How to get yourresearch published…
…and then noticed.

elsevier.com/authors

Contents
Introduction  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 1Getting published .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 2Getting noticed .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 23
Tracking your impact  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 27
Why publish with Elsevier? .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 29
Useful links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

December 2020

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier. All rights reserved

How to get your research published and then noticed

Introduction
As a researcher, you make huge strides in advancing essential knowledge. Your
achievements can save lives, change the way we understand the world and improve
our quality of life. When you’re ready to share your knowledge, the best way to do it
is by publishing your work.
In this booklet, you’ll find simple,
actionable support that will help you
publish and promote your research andmake the biggest impact you can withyour work.
In the first section, we’ll look at getting
published.

Then it’s time to get your work
noticed…
With your peer-reviewed article
published and available online, there’s
a lot you can do to promote your workand get it out to a wider audience.
●S haring your article

The decisions you make about yourpublications affect their ultimate impact:
the journal you choose, the type ofarticle and the way you write about yourresearch all contribute to the result.

● I ncreasing your visibility●W hen and what to publish… And finally, track your impact.

●H ow to write a great research paper

This won’t be the only paper you’llpublish, so it’s useful to build anunderstanding of what works well andwhere you could make improvements.
You can do this by tracking your impact.

●C hoosing the best journal for yourwork●Y
 our open access options●N avigating the publishing process●G etting the most out of peer review●P ublishing ethically●W riting a lay summary●T he power of social media●M edia coverage●A rticle-level metrics●T ools you can use

elsevier.com/authors1Getting published
When and what to publish
Do you have a story to tell?

How can you tell your story?

This is a great question to ask yourself
when you’re considering publishing anarticle. Editors and reviewers are looking
for original and innovative research that
adds to their field of study, sheds newlight on previous findings or joins thedots between work in different areas.
Your conclusions must be sound andbased on robust data.

Scholarly articles come in a variety ofshapes and sizes, each designed to suitresearch published at different stages,
in different fields and to share different
aspects of the work.

Is there an audience for your story?
If your research contributes toknowledge in your field, your peers
and researchers in other areas arelikely to be interested in your work.
However, your audience could be evenbroader than this. The more original
and innovative your research, the more
people will be interested. And if it’s
clear, understandable and compelling,
you could also share your work withthe general public especially if you can
explain how it
affects theirlives.

1. Full articles contain significant data,detail, developments and outcomes.
2. Letters and short communications
are intended for the quick and earlycommunication of significant ororiginal advances, without including
too much data or detail.
3. Review papers summarize
developments on a specific topic,
without introducing new data.
4. Research elements articles
complement full research papers
and describe output, such as data,
methods and protocols, software,code and hardware.
If you’re unsure which type of article
to write, it’s a good idea to discuss
your options with your supervisor orcolleagues. What’s more, rememberthat not all journals accept all types ofarticle…
NB: In this booklet, you’ll find guidance
for writing and publishing a full article.

2

How to get your research published and then noticed

Research elements
Elsevier’s Research Elements journals are a suite of open access journals
dedicated solely to publishing research elements articles. Research elements
articles are brief, peer-reviewed articles that complement full research papers
and describe output that has come about as a result of following the research
cycle – this includes data, methods and protocols, software, code and hardware.
The Research Elements journals are:●D
 ata in Brief ● M ethodsX ● H
 ardwareX●S oftwareX●S oftware Impacts

Read more at: elsevier.com/authors/author-resources/research-elements-journals

How to write a great research paperYour research is complete, now it’stime to write. You might enjoy this,but if you’re like many others, it mightalso be the most challenging aspect ofdisseminating your results.

Authors’ Update●S tay in touch with industry

developments, support and training.
●A s an author, there’s a lot for you tokeep up with – new publication types,
journals, review methods and much
more.

Elsevier has
many resources●A uthors’ Update is a hub for articles
to support you
as you write youron trends in publishing, relevant
manuscript, with
topics and being an author – and you
step-by-step
can sign up to receive new articles as
instructions,they appear.
training andVisit Authors’ Update:
editing, andelsevier.com/connect/authors-update
translation services to help you perfectyour work before you submit. This will
help you publish a high-quality paperthat shares your research with the world.

3

Researcher Academy

Learn academic writing skills andimprove your manuscript.

Preparing to write

Before you start, gather all your content:
your results, lab notes, observations,●S ucceeding in a research career means methods, insights from previous
learning and continuously building
research, any multimedia content and,your skills across the board, fromimportantly, your references. Withplanning experiments to promoting
everything in one place, you can better
your published work.
organize your thoughts and plan yourarticle.
●T he Elsevier Researcher Academy
provides free e-learning resources.
A full article usually follows a standard
With more than 100 modules
structure, which we will follow here. But
across 18 topics covering research
it’s always best to consult the guide forpreparation, writing for research,authors of the journal to which you’rethe publication process, navigatingplanning to submit before you begin as
peer review and communicating your there might be special instructions you
research, you can learn the skills youneed to follow.
need to take the next step in yourIf you’re writing a different type ofcareer.
article, you may still be able to apply●W hen you learn with the Researcher
some of the guidance identified below
Academy, you join a community ofbut be sure to consult the guide forauthors all working together to gain
authors.
new skills.
One way to get started on your
Visit the Elsevier Researcher Academy:
manuscript is to create a skeleton
researcheracademy.elsevier.com
template of the sections of the article– title and information (authors,
Visit the Author Resources page for more
keywords); abstract; introduction;
tools to help you as you write your article:
methods; discussion & conclusions;elsevier.com/authors/author-resources
acknowledgments. You can then easily
add content in each section, which you
can work from as you progress. Voilà –no longer a blank page!

