Publication without tears: tips for aspiring authors

Cathie Jackson and Jane SeckerJournal of Information Literacy

We plan to look at

• Introduction to the Journal of Information Literacy• Where and what to publish• The peer review process• How your paper will be assessed• The publication process• Writing tips

ScopeJIL is an international, peer- reviewed journal that aims to investigate information literacy in all its forms to address the interests of diverse IL communities of practice. To this end it publishes articles from both established and new authors in this field.

JIL welcomes contributions that push the boundaries of IL beyond the educational setting and examine this phenomenon as a continuum between those involved in its development and delivery and those benefiting from its provision.

2007 onwards

Two issues a year (June, December)

Open access journalFree to view and free to publish

JIL editorsManaging Editor: Cathie Jackson

Editor-in-Chief: Jane Secker

Book review editor: Ian Hunter

Writing for a journal

• Read the author guidelines!• Is your topic within scope of the journal? • JIL focuses on information literacy NOT library skills,

libraries or teaching in general

• Peer-reviewed article or shorter project report?• Read previously published articles in JIL

Articles for peer review:

• Need to be original – are you just telling a familiar story?• Refer to the literature and place the work within a wider

context• Evidence any claims made• Follow academic convention in structure of the paper• Have been carefully proof-read before submission, especially

if English is not your first language• Are anonymised for peer review

Exercise

Turning LILAC presentations or project reports into peer-review articles

• Relevance to JIL – within our scope?• Originality and interest to our audience – useful

contribution to knowledge or good practice?• Title and abstract – appropriate wording and length and

informative?• Methodology – appropriate?• Use of literature and referencing – good analysis of

literature? Good referencing or signs of plagiarism?• Clarity of expression and structure – clear exposition of

argument? Logical structure? Spell out acronyms, avoid jargon!

JIL reviewers’ criteria

Accept for publication without amendment (almost never!)

Revisions requiredMajor revisions required followed by peer reviewResubmit elsewhereDecline submission

Peer reviewers recommend:

Make a list of all the actions needed of you. Can you address them? If so, how?

If you can’t, discuss this with the editors –say whyRevise the paper and resubmit it, with a covering letter detailing

how you have addressed each commentIf there were comments you didn’t implement, because you

couldn’t or because you disagreed with them, note them and say why (you may want to discuss with us earlier in revision process)

Remember that addressing these comments may unearth other suggested changes – several rounds of revisions may be required

What to do with reviewer comments

Once accepted, the paper is passed to copyediting

JIL copyeditors

Liz McCarthy Sharon Lawler Helen Bader Lisa Hutchins

Our copyeditors’ advice

Use the required templateIn JIL, this also means

Use Arial 11pt for body text (if using the template, this should be default)

Number all section headings using the multilevel list optionFormat headings as per the style sheet

Format your references using the journal’s required style

For JIL that means the Harvard style as used by Cardiff UniversityRemember to convert your EndNote references to text

Ensure all in-text citations are given a full reference at the end, and that all references are cited in the text

Define all acronyms and abbreviations at first useEnsure all diagrams and images are copyright free and

acknowledge their source

And specifically for JIL:Use British spellingsAvoid footnotes – either incorporate information into the

text or list non-cited information and websites under Resources and cited sources under References

List author name, affiliation and email address for each author, in the order given in the metadata, on the article loaded for copyediting

Our copyeditors’ advice [2]

Once it is published

Celebrate!Let everyone knowLink using the DOIAdd it to your

repository, acknowledging first published in JIL

Tips for aspiring authors

• Keep focused. Pin your central hypothesis or question by your desk and make sure that everything you write is directed towards supporting and answering that question

• Don’t worry about starting in the middle! Write up the section which comes most naturally and work out from there

• Practise (and reflect on) what you teach - finding the key research, synthesising the literature, citing and referencing

Tips for aspiring authors [2]

• Find your place and space to think and write

• Break it down…. it’s like how you eat an elephant

• Present your ideas early and let them grow

• Writing is an iterative process, draft, redraft, draft again

• Find a good proof reader – a colleague, friend, family member, but always get someone else to read it through!

• Become a peer reviewer, or a book reviews writer, but learn to read critically to help you write critically

Useful resources

• Gordon, Rachel Singer. 2004. The Librarian's Guide to Writing for Publication. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.• HEA-ICS. 2007. Writing for publication

http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/events/displayevent.php?id=187 • JIL Author Guidelines.

http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/about/submissions#authorGuidelines• Nicholson, S. 2006. Writing your first scholarly article: a

guide for budding authors in librarianship. Information Technology and Libraries 25(2) 108-111. Available at: http://bibliomining.com/nicholson/firstarticle.htm