This article appeared in Managing Education Matters, the professional magazine of the Commonwealth Council for Educational Management and Administration in 2006.
GETTING INTO PRINT
If you’re a teacher with good practice to share or a university academic wanting to spread your research, you need to get your ideas published. I’m often asked if there’s a foolproof way to ensure acceptance Well – there isn’t - but there are ways to maximise your chances.
Try some of these suggestions.
• See getting published as a fun hobby. It will still take over all your spare time but you’ll find it more bearable.
• Use every opportunity to practice writing. Send short articles to professional magazines, test yourself on electronic journals (currently less prestigious than those in print) before you launch a full-scale assault on academic journals.
• If a seasoned academic offers to publish jointly with you, grab the offer FAST.
• Network, network, network at conferences. Look for journal editors amongst the delegates. Seek their advice. See if anyone is doing a special issue and needs your expertise.
• Try publishing in your own country first and then branch out into journals elsewhere. Then aim at journals that include ‘International’ in their title.
• Twin track. Theses, research reports and classroom case studies always produce more information than will fit into one article. Use the rest for further publications. Write separate articles on the literature or methodologies used.
• Obey the contributors’ instructions exactly. These help the over-worked and poorly paid editors to smooth the way for your article into print. You may want to exceed the words allowance but DON’T. You may not want to change all your citations to Chicago style but JUST DO IT. You can usually find the instructions on line.
• Read the journal you are targeting. That way you learn to write in the style most favoured by their readership.
• Your article is 97% sure to be returned for revisions even if it is accepted (figures from the USA eminent Educational Administration Quarterly, 2004). Even the most venerable academics have to make changes. SO MAKE THEM. Yes – you’ll feel annoyed by the comments but you’ll notice a distinct improvement in your article when you’ve done them.
AND SO – you’re in print with your first article. Enjoy the triumph for just a few minutes but then get right on with the next article. Never stop writing.
Oh – you got rejected? That was only because you submitted to an unsuitable journal so alter it to fit another journal and recycle. See you on the road.

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