How to Publish

Many young scholars worry about how to get published.  I can't claim to be an expert on the topic, but I have had some success, and I think my advice could be helpful.  Any insight I have gained has been the process of long period of trial and error with far more failure than success.  If one person can see this post and avoid even one of my mistakes, I will count it as a win.

When you're getting ready to begin a project where the goal is to yield a publishable piece of writing in the social sciences, you should ask yourself four sets of questions.

1) How important is my central question?  To put it more precisely, do others recognize my question as important?  If not, how effective can I be in convincing them of its importance?

2) What is the quality of my data?  Do I have direct measures of the central concepts?

3) Am I able to execute the analysis and write up in the most professional possible manner?  Have I checked with peers and mentors that my methodology is the best possible way to address this topic?  Have I studied the format of articles in my target journal and replicated that format as closely as possible in my own write up?

4) How compelling are my results?  This point is related to point 1.  Will someone who reads my article think that its findings are important?

I am pretty sure that if you can nail all four of these points, the world is yours.