How to build an effective publishing strategy

Establishing a well-considered publishing strategy early on in a research project is fundamental to success in the competitive research environment. After all, if you have great research but no one knows about it, what impact does it have?

In this post, Nature Masterclasses share the insights of expert trainer Dr Jeffrey Robens, who works with researchers to maximise their impact and influence in the field. With him we explore building an effective publishing strategy at all stages of the publication process, starting in this post with the initial steps – choosing a journal, and writing a cover letter.

Selecting the right journal

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

You can only publish your study once, so choosing the right journal is one of the most important decisions you will make. Ask yourself who your target audience is, who you want to influence, and who would find your research interesting and beneficial. Once you and your co-authors have agreed on the target audience, then you can choose the journal that best bridges your ideas with your readers.

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However, there are so many journals to choose from, you’ll need to decide on a shortlist of journals that may be suitable for your study. You can do this in several ways.

• Look at the journals that often publish research related to your work - which journals are you frequently reading from?
• Put keywords related to your research into databases such as PubMed and Web of Science, to identify indexed journals that publish research similar to yours.
• Use free online journal selection tools such as Springer Journal Suggester, Journal Guide and Open Access Journal Finder, which identify journals based on keyword matching.

Evaluating your shortlist

The next step is to evaluate your journals shortlist. Use the following six factors to narrow down your choices.

1. Aims and scope. Review a journal’s aims and scope carefully to determine which ones aim to publish research similar to yours as well as the appropriate article type.
2. Similar articles. Enter keywords related to your research into the journal’s website to establish when they published articles similar to your study. If a journal has recently published similar articles, it would suggest the editor is currently interested in your topic.
3. Indexing. Ensure the journal is indexed in the appropriate databases where you know researchers will be looking for articles in your field.
4. Publication model. Determine the appropriate publication model for your research, whether that’s subscription or open access (for increased accessibility).
5. Publication speed. You may wish to consider those journals that have more efficient publication times.
6. Selectivity. Make sure the novelty and impact of your research is appropriate to the journal. Highly selective journals like Nature have low acceptance rates because they’re interested in publishing striking breakthroughs in the field.

After this evaluation process you should be able to seriously consider three or four potential journals. Now determine with your co-authors the order in which you want to submit to each journal. Once you’ve done this, read the author guidelines for each journal and write your manuscript so it’s a good fit for them all - as far as this is possible. It’ll reduce reformatting time if you’re rejected from one and have to submit to a backup.

And don’t forget to check that your chosen journals are trustworthy. ThinkCheckSubmit has a useful checklist which enables you to be confident that a journal is a suitable venue for your research.

Writing an impressive cover letter

Some publishers have full-time editors, such as Nature or Cell, so you can be confident they’ll have time to read your manuscript. However, most journals use part-time editors who have full-time academic jobs and therefore very limited time to review submissions. You need to create an immediate impact on these editors, so a convincing cover letter stressing the suitability of your research for their journal is essential.

Bear in mind before you start that an editor may not have subject expertise in your area, so use broader terms (less jargon) than you would use in your manuscript or abstract.

Structuring your letter – 5 key components

The key is to make it easier for editors to read and absorb what you write. So keep your cover letter short - less than a page long- and use five short paragraphs, each one focusing on a single point:

1. Introduction. Introduce the manuscript title of your research and associated article type for the journal.
2. Context. Introduce the topic of your research by stressing its current importance to the field, the problem that serves as the motivation for your study, and finally your aims to address this problem.
3. Achievements. Briefly describe your study design and highlight the two most important findings from your study.
4. Suitability. State your conclusion that solves the identified problem and emphasise why the implications from your study are directly relevant for the journal and its readers. A useful tip is to highlight key words and phrases from the aims and scope in this paragraph to underline the suitability of your research for the journal.
5. Ethics. You may wish to state disclaimers regarding publication ethics, such as originality, authorship, and conflicts of interest. Be sure to look at the journal’s author guidelines to see if there are specific items the editor wants you to include.

And last but not least…

• Build on existing connections. If you’ve already discussed your research with an editor, either at a conference or via a pre-submission enquiry, state this in your cover letter. It can help remind the editor that they had showed initial interest and this will make a strong first impression.
• Preprints. Do state if your manuscript has been previously shared on a preprint server such as ArXiv or BioRxiv. This won’t impact the editorial decision, but it’s important for the journal to know. It’s worth noting that you should not update your manuscript in the preprint server with your updated manuscript from the journal after peer review.
• Emphasise your USPs. Lastly, keep in mind what’s unique about your study. Did you use a novel methodology that will be of keen interest in the field? Have you uncovered an interesting mechanistic insight for the observed phenomenon? Will your study have important societal impact in addition to academic influence? This can all help emphasise the significance of your study over your competitors’ and help sway an editor’s decision in your favour.

Establishing a clear strategy from the start empowers you to choose the most appropriate journal for your study, and increases the likelihood that a journal editor will recognize the value of your research.

To complement and build on the ideas in this post, further practical training is available from Nature Masterclasses. Writing a Research Paper: 2nd Edition introduces you to the power of narrative tools and the principles of scientific writing. Publishing a Research Paper: 2nd Edition (published November 2024) offers a comprehensive overview of how to navigate the editorial and publishing process, with a focus on how to submit your research paper. Also, our live workshop Getting Published: Effectively Communicating Your Research provides insights and strategies to help researchers increase their chances of publication and maximise the impact of their research.

Dr Jeffrey Robens is Editorial Development Manager at Springer Nature and conducts training workshops worldwide to help researchers improve their publication quality and impact. With 20 years’ experience in academia, he has published prolifically and received numerous awards.