In our occasional series, which flags important articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education, add: Lynn Worsham's What Editors Want. This one has lots of very practical advice on what editors of peer reviewed journals are looking for, especially in terms of what the submission should look like. It includes:
Familiarize yourself with the types of articles that a journal publishes and only submit work appropriate for that journal.
Pay close attention to the tone and style of work published in the journal and try to duplicate it in your own work. ...
Placing your work in the context of articles previously published in the journal is good scholarly practice and helps make your article a better "fit" for the journal.
Follow the journal's submission rules — exactly.
Develop a healthy attitude toward rejection. You know from the outset that competition is fierce, so maintain a positive attitude.
It's very practical advice. For broader advice--dealing with book manuscripts--you'll want to read Dedi Felman's "What are Book Editors Looking For?"--which is great advice to authors regarding University presses. If you're working on a book manuscript, Dedi's article may be the best use of the next fifteen minutes of your life. And, of course, authors will want to keep book pricing in mind as well.
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