4

How to get your research published and then noticed

Great writers read
One way to improve your manuscript writing is to read other people’s articles.
The more you read, the more you will understand what works and what doesn’t,
and how best to present the information you want to share. A great way to do
this is to be a reviewer – find out more here:

elsevier.com/reviewers/role
Title

Authors

The title is the main advertisement foryour article. A great title entices theaudience to read on; a poorly titled article
may never reach your target readers.

Only authors who have made an
intellectual contribution to the researchshould be credited, including those
who will take responsibility for thedata and conclusions, and those whohave approved the final manuscript.
The order of credited names can vary
between disciplines; the corresponding
author may not always be the firstauthor.

Your article’s title should reflect its
content clearly, enabling readers
to decide whether it’s relevant forthem. Being direct about the topic byincluding your main keyword(s) helps
make your article discoverable for yourreaders. And remember, abstracting andindexing services depend on accurate
titles: they extract keywords from themfor cross-referencing.

Depending on the journal, you may use
CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy),which makes each author’s contribution
clear. You can read more about this on
the following page: elsevier.com/authors/
journal-authors/policies-and-ethics/creditauthor-statement

Make the title catchy and keep it specific.
Leave out phrases such as “a study of”,
“investigations into”, “observations on”.
And avoid using abbreviations and jargon
Keywords– there’s plenty of opportunity for that later.
Most journals request a list of keywords:
Effective titles:
important words that are relevant to the● I dentify the article’s main topic
work you’re presenting and capture theresearch effectively. Keywords are used●A
 re accurate, unambiguous, specificby abstracting and indexing services andand (when possible) completechoosing the right ones can increase the●A re as short as possible
chances of your article being found by●A re enticing and interestingother researchers.
5

To choose your keywords, it may be
useful to imagine your readers searchingfor research they’re interested in. Whatwould they type in the search box?

Graphical abstracts

Many journals support graphicalabstracts. A graphical abstract is a usefulway to provide a visual summary of
your article’s main findings. It appears
Many Elsevier journals also ask for ain your article on ScienceDirect and it
subject classification during the online
submission process; this helps editors to also features in the results lists returned
by online search engines. Graphicalselect reviewers.
abstracts can be shared on social media
Abstract
or directly with colleagues to help you
broaden your audience (remember
The abstract is your chance to describe
to include a link to your article!). You
your research in a limited number of
can get help with creating graphicalwords (often c. 300); use those words
abstracts from Elsevier’s Illustration
wisely. Together, the title and abstract
Services – webshop.elsevier.com/
should fully represent your article. A
illustration-services/well written abstract will help readers
understand what your article is about
and whether it’s interesting or useful for Introduction
them. It will also help improve visibility After months of literature review, you
may have enough background to fillthrough abstracting and indexing.
a book, but resist the temptation:
The abstract should summarize
keep the introduction brief. It should
the problem or objective of yourprovide context and background, but
research, and its method, results, andnot be a history lesson. It should state
conclusions. An abstract usually doesn’t
the problem being investigated, its
include references, figures or tables. It’scontextual background, and the reasons
great if your abstract is interesting, but
for conducting the research. State theabove all it should be accurate. Don’tquestions you’re answering and explain
promise more than your article delivers.
any findings of others that you’re
Many authors write the abstract last, so challenging or building on. Briefly andit reflects the content accurately. But it
logically lead the reader to your research
can also be helpful to write it first, toquestions, hypotheses, and experimental
help you focus your thoughts and givedesign or method.
you a good starting point for the article.

6

How to get your research published and then noticed

Methods*
also called “Materials and Methods” or“Experimental Methods”*

This section should be detailed
enough to enable readers to replicate
your research and assess whether the
methods justify the conclusions. It’s
advisable to use the past tense – it’s
about what you did – and avoid using
the first-person perspective (e.g. “Itransferred liquid A to the mixture”).
Ultimately, you should explain how
you studied the problem, identify theprocedures you followed, and structure
this information as logically as possible.
If your methods are new, you’ll need to
explain them in detail. If they’ve been
published before, cite the original work,
including your amendments if you’ve
made modifications. You may also

consider publishing your method as a
research elements article, then referring
to it in your main article. We’ll cover how
to do that later in this section.
Identify the equipment and the materials
you used, specifying their source.
State the frequency of observations
and what types of data were recorded.
Give precise measurements, stating
their strengths and weaknesses whennecessary. Name any statistical tests, so
your quantitative results can be judged.
If your research involved humanparticipants, animals, stem cells orother biohazard materials, you’ll need toinclude certain information in the ethics
statement, such as committee approvals
and permission to publish. You should
also explain your criteria for selecting
participants.

STAR Protocols and STAR Methods
Though the method used for an article is vital for reproducibility, methods
sections have traditionally been neglected, with detail often relegated to the
supplementary information and readers skipping straight to results.
Two initiatives led by Cell Press aim to change this:STAR Protocols (cell.com/star-protocols/home) is an open access journal that aims
to help researchers conduct experiments more efficiently by improving the
reproducibility of published methods.
STAR Methods (cell.com/star-methods) is a new approach to the methods sectionof an article, which promotes transparent reporting of experimental design andmethodological details. STAR Methods are applied across all Cell Press journals,
and the Key Resources Table is also available in some other Elsevier journals.
7

Results
This section should present yourfindings objectively, explaining themlargely in text. This is where you show
how your results contribute to the bodyof scientific knowledge, so be clear
and logical. And it’s important not tointerpret your results – that comes inthe Discussion & Conclusions section.
You can base the sequence of this text
on the tables, figures and graphs thatbest present your findings. Emphasize
any significant findings clearly. Tables
and figures must be numbered
separately; figures should have a brief
but complete description – a legend –that reveals how the data was produced.

