Writing-Up a Research Article and Submitting for Peer Review

Abstract

This is a preprint of a chapter forthcoming in the following edited textbook: Eimear Dolan & James Steele (Eds). Research Methods in Sport and Exercise Science: An Open Access Primer. Society for Transparency, Openness and Replication in Kinesiology.

INTRODUCTION: 

If you have followed and implemented all steps described throughout this book, you likely now have results to share with the wider community. The most common route to sharing your research is by submitting an article to a peer-reviewed journal. The process of writing up a scientific article and submitting it for publication can be daunting and at times can feel like a “black box”. In this chapter, we aim to demystify this process, and provide guidance on how to navigate it. First, we will describe the structure and content of a typical journal article (Section 2), before describing how the peer-review process usually works (Section 3). Finally, we will provide some tips to help you develop your writing style and productive writing habits (Section 4).

As you read this chapter, keep in mind that recommendations are based on our experience. Different journals have their own procedures, however, while different research groups also have their own approaches. As such, we encourage you to use this chapter as a guide, but to adapt our advice and recommendations in the way that works best for your research and for you.