“Publish or perish!” We hear it all the time, and, for many, merely publishing is not sufficient. There is often enormous pressure for early career investigators to publish in “top” journals. Although perspectives on journal rankings can vary from one institution, department, or field of study to another, one thing is clear: big impact factors are often accompanied by very low acceptance rates.
The Journal of the American Medical Association
, which boasts an impact factor of 30, reports an acceptance rate of roughly 9% (1). Circulation
has an impact factor of 15.2 and accepts 11% of manuscript submissions (2). Even esteemed journals
with more modest impact factors reject as many as 75% of submissions (3). These can be discouraging odds for early career investigators who depend heavily on publications as evidence of productivity and potential for long-term success.
Despite ongoing debate
over the cogency of impact factors as a metric of performance (4) or the utility of publishing in open-access
versus traditional peer-review publications
(5-8), publications remain a critical component of career advancement and scientific achievement. High-quality publications
do more than impress hiring, promotion, tenure, and grant committees (9). They are the primary vehicle through which we fulfill our civic and scholarly responsibilities to report and disseminate scientific advancements.
So, how do you get your work published in leading journals?
Join us at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Dallas, TX to learn more! On Saturday, November 16th at 9:30 a.m., Dr. Elliot Antman will be discussing how to navigate peer review and get your manuscripts published in leading journals (Ballrooms C1/C2 of the Dallas Convention Center).
For more information on this session and the many others available to early career investigators at this year’s meeting, please visit the Scientific Sessions homepage.
If you are unable to make it to the Scientific Sessions (or you just want to learn more), you can check out ten tips
taken from Writing for Academic Journals
, by Rowena Murray at http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/sep/06/academic-journal-writing-top-tips.
Do you have advice or suggestions on publishing in leading journals? Join the discussion by the posting your thoughts here on the Early Career Voice Blog.
See y’all in Dallas!
Misteli T. Eliminating the impact of the Impact Factor. J Cell Biol. 2013 May 27;201(5):651-2. http://jcb.rupress.org/content/201/5/651.full
Pincock S. Publishing: Open to possibilities. Nature. 2013 Mar 28;495(7442):539-41. http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7442-539a
Bohannon J. Who’s afraid of peer review? Science. 2013 Oct 4;342(6154):60-5. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.full
Reich ES. Science publishing: The golden club. Nature. 2013 Oct 17;502(7471):291-3. http://www.nature.com/news/science-publishing-the-golden-club-1.13951