Discussion & conclusions
This is where you describe the meaningof your results, especially in the context
of what was already known about the
subject. You can present general andspecific conclusions but take care not tosummarize your article – that’s what theabstract is for.
You should link this section back to theintroduction, referring to your questions
or hypotheses, and cover how theresults relate to your expectations andcited sources. Do the results support orcontradict existing theories? Are there
any limitations? You can also suggest
further experiments, use cases andextensions.
8

Above all, the discussion should explain
how your research has moved the bodyof knowledge in your area forward. Your
conclusions must be supportable andnot extend beyond your results, so avoid
undue speculation and bold judgments
about impact. This is also a good place
to suggest practical applications for yourresults, and to outline what the next
steps in your research will be.
To summarize, make sure that:●Y our results directly support yourconclusions.
●Y ou use specific expressions andquantitative descriptions – “12 degrees
Kelvin higher” instead of “a higher
temperature”.
●Y ou only discuss what you defined

early in the paper – don’t introduce
the reader to a whole new vocabulary.
If you missed an important term, goback to the introduction and insert it.
●A ll interpretations and speculations

are based on fact, not imagination.

Acknowledgments
Keep acknowledgements brief, naming
those who helped with your research:
contributors, or suppliers who provided
free materials. You should also disclose
any financial or other substantive
competing interest that could be seen to
influence your results or interpretations.

How to get your research published and then noticed

Manage your references with Mendeley
Simplify your workflow, accelerate your research at mendeley.com.
Mendeley can help you discover, access, store, manage, cite and sharereferences and research data.
Offering time saving efficiencies, Mendeley Reference Manager, Mendeley Cite
and Mendeley Web Importer enable you to reduce your workload and advanceyour research goals.

References

Adding research data

New research builds on previously
published work, which should always
be acknowledged. Any informationthat isn’t “common knowledge”, or
generated by your experiments, must berecognized with a citation. Quoted text
should be within quotation marks andinclude a reference.

Research data forms the backboneof your research article and provides
the foundation on which scientific,
technical and medical knowledge isbuilt. Research data can include but
are not limited to: raw data, processed
data, software, algorithms, protocols,
methods, materials.

The format of citations and references
varies, so you should refer to the guidefor authors of the journal to which
you’re submitting.

You can get credit for your research dataand code and make it Findable, Accessible,
Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) in linewith community standards on bestpractices on research data management.
As a researcher, you are increasingly
encouraged, or even mandated, to makeyour research data and other research
outputs available. To support authors
complying with funders requirements
and to align with the Transparency
and Openness Promotion guidelines
for research, Elsevier journals have
implemented data sharing guidelines(elsevier.com/authors/author-resources/
research-data/data-guidelines).
Sharing information about your research
9data, including raw or processed data
files, code, software, models, algorithms,
protocols and methods, is a crucial step inpublishing your work. This could involve
publishing your data or code as a researchelements article, linking your article to an
already deposited dataset, uploading it to
Mendeley Data Repository or sharing astatement about your data or code.
●C iting data –cite your research dataand code in your article and add areference to it.
●P ublishing a research elements article –●U ploading to Mendeley Data – you canstore your data in Mendeley Data, so it
will get a DOI, making it citable and FAIR.
Co-submission to Research Elements
journals
If you decide to publish a researchelements article, you can submit directly
to the journal of your choice. For Data in
Brief and MethodsX, you can co-submit
your research elements article alongside
your full article to a participating
Elsevier journal.

Whether you have stored your researchdata in a repository or published a data
article, be sure to cite your research data●L inking your article to data and codein your article. This ensures you receivein supported repositories – create
credit for your work, while making yourbidirectional links between your article research data accessible, giving yourand a dataset or code deposited in areaders deeper insights and supporting
repository such as Mendeley Data.
their work. Find out more at: elsevier.com/
authors/author-services/research-data.
publish a brief, peer-reviewed article
and cite it.

10How to get your research published and then noticed

Data statement

SEO your article

In some cases, there may be goodreasons that prevent you from sharing
your data or code alongside your article
submission. Some Elsevier journals may
require you to submit a data statement
alongside your manuscript clearly
explaining the data or code you’ve usedin the article or the reasons why it might
not be available for sharing.

Make your article more noticeable withsearch engine optimization (SEO).

Illustrations

Tips for SEO include:

You may have illustrations, figures,
multimedia or other artwork to submit
with your article as supplementary files.
Requirements will vary depending on
the journal; for specific details on how toformat and submit artwork, visit: elsevier.
com/artwork.

●U se keywords, especially in the title

With so many millions of research
articles available, it could be easy for
yours to get lost in the noise. By paying
attention to a few points, you canmake sure your article is search engine
optimized and ready to be discovered by
the broadest possible audience.

and abstract.
●A dd captions with keywords to allphotographs, images, graphs andtables.
●A dd titles or subheadings (withkeywords) to the different sections ofLike all content you submit to ayour article.
journal, the illustrations should be●M ake sure you place links to yourhigh quality. If you need support witharticle from relevant websites e.g.
this, Elsevier’s illustration services canyour institute’s website, Wikipedia,
help: professional illustrators can create
LinkedIn, blogs and social media.
or polish images to match your exact
Find out more about SEO: elsevier.com/
needs. We support detailed full-color
connect/authors-update/top-tips-makingand photorealistic images, simplified
your-article-visible-with-seoline drawings, detailed graphs and tables(webshop.elsevier.com/illustrationservices).

