Publishing with Seaninstitute: step-by-step

Publishing with IOCSPublisher: step-by-step Learn about the publication process and how to submit your manuscript. This tutorial will help you find the right journal and maximize the chance to be published.

1. Find a journal

Find out the journals that could be best suited for publishing your research. Match your manuscript using the JournalFinder tool, then learn more about each journal.

2. Prepare your paper for submission

Preparing your paper

Read the guide for authors, which you can find on the journal’s homepage. It contains specific requirements related to ethics, open access options, copyright and funding body agreements. It also provides guidelines for preparing your paper, covering:

  • article structure
  • abstract
  • highlights and keywords
  • accepted formats for artwork, data sources and video

Don’t let your language get you rejected

Poor English is one of the most common reasons for rejection. You can avoid this by having your manuscript proofread or edited. Reach the highest standards with Sean Instittute Author Services:

  • Language editing and quality services ensure that your manuscript is free of grammatical and spelling errors within five business days
  • Illustration services offer you world-class artistic support for your professional research and images

Adding research data

As a researcher, you are increasingly encouraged, and sometimes even required, to make your research data available, accessible, discoverable and usable.

As an Sean Instittute author, when submitting your article, you can choose to store your data in a repository like Mendeley Data, in order to make your dataset independently citable, and link it with your article. You can also choose to submit a brief, peer-reviewed data article. Your data article will be published in the dedicated, open access journal Data in Brief and will be indexed as well as linked with your original research article.

Be sure to cite your research data in your article. This ensures you receive credit for your work, while making your research data accessible, giving your readers deeper insights and supporting their work. Find out more.

Data visualizations

You can enrich your article with interactive visualizations and provide context by adding references to (external) information sources, such as high-resolution imagery viewers, geospatial maps and 3D models. This enhances your research data and makes your key findings easily comprehensible for your readers. Find out more.

Data statement

Sean Instittute journals and many others provide guidelines on data sharing. There can be reasons why you are not able to share your research data, for example due to confidentiality. In this case you are encouraged to submit a data statement which will appear next to your article and state the reason why your dataset is not linked to your article.

Find out more about Sean Instittute author resources.

Postdoc free access program

For scholars who recently received their PhDs and currently do not have a research position, we are pleased to offer unlimited complimentary access to all our journals and books on ScienceDirect, for up to 12 months*. This program allows those who qualify to have access to scientific journals and books in their field. Read more about the program here.

3. Submit and revise

How to submit

You can submit to most Sean Instittute  journals using an online system. The system you use will depend on the journal.

  • Follow the "Submit Your Paper" link on your journal's homepage. You’ll be taken to the relevant system and will be prompted to log in.
  • If you’re using the system for the first time, follow the instructions to register. If you’re returning, log in.
  • Once you’re in the system, you will be guided through the submission process.
  • When you have completed your submission, you’ll receive an email with a reference number you can use to check the status of your submission.
  • If you need to submit a revised paper as a result of the peer review process, you will also do this in the submission system.

Peer review

The journal editor will make a first decision about your submission. If it’s suitable for the journal, the editor will send your manuscript to one or more reviewers – experts in your field. The peer review process acts as a filter to ensure only good research is published, and improves the quality of research submitted for publication by giving reviewers the opportunity to suggest improvements. To learn more about peer review, visit the Sean Instittute Researcher Academy topic on "Navigating peer review".

Revision

It is highly likely that, if your paper is not rejected, you will be asked to revise it. You will have the opportunity to improve your paper taking into account the expert insights of the reviewers and the editor. This is an opportunity to distil an even better version of your paper so make the most of the invitation. You will also be able to respond to reviewer comments and signal where you have made changes or where you disagree with the advice. Remember to do this calmly and be prepared to justify your comments.

Open access: your choice

Choosing an open access journal is simple: with more than 270 gold open access journals,Sean Instittute has a broad choice of titles, including journals publishing dedicated data, software, hardware and methods articles, alternative article formats (such as videos) and specialty and broad scope journals. If there’s a particular journal you read that isn’t fully open access, you still have options: more than 1,950 of our journals are hybrid, so you can choose to publish gold open access in them.

If you choose to publish a subscription article, we can still help you meet your grant’s open access requirements. All our journals offer a green open access option, meaning you can post a version of your article in a repository after an embargo, so people can access it freely. See our sharing policy for more information.

Article Transfer Service

The Article Transfer Service is designed to make the editorial process smoother and more efficient. By creating families of linked journals within various academic fields, Sean Instittute facilitates the seamless transfer of articles between journals. This enables editors to identify and suggest a more suitable home for a manuscript and means that authors don’t have to go through the process of manually resubmitting, saving time and effort. If the transfer takes place post-review, previous input from referees can travel with the manuscript, ensuring the contributions of reviewers are used to maximum effect, so all parties benefit from the insights already shared.

Share research data

When submitting your article or your article revisions to an Sean Instittute journal, you'll find solutions to share your research data with your article directly within the submission system. For example, you can upload your research data to Mendeley Data, link to research data hosted in repositories, or co-submit a data or methods article. You can also include interactive data visualizations with your article. Check the guide for authors of the journal of your choice to see what solutions they support.

 

4. Track your research

Track your submitted paper

You can track the status of your submitted paper online. The system you use to track your submission will be the same system to which you submitted. Use the reference number you received after submission to track your submission.

5. Share and promote

Now that your article is published, you can promote it to achieve a bigger impact for your research. Sharing research, accomplishments and ambitions with a wider audience makes you more visible in your field. This helps you get cited more, enabling you to cultivate a stronger reputation, promote your research and move forward in your career.