Miraglia, E., Graham, L. et al.
It’s happened. You’ve grown tired of wild nights in the lab, gathering data with reckless abandon, and you have finally written a manuscript that is ready to settle down with a nice, respectable journal. You think you’ve found the perfect match; modest impact factor, specific to your discipline, but not too specific, your colleagues say they can totally see you two hitting it off!
And unlike those predatory journals, this one isn’t just into you for your submission fees. This journal would never send late night, typo-ridden, booty-call emails to other researchers, begging for material to publish. It even has reliable peer review! But how do you get them to notice you? Follow these tips for getting the mid-tier journal of your dreams to publish your work.
Grossly exaggerate clinical relevance
Journals love a science hero! Always link your research to common diseases people hate, and no matter how much of a stretch it is, remember, your findings are a potential treatment. Slam dunk if you mention cancer!
Get those P-values down
Are your P-values for key treatment conditions pushing 0.05? While society is changing, many journals are still superficial and won’t be interested in your manuscript unless that number drops. Trim down your P-values with rigorous sets of additional trials at least 2-3 times per week. In the meantime, try using a flattering statistical filter over your current data.
Show off your best (not-so-representative) images
We all know what it’s like to acquire hundreds of images and have most of them not turn out as expected or hoped. But never fear, you’re bound to find at least one image per sample that makes your hypothesis look great. Doesn’t matter what the majority of your images look like – be sure to show off your best angles!
Catfish them with a review
Having an unsuccessful run of trying to get your own research published? Great news; your dream journal doesn’t have to recognize your own research as worthy of publication in order to get your name on a paper. All you have to do is give a coherent recap of other work in your field.
If all else fails, there’s always more fish in the sea! You’ll find another journal that accepts you as you are, questionable data analysis and all.