11

A note on language quality
Language issues can mean the
difference between acceptance andrejection. It’s important to ensure thelanguage you use is clear and error-free,
for two main reasons:●T he clearer your language, themore easily and accurately people
will understand your work and yourmessage.
●E rrors disengage readers – if yourwork is full of mistakes, your readers
will be distracted and question
the quality of your work. This isespecially important when the reader
is reviewing your submission to ajournal.
Your article should report your findings
and conclusions as clearly and concisely
as possible. To achieve this:●T ry to avoid unnecessary words orphrases – keep it simple.
●U se the active voice when possible.

“All the honeybees were maintainedin an environment with a constanttemperature of 23°C.” And also use
the past tense to describe results:“The average life span of bees in thecontained environment was eightweeks.”
Editing and translation services
Elsevier Author Services provides avariety of editing services that ensure
your paper is free of grammatical,
spelling and other common errors,
giving you a better chance of successwhen you’re ready to submit.
The standard service features:●E diting into proper scientific Americanor British English●E dited by PhD or PhD candidates●F ree re-editing or money backIt can be easier and more effective towork in your native language. Whatdo you do when it’s time to publish
in English? Elsevier’s Author Services
provide translation services to help you
communicate your research in English.

For example, “Carbon dioxide wasconsumed by the plant” is passive.
Active writing shortens this phrase to, Translations are done by native English“the plant consumed carbon dioxide” – speaking PhD or PhD candidates in yourwhich is much snappier.
field of study and double-checked by●T ense is important. For known facts
successful authors.
and hypotheses, use the present
For more information, visit:
tense: “The average life expectancy
webshop.elsevier.com/languageservicesof a honeybee is six weeks.” But use
the past tense when referring toexperiments you’ve conducted:
12How to get your research published and then noticed

Choosing the best journal for your work
Publishing your research in the rightjournal can help you reach a global
audience, make an impact and move
forward in your career. How can you
make sure your publication is the best
it can be? Here are some tools and tips
to help you find the right home for yourwork.

JournalFinder
With potentially hundreds of journals
in your field, finding the right home foryour research isn’t always easy.
Powered by the Elsevier Fingerprint
Engine, Elsevier JournalFinder uses
smart search technology and field-ofresearch-specific vocabularies to matchyour article to Elsevier journals.
JournalFinder is simple to use: enter thetitle and abstract of your manuscript andyou’ll get a list of journals best suited toyour work.
Find out more about JournalFinder:
journalfinder.elsevier.com

Journal metrics
When you’re looking at a long listof potential journals for your next
submission, how do you decide which toshortlist and submit to?
Journal-level metrics can inform yourdecision.
Elsevier’s Journal Insights(journalinsights.elsevier.com) provide extra
information on three aspects of ourjournals – impact, speed and reach.
Impact●C iteScore – average citations received
per document published in thejournal.
● I mpact Factor – Clarivate metric –number of times an average paper inthe journal is published.

●5 -year Impact Factor – Clarivate metric– Impact Factor based on five years ofhistory.

●A rticle Influence & Eigenfactor –citations from highly ranked journals
are more important and influential
than those from lower ranked journals.

●S ource-Normalized Impact per Paper(SNIP) – the impact of a paper within asubject field.

●S CImago Journal Rank (SJR) – a prestige

metric based on the idea that “not all
citations are created equal.”

13

Speed●T he average number of weeks it takes
for an article to be reviewed.
●T he average number of weeks it takes

for an article to reach key publication
points in the production process.

Reach
●T
 he number of downloads at thecountry/regional level over the last five
full years available.
●T he number of primary corresponding

authors at the country/regional level
over the last five full years available.

CiteScore*

SNIP

SJR

Impact Factor

Full name

CiteScore

Source-Normalized
Impact per Paper

SCImag0
Journal Rank–

MeasuresAverage numberof citations received
per peer-reviewed
document publishedin this title, in arange of four years*

Citations relative
to average fordiscipline; SNIP >1 means journal iscited more than
average for field

Averageprestige per
publication,
depending on
the SJR of theciting journal

Average citations per
publication

Accounts forvarying journal size?

Y

Y

Y

Y

Accounts for varying
behaviour between
disciplines?

N

Y

Y

N

Availability

Freely available at scopus.com/sources and via individual journal
homepages under Journal Metrics and Journal Insights.

Available via journal
homepages and Journal
Citation Reports, Clarivate
Analytics at clarivate.com/
journal-citation-reports

CiteScore measures the average citations received per peer-reviewed document published in this title. CiteScore values are based on citation
counts in a range of four years (e.g. 2016-2019) to peer-reviewed documents (articles, reviews, conference papers, data papers and bookchapters) published in the same four calendar years, divided by the number of these documents in these same four years (e.g. 2016–19).

*

Checklist:●T ake into consideration the type ofarticle you’d like to publish (full length,
letter, review, research element, etc.).

●C heck if the journal is invitation-only;

some journals only accept articles after
inviting the author to submit.

●C heck the references in your article, to●C heck the journal’s performance forgive an indication of possible journals
of interest.

review and publication timelines.

●R ead the journal’s aims and scope on

the journal homepage on elsevier.com.
●R ead or download the journal’s guidefor authors.

● I f you need to publish open access,remember that most Elsevier journals
explain their open access options on
the journal homepage.
●S ubmit your paper to only one journal

at a time.
14How to get your research published and then noticed

Your open access options
Whatever your discipline, there’s anopen access home for your researchat Elsevier. With over 2,300 journals
that offer gold open access publishingoptions, we’ve got you covered.
In 2019 we published over 49,000 gold
open access articles, a growth of 40
percent on the previous year. Today
Elsevier is one of the world’s fastestgrowing open access publishers.

