Strategies for publishing in scholarly HRD journals

• Date: 01 March 2007
• Author: Kelley Chisholm
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.1195
• Published date: 01 March 2007

FORUM

Strategies for Publishing in

Scholarly HRD Journals

Kelley Chisholm

Submitting a manuscript to a journal and having that manuscript published is

a crucial step in sustaining or furthering an academic career. In addition,

scholar-practitioners and others interested in furthering their discipline’s

knowledge base find publishing in scholarly journals a critical activity. Success

in publishing research in peer-reviewed journals can determine whether pro-

fessionals obtain or retain tenure-track positions, as well as add to the base of

knowledge that may be disseminated in the literature (Thompson, 1995). This

Forum offers advice on preparing manuscripts for publication, describes the

peer review process, and explains the most common reasons that manuscripts

are not accepted.

Authors should seriously take into account the decision on where their

manuscripts are published by weighing the quality of the journals they are con-

sidering. Being published in a well-respected and high-quality journal may be

more beneficial to an author than being published in a lesser-known publica-

tion (Matkin & Riggar, 1991). In order to publish and improve disciplinary

knowledge, authors must develop proficient writing habits and other practices

that significantly increase their publishing success.

Successful writing for publication takes time, and peer-reviewed journal

rejection rates are typically high, as much as 85 to 90 percent. Authors should

employ strategies that will help them reduce the probability of rejection and

maximize chances for success (Thompson, 1995). Writing is demanding work,

and while initial rejection of a manuscript makes it even harder, authors should

never give up (Algozzine, Obiakor, & Boston, 1998). Traits of successful

research and practitioner authors include being systematic, persistent, and

amenable to editing and revising their manuscripts in order to make them pub-

lishable. With a 10 to 30 percent acceptance rate for most journals, chances

are basically zero that a manuscript will be published with no revisions.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 18, no. 1, Spring 2007 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.1195 139