Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles

1. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles • Plan your success and have confidence • set short- and long-term objectives (start with the end in mind) • recognize everyone has to start somewhere • develop a risk seeking attitude • overcome perfectionist tendencies • reviews are idiosyncratic – stick with it!

2. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 2) Work in large numbers (manage your pipeline) • typical paper takes 3-5 years to publish, whereas the typical tenure decision is made in 5-7 years • start early, submit often • keep a list of paper ideas • leverage work with undergrad and grad students, but don’t count on it – you are responsible for your own success • deans can count

3. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 3) Take a portfolio perspective • balance “high-risk” papers/outlets with “low-risk” papers/outlets • balance the risk/return trade-off

4. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 4) Develop a thick skin • reviews are fair on average • if a journal acceptance rate is 10-20% you can do the math • turn rejected papers around quickly • reviews are very idiosyncratic; don’t waste your time • recent comments from reviewers on my papers • “this paper reminds me of a large number of Jayson Lusk papers I have read. It seems to be an attempt to re-package some points elsewhere, and make them sound more fundamental and serious than they are” • “this is a conceptual mess” • “the motivation of the paper provides a loose and self-serving review of the literature” • “are you selling soap, or doing science here?” • “this paper is a mess of poor motivation and poor execution” • “the paper . . . is severely hampered by its lack of a true economic question” • “The number of misspelled author names both in the text and in the references is insulting and inexcusable. . . . these names sound like names of well-known marketing academics that none of my PhD students could possibly misspell.” • The following two comments were received on the same paper • “portions of the paper read very poorly” • “I found the paper to be very well written and researched”

5. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 5) Do your homework • read and cite the relevant literature • know how your paper “fits” into the literature • you should be very careful about say things like “this is the first paper to . . .” • what is your contribution? • clearly identify your contribution • make a compelling case for your paper • be careful not to “oversell” • use “good” papers as role models

6. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles • Judiciously choose co-authors • people you like/respect • individuals with different comparative advantages • don’t let the 3rd or 4th author hold you up

7. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 7) Allocate and protect time for research • teaching/extension will dominate your time if you let it • responding to emails will dominate your time if you let it • should you spend more time on your research? (nights/weekends?) • prioritize your research • quickly complete revise and resubmits

8. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 8) Get and use feedback from others • correspond with “stars” in the profession • thoroughly and effectively respond to reviewers • even “bad” reviewers usually have one or two useful comments; • “good” reviewers have many useful comments • ask others to read your papers before you submit to journals • don’t expect high quality feedback from meetings presentations; use meetings to network

9. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 9) Realize publishing is a dynamic “game” • the editor that rejects one paper is the same editor that might accept your next • it is always disappointing to have a paper rejected – don’t take it out on the editor • that said, you are the only one who will stand up for your academic contributions • implement a policy of waiting a week until responding to editors/reviewers • practice the “Golden Rule” in reviewing

10. Top 10 Suggestions on Publishing Journal Articles 10) Have fun! • publish with a purpose • some purposes are self-serving • self gratification/ego • Hilmer and Hilmer (AJAE, 2005) show for agricultural economics professors that each additional research article increases salary from 0.5% to 1% • Golden et al. (RAE, 2006) shows that for each publication, an agricultural economics professor salary increases roughly $200/year • Swidler and Goldreyer (JF, 1998) find that, depending on professorial rank, the present value of the first top finance journal article published is between $19,493 and $33,754 • other purposes are loftier