Benefits of publishing open access with
Elsevier include:●H igh visibility – reach the audience

your research deserves.
●P roven trust – 140 years’ experience

curating and verifying scientificknowledge.
●T op quality – rigorous standards &quality journals across the board.
●P owerful innovation – access to state-

When you publish open access with us,
of-the-art innovations that measure
you benefit from the world-class expertiseyour impact and make your life easier.
of our editors and reviewers, state-of-the- ● W ide choice – select the publishingart innovations that measure your impact
model that’s right for you.
and make your work more visible, andFind out more about publishing open
exposure on the world’s biggest publishingaccess with Elsevier: elsevier.com/authors/
platform, ScienceDirect. Your work isjournal-authors/open-accessalso included in relevant indexes anddatabases, and we ensure that it always
remains discoverable and accessible, nomatter how much time passes.

15

Gold and green open access
If you choose to publish a subscription
article, we can still help you meetyour open access requirements. All
our journals offer a green open access
option, meaning you can post a versionof your article in a repository after anembargo, so people can access it freely.

Options

130 of our journals also have an open
archive, where content becomes freely
accessible after a certain period.
See Elsevier’s sharing policy for more
information: elsevier.com/about/policies/
sharing

Gold open accessGreen open access(Sharing your subscription article)● Publish in an open access journal● Link to your article.

or in a journal which supports open
access (hybrid)● Select a journal that features an open archive● Select a journal that participates in CHORUS● Self-archive a version of your article

Access● Public access is to the final publishedarticle● Access is immediate● Free access to a version of your article● Time delay may apply (embargo period)Fee● Open access fee is paid by the author,● No fee is payable by the author as publishing costs areUse● Authors can choose between a● Accepted manuscripts

16

or on their behalf for example by their
institution or funding body.
● Fees range between c$150 and c$5000
US Dollars excluding tax, depending on
the journal with prices clearly displayedon our Article Publishing Charge (APC)
price list and on journal homepages.
commercial and noncommercial user
license.

covered by library subscriptions.

should attach a CC-BY-NC-ND
user license● Authors retain the right to reuse their articles for awide range of purposes

How to get your research published and then noticed

Navigating the publishing process
Once you’ve checked (and re-checked!)
your manuscript, you’re ready to submit
it to the journal.
Submission and revision can be themost frustrating part of the publication
process. Elsevier aims to take the painout of submission with streamlined
systems and processes.

Article transfer service
The submission journey is rarely as
simple as choosing a single journal– you may need to submit yourmanuscript to multiple journals before
you find the right fit.

In Elsevier’s journal ecosystem, editors
can recommend submissions fortransfer to connected journals. This
Once you’ve identified the journal towhich you want to submit, you can find transfer process takes you closer to theright journal faster. And because you
the link to submit your manuscript on
don’t need to reformat your manuscript,
the journal homepage. The submission
system you’ll use – for example, Editorial you will save time.
Manager (EM) – will depend on the
Find out more about article transfers:
journal to which you are submitting.
elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/Find out more about submitting yourmanuscript: elsevier.com/authors/journalauthors/submit-your-paper

Check the status of your paper
After submission, you can follow thestatus of your article in our electronic
submission systems using a reference
number that you’ll receive by email.
If your paper is accepted for publication,
you can follow the publication statusthrough to completion using the “track
your article” feature. You’ll receive areference number and link via email,after final decision.

submit-your-paper

Agreements and licenses
When you publish with Elsevier, youenter into a legal agreement. Thismeans that both we at Elsevier and you
as an author agree to certain rights andresponsibilities and promise to act in alegally-sound manner.
Protecting author rights
Copyright aims to protect the specific
way the article has been written todescribe the research and its results.
Elsevier is committed to the protection
and defense of its authors’ work andreputations. We take allegations ofinfringement, plagiarism, ethicaldisputes and fraud very seriously.
17

Publishing agreement

Always check your chosen journal for
In order for Elsevier to be able to publish details.)
and disseminate your article, we need
Before choosing an end user license, wecertain publishing permissions. These
recommend that you:permissions are defined by a publishing ● U nderstand what each user license
agreement between the author and thepermits, and the rights it grants topublisher. You’ll be asked to complete areaders for using your article.
journal publishing agreement or license●C heck if your funding body or
during the time between your article’s
institution has a policy requiring theacceptance and its final version.
use of a specific license.
End user license●R ead your journal’s guide for authors
If you’ve chosen to publish your article
to ensure it offers the license you wantgold open access, you also select an end
to use.
user license to determine how readers can●V isit the Creativecommons.org site forshare and use your article without having
more information on what to consider
to request permission. Elsevier offers abefore selecting a user license. (It’schoice between a commercial and aimportant to note that you can’t revoke
non-commercial user license, so you canyour chosen license.)
select the license which suits your type ofMore information is available at: elsevier.
research. (For health & medical science
com/openaccesslicenses
journals there are different regulations.
What is the license process?
Step 1:
Authors sign apublishing agreement
where they will retain
copyright but grant
publishing rights tothe publisher

Step 2:
Readers can use andshare the article asdefined by the user
license.

AUTHOR
Retains copyright

Step 3:
The author grants the
publisher the right topublish the article under
the applicable license.

Step 4:The publisher makes
the article available
online with theauthor’s user license.

USER
LICENSE
Publishes article
under theuser license

PUBLISHER
Grants publishingrights18

READER/USER
Granted rights toreuse the article

How to get your research published and then noticed

Getting the most out of peer review
Peer review is the cornerstone of theacademic publication process. We rely on
this process to uphold the quality andvalidity of individual articles and the journals
that publish them. As such, reviewers
play a pivotal role in scholarly publishing.

