Daily research tips

Assemble the submission as a complete package: title page, blinded manuscript if required, figures in the requested format, and statements on ethics, funding, and conflicts. Missing administrative items delay review before the science is ever read.

Write the cover letter as a short specific pitch: what the study found, why it fits this journal's readers, and any statements the journal requires. Do not paste the abstract into it.

Use the ICMJE authorship criteria to settle who qualifies as an author, and agree on the order before submission. Authorship conversations get harder the longer you delay them.

Check a journal's legitimacy before submitting: verify indexing claims independently, look for a genuine editorial board, and treat unsolicited flattering invitations with suspicion. Ask a mentor when unsure.

Skim several recent issues of the target journal to see what it actually publishes. The stated scope and the revealed scope are not always the same.

Shortlist three journals in order of preference and format for the first. If it declines, the cost of moving to the next is already known and the decision is already made.

Pick the target journal before final formatting and read its author instructions from start to finish. Scope mismatch is an avoidable reason for rejection without review.