Publishing Journal Articles

This book is jam packed full of great and usable advice written in an easy to follow and non-threatening format.

Good starter texts for Masters students with aspirations to publish their work

there are enough Dutch books on this theme. Dutch is prefered language for our students

This really does tell the reader 'how to do it' - which is great.

I especially like the start of the book 'Why are you going to write an article?' This actually makes the reader question their motives and whether this is the correct move to make here and now.

It has ideas for getting started and then for keeping going using a multitude of suggestions and solutions, to suit a multitude of potential writers.

And then of course, coping with rejection - something we all have to do.

This book is very useful for academics and PHD students who want to publish their dissertation after the qualification.

Structure of the book was attractive, but it was hard to find anything new in the content...

Does not emphasise the utility of working with a strong co-author.

I did not find the list of websites at the end of Chapter 1 very helpful.

More examples generally would help.

It does not highlight the need to carry out research as a prerequisite to most academic writing.

I did not find the section on choosing a journal very helpful. What about advising students to check back copies for the last 10 years? What about interpreting impact factors? What about emailing the editor with a 1 page abstract / summary? Again, examples would have helped here.

What about advising people to fit writing into their everyday lifestyle and how this might be done practically.

The revising section (called editing in this book and hidden in the middle of another chapter) is really important. More useful advice could have been given here.

The polishing section could have included information on the practicalities of submitting an article to a journal. Eg. Do you use their template? How to organise tables and figures; Referencing style; Using referencing software; etc.

Chapter 7 could have been structured better - e.g. advice before and after submission. In the former part the emphasis should be on minimising the chances of a rejection. In the latter part it should talk about what are the possible outcomes and the importance of developing from the opportunity to give a major rewrite.

It is good to have Chapter 8 as this issue is often ignored.

It would have been useful to have explored the process of developing as an academic writer from conference proceedings and newsletters to peer reviewed international journal articles. Also developing a community of co-authors is useful.

This is a fantastic text for anyone in the final stages of a PhD. The section on writers block was particularly appertaining to me, as I suffer from 'boredom' and 'distraction'. As a result I have taken up the advice of the author and decided to fill in this feedback to reduce stress levels by completing one of my many tasks!

This is a 'marmite' book. The authors speak very directly and personally to the reader - some will like that and some will not. I suspect most of my students will not. I liked the way they match different approaches to different personalities / dispositions (they might say learning styles). Overall, found it useful but not a replacement for Rowena Murray's work, which we currently recommend. However, students who find Murray too wordy and theorised may well like the brevity and practical approach.

This book is particularly useful for post graduate students during the early months of their research degree. It clearly outlines the elements needed to write a paper for publication.