●T riple-blind review – reviewers areanonymous, and the author’s identity
is unknown to the reviewers and theeditor. Articles are anonymized at
submission.
●O pen review – this is an umbrella term

for several models. The most common
The peer review system exists to validate
definition is when reviewer and author
academic work, helps to improve theare known to each other during thequality of published research, andreview process. Open peer review canincreases networking possibilities within
involve the publication of reviewers’
research communities. There are several
names, reviewer reports and author
types of peer review; you can find out
responses.
what type of review a journal uses in theguide for authors.
Read more about peer review with●S
 ingle blind review – the names of the
Elsevier: elsevier.com/reviewers/what-isreviewers are hidden from you as thepeer-review
author. This is the traditional approach
Learn the fundamentals of peer review
to peer review.
with Researcher Academy:●D ouble-blind review – the reviewer
researcheracademy.elsevier.com/
and author are both anonymous. This navigating-peer-review/fundamentals-peerlimits bias, and articles are assessed
reviewon the content alone. However, it ischallenging to ensure total anonymity.

Reviewer Hub
Manage and get credit for your work as a reviewer: elsevier.com/reviewers
As a researcher, you may review other people’s articles that journal editors send
to you. By doing this, you help to build knowledge in your field – and you canhone your own article writing skills at the same time.
This voluntary work takes time and effort and can be challenging to manage
alongside your own research. The Reviewer Hub helps you manage the reviews
you are invited to undertake and ensures you get credit for the work you put
into them.
19After acceptance
Congratulations, your article has been accepted!
There are a few more things to consider
that can optimize the publication of yourwork. At Elsevier, we will do everything
we can to have your article published as
quickly and accurately as possible.

Articles in press
Accepted articles are published online
on ScienceDirect as an “article in press”,
and in most cases are assigned to anissue almost immediately. You can track
your article and citations throughout
this process.

Proofing
Accurate proofreading and clear
marking of corrections are essential forthe production of a quality article. As
soon as your article has been typeset,
you’ll receive an email with either a link
to it on our online proofing system or a
PDF attachment of your article.

Share Links
When you publish with Elsevier, inmost cases you will receive a Share Link
– a customized link to your article on
ScienceDirect that provides 50 days’ freeaccess.

20

You can pass your Share Link on tocolleagues, friends and family, and use
it to promote your article by email andon social media. Anyone who clicks onyour Share Link within the 50-day period
will be taken directly to the article withno sign up or registration required. Afterthe free access period, the usual accessrules apply.
Find out more about Share Links:
elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/submit-your-paper/sharing-andpromoting-your-article/share-link

Offprints
Some Elsevier journals provide offprints– an exact copy of the article publishedeither on paper or as a PDF. If yourjournal does not provide them, you canorder offprints from Elsevier Author
Services: webshop.elsevier.com. You
can order from 50 to 250 offprints, inincrements of 50, published on highquality glossy paper and with optional
covers.

How to get your research published and then noticed

Publishing ethicallyYour publications reflect the quality ofyour work and of the work that happens atyour institution. Peer-reviewed articles are
essential building blocks of knowledge,
and they embody the scientific method.
It is therefore important to agree upon
standards of expected ethical behavior.
Scientific misconduct and breach of
publishing ethics can take different
forms and be committed knowingly or
unknowingly. Examples of misconduct
and breaches include:●A uthorship disputes – deliberately

misrepresenting a researcher’s
relationship with published work.

Resources to help you ensure your work is
carried out and published ethically.
The Ethics in Research & Publication
Program is a collaboration between
Elsevier and an independent panel ofexperts in research and publishing ethics.
The program’s online resources andtools have been developed to help you
feel confident that you’re doing the rightthings. Resources include information
on policies, topics to consider when
you’re publishing and factsheets to
support you in your efforts to promoteresearch integrity. See ethics.elsevier.com.

●C ompeting interests – not disclosing

to a journal that you have a direct orindirect conflict which prevents you
from being unbiased.
●P lagiarism – passing off another’s

work or idea as your own.
●S imultaneous submission –submitting a paper to more than one
publication at the same time.
●R esearch fraud – including fabrication(making up research data) andfalsification (manipulating researchdata, tables or images).
●S alami slicing – the “slicing-up”

of research that would form one
meaningful paper into several different
papers.

21

CRediTWith the rise of genome-wide association
studies and particle accelerators, multiauthor papers are getting more frequent– and author lists longer. When many
authors are involved in a study, simply
listing their names doesn’t provide
much information. With CRediT(Contributor Roles Taxonomy), eachauthor’s contribution is made clear.
From conceptualization to writing, each22

person involved in the work is properly
acknowledged for their role. CRediT
statements should be provided during
the submission process and appear
above the acknowledgement section of
the published paper.
Find out more about CRediT: elsevier.
com/authors/journal-authors/policies-andethics/credit-author-statement

How to get your research published and then noticed

Getting noticed
Congratulations on your publication!
Now your paper is online, you canpromote it – sharing your paper withcolleagues, the media and the generalpublic can help you take the next stepwith your research, by attracting funding
and collaborators.
More than 2.5 million scientific articles
are published each year, and that

number is rising. So it’s increasingly
important for you to find ways to makeyour article stand out.
Use these resources to share your article
with the people who need it – and makean impact globally.
elsevier.com/promote-your-work

Sharing your article
Elsevier supports responsible sharing.

Howcanishareit.com

Sharing and promoting your article
form an important part of research,in terms of fostering the exchange ofscientific information in your field andallowing your paper to contribute towider scientific progress.

There are many options to share yourwork so how do you know the best way
to do it? Is it best to share your final
published article, or an earlier version?
How can you be sure you’ll be credited
properly?

