Publishing: Where and When

Publications in peer-reviewed journals are the main "currency" of academic progress and success. The lab's work is funded by research grants, and a primary determinant of grant success is past publications from the lab. For those trainees aiming to advance through the levels of academia to become professors, publications are absolutely necessary. Even for those who are applying to, or going through, graduate programs without plans of an academic job, the number and quality of publications is evaluated for things like program admission, and scholarships. For those students not planning on following this track, publications still enhance your CV, and provide a very satisfying and tangible outcome of your work in the lab.

That said, the bar for publication is higher than the bar for completion of a project for academic credit, including a thesis or dissertation. Therefore, one should not assume that any paper produced for academic credit and deemed satisfactory for that purpose, is directly submittable to a journal. More work is likely needed.

In spite of the high bar for journal submission, publishing is something all trainees should aim for. As well as the benefits to one's own CV, journal publications benefit your supervisor and the lab. As a trainee you are benefitting from the lab's past publication history, and you should feel an obligation to "pay it forward" by publishing the work you do in the lab.

Discussion around what to publish, where, and when, should be had with your supervisor. In general, it is good practice to pursue publication in parallel with, or right after, submitting your work for academic credit (if it's being used that way). It is also good practice to write up your Introduction and Methods in advance of collecting the data. As well as being a time-saver, this ensures that your methods and the motivation and hypotheses for running the study are documented.

All trainees are expected to read the books, How to Write a Lot, and Write it Up!, both by Dan Silvia. The advice on writing habits, mindsets, and practices in those books are invaluable. Those with more enthusiasm and ambition—either as an academic or another profession in which writing is a necessary skill—should follow up reading those two books with Steven Pinker's A Sense of Style.