Importance of Manuscript Submission Readiness Checklists

Once you enter the world of academia, you quickly realize that the culture of ‘publish or perish’ is here to stay. You are required to publish your work to get a job, further your career, or even attract research funding, all of which highlight the importance of manuscript readiness to maximize your chances of publication. But how do you do this? George Allen, Sr., an American football coach, had it right when he said “Winning is the science of being totally prepared.” For research authors, this means following a comprehensive manuscript submission checklist to optimize your work and get published faster.

5 Reasons you NEED a manuscript submission checklist!

There are more than 7.8 million researchers in the world, who publish over 3 million papers every year.¹ The competition to be published is tough, more so for ESL (English-as-a-second-language) authors looking to publish in top English-language journals; following your journal’s key manuscript submission guidelines can help you get one leg through the door. Here are 5 reasons why this crucial pre-submission step is recommended for authors everywhere.Originality vs references: Academic journals place originality high up the order when it comes to accepting manuscripts. A manuscript submission check will help ensure your work includes all the right references and citations to avoid any duplication of content. This is also a great way to evaluate if your work complies with the journal’s key manuscript submission guidelines, in terms of format and structure.

• Quality of language: Most of the top international journals publish in English, which makes language an important consideration. Giving your manuscript a thorough language check can help you weed out typos, grammar and style errors, and inconsistencies with logic and flow. This check is especially important and helpful for beginners and non-native English speakers.

• Accuracy in writing: Inconsistencies and errors can occur when dealing with large amounts of data, different sources of information, and multiple authors. This is where having a good manuscript submission check can help you ensure accuracy and consistency in numbers, facts, data, symbols, tables and figures, and measurement units used across different sections of your manuscript.
• Ethical compliance: The race to get published first and be recognized can, often unintentionally, lead to ethical misconduct and misses in submission guidelines. A manuscript submission checklist helps filter out slips or misrepresentation, ensure your work includes key ethical requirements, such as patient care or clinical trial registration, and does not violate any publishing norms.
• Completion check: Many manuscripts are desk rejected because their work is incomplete, with missing sections, declarations or forms. A detailed manuscript submission checklist will help you ensure that you’ve adhered to all necessary manuscript submission guidelines and have everything you need to be accepted, including key declarations, authorship details, and more.

These are just some of the essential elements to be mindful of, in addition to adequately structuring sections in your paper, organizing references, and following the manuscript submission guidelines of your target journal, to give your manuscript the highest chance of acceptance. However, this can take a lot of time, and not everyone gets it right! This is what makes a comprehensive manuscript submission readiness check by Paperpal Preflight your best bet to help reduce your manuscript revision time and speed up the submission process.

What does Paperpal Preflight do?

Designed to support and guide authors through the submission process, Paperpal Preflight is based on 20+ years of editorial intelligence and interactions with almost a million researchers across the world. Its cutting-edge AI algorithm checks manuscripts across essential features most journal editors check for and flags potential problem areas that could lead to desk rejection and helps you improve your work well before you submit.

The ability to consistently create polished manuscripts that impress journal editors and reviewers is a big ask, but it’s possible with Paperpal, one of the strongest tools in a research author’s arsenal. Secure, fast, and comprehensive, the Preflight manuscript submission check helps research authors eliminate flaws, streamline submissions, and boost their chance of acceptance.

Worried about desk rejections or major revision requests derailing your manuscript publishing goal? Find out if your manuscript is submission ready in minutes with this must-do check.

References:

1. R. Johnson, The STM Report – An overview of scientific and scholarly publishing. Fifth edition, International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers, 2018. Available online at
   https://www.stm-assoc.org/2018_10_04_STM_Report_2018.pdf
2. J. Rajagopalan, INFOGRAPHIC: 10 Things you must consider before submitting your manuscript. Editage Insights, 2015. Retrieved from
   https://www.editage.com/insights/10-things-you-must-consider-before-submitting-your-manuscript