The STM Association has created
You benefit from sharing theappropriate version of your article which howcanishareit.com to answer yourquestions. The tool helps explain how
ensures that:you can share articles published in●Y ou always receive credit
academic journals. It includes the “Can●T he integrity of the scientific record is
I Share It” look-up tool which provides
not compromised
users with an easy way to check where ajournal article can be shared in line with
Responsible sharing in line withthe paper’s access and usage rights.
copyright enables publishers to sustainhigh quality journals and the services
Visit: howcanishareit.com.
they provide to the research community.
Find out how you can share yourresearch published in Elsevier journals
at: elsevier.com/sharing-articles.
23

Share Links
When you publish with Elsevier, inmost cases you will receive a Share Link
– a customized link to your article on
ScienceDirect that provides 50 days’ freeaccess.

You can pass your Share Link on tocolleagues, friends and family, and use
it to promote your article by email andon social media. Anyone who clicks onyour Share Link within the 50-day period
will be taken directly to the article withno sign up or registration required. Afterthe free access period, the usual accessrules apply.
Find out more about Share Links:
elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/submit-your-paper/sharing-andpromoting-your-article/share-link

24

How to get your research published and then noticed

Increasing your visibility
It’s important to make sure people canfind you and links to your publications
online. There are a few easy ways toincrease your online visibility.

Update your profiles
If you have a personal page at yourinstitute, include links to the final
versions of your articles on that page.
You should also ensure that yourCV is available online, with links toyour publications. You can do this on
networking sites like LinkedIn, or on a
personal website or blog.
Finally, keep your SCOPUS and ORCID
author profiles up to date so others canfind your articles. You can now update
both at orcid.scopusfeedback.com – justfollow the easy online steps.

Present at a conference

Write a lay summary
You’re busy sharing your article
and getting the word out to otherresearchers. But what about people whoaren’t subject matter experts? If you
have findings that matter to the generalpublic, it’s important to be able topresent your work in a way that people
will understand.
With a lay summary, you can help
people without an academic backgroundto access your results. A lay summary isa short account of your paper written
in clear, non-technical language. You
can use it to explain your research, yourfindings and why they matter.
At Elsevier, several journals give you
the ability to publish a lay summary of
your article, helping you reach a wider
audience with your research.

Presenting and networking personalizes Read more about writing lay summaries:
elsevier.com/connect/authors-update/in-ayour work, giving it a face and voicenutshell-how-to-write-a-lay-summaryand can create new opportunities forcollaboration. Make sure you connect
with other delegates on Facebook
and LinkedIn and direct them to yourwebsite or blog. If you create a poster
for a conference, post it on your website
and provide links on your blog, social
media profiles, online CV or institutional
page.

25

Use social media

There is an art and a science to using
There are billions of people on Facebook, social media. You can brush up on yourskills with the Researcher Academy
Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter,
WeChat, Weibo… and whatever the next module Social Media for Researchers.
platform will be. These are great places
Take the module on Researcher
to share your research. With a Share
Academy: researcheracademy.elsevier.
Link (elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/ com/communicating-research/ensuringsubmit-your-paper/sharing-and-promoting- visibility/social-media-researchers
your-article/share-link) you can promote
your paper on social media, providing 50 Share your story with the media
days’ free access to your readers.
If you have a compelling story to tell,Social media is also a place for online
networking: you can reach audiences
beyond your network by tagging andengaging with universities, societies,
publishers and peers. You don’t need to
be present everywhere; by choosing theplatform(s) that suit you best, you canestablish a profile online and extend yourreach. And you can track and measure
the impact you’re making using PlumX(plumanalytics.com/learn/about-metrics).

26

you could reach a wider audience bysharing it with journalists.
Elsevier promotes selected research
papers to the global scientific media. If
you think your article is interesting for awider audience and/or would like more
information about any of the above,
contact the journal publisher.
Remember to also get in touch with thepress office at your institute to see what
they can do to help you promote your paper.

How to get your research published and then noticed

Tracking your impact
Are your efforts to promote your work
leading to downloads and citations? By
tracking the performance of your article,
you can adjust the way you are sharing
your work and make sure it’s getting to
the right people. You can track yourimpact using a variety of metrics.

●C itation count – how many citations

have your articles received?

●O utstanding articles – which of yourarticles are in the top percentile ofcomparable articles?

●h -index – this metric rates your entire

publication career based on both output
and citation impact. (An h-index of 11
indicates that 11 of a researcher’s articles
have each received at least 11 citations.)

Just like when you’re considering where to
publish, the best approach to monitoring
your impact is to have multiple ways ofassessing your performance. If you’re at
an early stage in your career, you can use Your Scopus profile
metrics that don’t require longer timeframes: Get credit for your work and explore
your metrics.
● Collaboration – how big is yournetwork? What’s the status ofcolleagues in your network? Where in
the world are they located?

When you’ve done the research, you wantto make sure you’re credited with the
publications, so your metrics reflect your● Scholarly output – how productive are you? work.
●U sage – how often have yourYour author profile on Scopus is linked
to all your publications through ORCID●A rticle metrics – who’s talking about(orcid.org). By maintaining an up-to-date
papers online and what’s being said?
author profile, you can make sure you’reshowcasing your research and inviting● J ournal status – what’s the status of thejournals that have published your work? career opportunities. With the free
Scopus validation tool, you can check
The average citation impact of all thearticles in a journal is a useful proxy for the and amend your profile.
impact your articles will achieve when
When you validate your profile, you canthey’ve had time to accumulate citations. also access your metrics:
publications been viewed?

