest (and unbiased) criticism, or weigh the likelihood of receiving an acceptable manuscript in a reasonable amount of time. Sometimes an associate editor may be asked for an opinion on the manuscript if the reviewers recommendations contradict each other. The editor decides to continue the review process (return for major or mi-nor revisions), end it (accept or reject), or transfer the manuscript elsewhere. If rejected, the editor may indicate in the letter accompanying the decision whether the author is encouraged to substantially revise and resubmit the manuscript.

If the editor continues the review process, the author has a chance to revise the manuscript and respond to the reviewers concerns. After the revision is resubmitted to the journal, the editor reads the responses to the reviews. If the editor thinks the author has done an adequate job of responding to the reviews, then the manuscript is accepted. If the initial reviews were particu-larly critical, or if the editor wants the reviewers to see the revised manuscript and the authors responses, the reviewers may be asked to provide a second review. In this way, the peer-review process may iterate several times before the editor thinks the process has helped create a manuscript satisfactory to both the reviewers and author. Neither the authors nor reviewers may get their way all the time, but their interactions improve the manuscript.

If at any time the editor thinks the author failed to address the reviewers concerns adequately, the manuscript may be rejected. Obviously, editors do not want to reject a manuscript if it had been progressing toward publication previously. In such cases, one of three reasons for rejection may be com-municated to the author. First, the editor may see that the author failed to address one or more crucial concerns raised by the reviews, perhaps not even taking the revision process seriously. Second, the initial revisions may have uncovered more serious underlying flaws in the manuscript that favor rejec-tion in this new light. Third, the editor may see that the rate of convergence between author and reviewers toward a manuscript acceptable for publication would take or is taking too long. Thus, authors should never view revising their manuscripts lightly. It is worth repeating that reviewers do not decide to publish the manuscript, editors do.

1.3 TECHNICAL EDITING, COPY EDITING, AND PAGE PROOFSOnce the manuscript is accepted, it is forwarded to the publisher who be-gins the process of copy editing and technical editing. Copy editors correct

1.3. TECHNICAL EDITING, COPY EDITING, AND PAGE PROOFS | 9

grammar and style of the text, whereas technical editors review the scientific meaning of sentences, abbreviations, symbols, and terminology, as well as the suitability of the abstract and technical aspects of the layout (e.g., equations, tables, figures). These two steps are a large part of the production stage of the journal article that forms the layout for how the paper will look. The editors also communicate technical aspects of layout, fonts, and symbols with the typesetter and printer.

The next step is when the publisher prepares page proofs, a draft layout of the way the manuscript will look once published. The copy editors and techni-cal editors may also have queries for the author to answer, such as verifying references or checking that the meanings of sentences have not been changed after editing. Authors are expected to review the page proofs and make com-ments, identifying errors in transcription or layout within a few days. Despite this quick turnaround time, this is the last opportunity authors have to make minor changes to the manuscript (e.g., correcting typos and grammar, adding new references that have been published since acceptance). Publication fol-lows successful return of the manuscript within a few weeks to a few months, depending on the journal.

COMMENTREPLY EXCHANGES

If a reader of a journal article discovers an error, disagrees with the authors interpretation, or wishes to clarify or discuss certain issues publicly with the author, many journals have an option for such a pub-lic discourse: the commentreply exchange. The ex-change consists of a comment by the concerned reader presenting his or her side, published alongside a pos-sible reply by the original author.

Given that science proceeds through such open discussion of ideas, you might think that commentreply exchanges would be more common than they are. In fact, the decreasing number of comments, de-spite the increase in the number of published articles, leaves some wondering if this is healthy for science. Perhaps the dearth of comments may be because the process of writing and submitting a comment is mys-terious to some. In fact, the process is quite simple.

Once a comment on an article is submitted to a journal, the editor, perhaps in consultation with the

editorial board of the journal, assesses the comment to ensure that it is of sufficient scientific quality to eventually publish. (Personal attacks are not appro-priate for commentreply exchanges and are not published.) After the decision to proceed is made, the comment is forwarded to the corresponding author of the article in question to prepare a reply. Sometimes the corresponding author chooses not to write a reply, in which case the comment is published alone.

If the author writes a reply, it is forwarded to the author of the comments. Depending on the journal, both parties may have an opportunity to make revi-sions or withdraw their submission. Because all the parties are not anonymous, they may work out issues by themselves, presenting the editor with the finished exchange. Sometimes the editor may choose to adju-dicate the process with additional peer review. Most of the time, the editor allows the comment and reply ex-change to arrive at a resolution or agree to disagree, leaving the ultimate disposition of the material pub-lished to the scientific community at large to resolve.

Cover.pdfchp%3A10.1007%2F978-1-935704-03-4_11 THE PROCESS OF PUBLISHING SCIENTIFIC PAPERS1.1 SUBMISSION1.2 EDITORS AND REVIEWERS1.3 TECHNICAL EDITING, COPY EDITING, AND PAGE PROOFS

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