Chapter 3: Reading Submission and Editorial Guidelines

Separate Requirements From Preferences

Read the complete instructions for the relevant article type. A journal may have different rules for research articles, reviews, and commentaries; a magazine may accept pitches for one section but completed pieces for another. Build your checklist from the route you will actually use.

Fictional teaching case: The campus-transit records and outlet briefs in Chapter 1 are invented practice material. They are not publishable evidence or real submission policies.

Translate the Brief Into Actions

For Outlet A, “pitch for a 900-word public explainer” means prepare a proposal for that length. It does not mean send a finished manuscript or claim that an editor has commissioned one. Include the proposed angle, reader value, evidence plan, and the material requested by the brief.

For Outlet B, the teaching brief requires a complete manuscript and abstract, a separate title page, and an anonymous review file. Create separate files, then inspect the review copy for author names, identifying acknowledgements, and document properties where relevant. Follow the actual venue’s approach to self-citation rather than deleting useful references automatically.

The briefs do not specify every detail. Whether A wants an attachment, whether B has an abstract limit, and whether either allows simultaneous submission remain unanswered. Mark those items “check current instructions.” Do not fill gaps with invented policies.

Build a Checklist You Can Verify

Use one line per requirement: instruction, source location, action, and status. “Prepare abstract” is an action; “abstract checked against the stated limit in the final file” is evidence of completion. Keep mandatory declarations separate from optional presentation preferences so that a formatting preference does not conceal a missing disclosure.

Recheck the instructions when the package is ready. If two official pages conflict, retain both references and seek clarification through the venue’s stated contact route before relying on either interpretation.

Try It Yourself

Convert the two fictional briefs into separate checklists. Add at least three unanswered questions to each. Then inspect a real venue’s instructions and replace questions only when you locate an answer. This exercise requires reading, not sending a submission.

Check Your Work

Does each checked item correspond to a file or verified decision? Have you distinguished pitch from manuscript, author file from review file, and explicit instructions from your preferences? An attractive package is incomplete if it omits a required component.