When you’re at a later stage in yourresearch career, with a sizeable output
and an impressive number of citations,further metrics can then become useful:●F ind out your h-index●D iscover who’s citing your publications

Validate your Scopus profile: elsevier.
com/solutions/scopus/advance-your-science27

Article-level metrics
Article-level metrics let you track the
impact of your publications in different
areas, from traditional scientific literature(citations) to broader society (social media
shares). Get more information on tracking
your impact: elsevier.com/authors/journalauthors/measuring-an-articles-impact

Newsflo measures your societal impact
by uncovering relevant mentions of yourresearch across tens of thousands ofmass media outlets around the world.
It gives you a way to measure the wider
impact of your work by tracking andanalyzing its media coverage

Elsevier has two tools to help you: PlumX
Metrics and Newsflo.

Newsflo provides a near-real-time feedof news articles from more than 45,000
news outlets in more than 20 countries.
Tracking is based on sophisticated, highprecision search using individual article
identifiers.

PlumX Metrics provide insights into
the ways people interact with individual
pieces of research output online,
showing you a picture of your impact.

Find out more about Newsflo: elsevier.
PlumX gathers and brings togethercom/solutions/newsflo
research metrics for all types of scholarly
research output in five categories:
Citations, Usage, Captures, Mentions
and Social Media. The PlumX records
for your publications will show you how
many people are citing and reading yourwork, as well as collating news media
mentions and social media activity.
You can see your PlumX Metrics
directly in a panel in your article on
ScienceDirect, which you can click on for
more detailed information.
Find out more about PlumX Metrics:
plumanalytics.com/learn/about-metrics/.

28

How to get your research published and then noticed

Why publish with Elsevier?
Of course, you’ll consider otherpublishers and journals for your article.
Why Elsevier? Well, chances are thatthe leading journal in your field ofexpertise – The Lancet if you’re a medical

scientist – is published by Elsevier.
We publish thousands of journals andbooks, including many of the world’s
most renowned titles such as Cell and
Tetrahedon Letters.

Innovation
As a global information analytics
business, we also pride ourselves on ourinnovative approach, offering online
services, article-based publishing andnew types of open access publishing,including research elements, whichallow you to publish research output

such as data, software, methods, videos,
and more. We’re constantly looking forways to make your articles easier to find,and to facilitate collaboration between
researchers and authors. For example,
Share Links allow you to share your workwith a wide audience.

ScienceDirect
Elsevier publishes your article on
ScienceDirect, a leading information
solution providing authoritative, full text
scientific, technical and medical content.
By optimizing the platform and indexing
all content, Elsevier works to ensure thatyour article is more visible and can befound more easily by search engines,
library discovery services, A&I databases,
and other search and discovery tools.

Your article will be accessible
immediately after acceptance and hasa unique DOI (Digital Object Identifier)number which will always link to thelatest available version. Elsevier also
participates in the multi-publisher
initiative Crossref, which creates direct
links between your article and those thatcite you. The Crossmark logo in online
PDF or HTML documents helps readers
to verify that they’re using the mostrecent and reliable version of your work.
Visit sciencedirect.com.

29

Postdoc
free access program
NOTES

Don’t lose your competitive edge,
just because you are looking foryour next job.

● Have you been unemployed for 1 year or less? OR● Do you have a project ending in less than 6 months? AND● Have you received your PhD within the last 5 years?
Then you might be eligible for our program granting
free access to Scopus and ALL Elsevier content on
ScienceDirect (journals and books), for a period of
6 months, with a possible extension of another 6 months.

30

Find out more

elsevier.com/postdocfreeaccessHow to get your research published and then noticed

Useful links
Authors’ Update

Mendeley

Elsevier Author Resources

Open accesselsevier.com/authors-updateelsevier.com/author-resources

Elsevier Author Services
webshop.elsevier.com

mendeley.com
elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/openaccess

Promote your work

Elsevier Connect

elsevier.com/promote-your-work

Elsevier Newsroom

researcheracademy.com

Ethics in research & publication

elsevier.com/share-link

JournalFinder

elsevier.com/authors/author-resources/
research-data

elsevier.com/connect

elsevier.com/about/elsevier-newsroom
ethics.elsevier.com

journalfinder.elsevier.com

Researcher Academy
Share Links

Sharing your research data

31

NOTES

32

Elsevier Researcher Academy

Unlock your research potential

You’re already an expert in your field.
We can help with the rest.
RESEARCH
PREPARATIONWRITINGFOR RESEARCHPUBLICATIONPROCESSNAVIGATINGPEER REVIEW

Funding

Fundamentals
of manuscript
preparation

Fundamentals
of publishing

Fundamentals
of peer review

Finding theright journal

Becoming apeer reviewer

EthicsGoing throughpeer review

Research data
management
Research
collaborations

Writing skills
Technical
writing skills
Book writing

Open science
Publishing in theChemical Sciences

Visit researcheracademy.com

COMMUNICATINGYOUR RESEARCH

Social impact
Ensuring visibility

Open accessAt the core of Elsevier’s
publishing mission
Over 90 percent of the journals we launch are open access.* In 2019 we published over 49,000
gold open access articles, a double-digit growth on the previous year. Today Elsevier is one of
the world’s fastest-growing open access publishers.
Whatever your discipline, there’s an open access home for your research. With over 2,300
journals that offer gold open access publishing options, we’ve got you covered.

Here are some of the benefits you’ll enjoy:

High visibility
Reach the audience your research deserves

Proven trust
140 years’ experience curating and verifying scientific knowledge

Top quality
Rigorous standards & quality journals across the board

Powerful innovation
Access to state-of-the-art innovations that measure your impact
and make your life easierWide choice
Select the publishing model that’s right for you
Figure presents Elsevier journal launches in 2019*

Find out more at:
elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/open-access
Journal & article data representative up to March 2020