1. What happens after submission? Sadeghi Ramin, MD Nuclear Medicine Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

2. Reception of the manuscript After sending the manuscript to a journal editorial board wait for the reception notice. If not received in couple of days, e.mail the editor of the journal

4. Fast acceptance Rarely occurs Very promising for the researchers

6. Fast rejection Sometimes the editor in chief does not consider the manuscript for publication on his/her own. Due to different scopes of the journal Due to low quality of the article Simply without reason. Fast rejection is a blessing. It does not waste your time waiting for reviewers

8. Peer review process Usually after the first evaluation by the editorial board the manuscript would be subjected to peer review process. It will take couple of weeks to months

9. Peer review Sometimes you can propose some reviewers for peer review of your manuscript You should provide the name, address, and e.mail of them You do not have right to contact them in this regard This can sometimes hasten the review process

10. Peer review process Usually the reviewers are asked to fill a special form for review process with a space for their comments. Some comments can go to the editor.

14. What if you didn’t get the results of review process in due time? You can always e.mail the editor of the journal regarding your manuscript

16. Decisions Rejection Acceptance with minor revision Acceptance with major revision

17. Rejection It can happen all the time Sometimes in an unfair way Do not get disappointed Consider improving your manuscript according to the reviewer’s suggestions and resubmit it to another journal

18. Rejection For another submission always remember to change the format of the manuscript into the new journal’s format

22. Reasons of rejection

24. Acceptance pending revisions Reply the reviewer comments in a polite and scientific way. Underline any change you make in the manuscript. Your point by point response to the reviewers usually is to be in a separate file.

25. Acceptance pending revisions Many journals with online submission system provide online revision submission too. Follow the orders of the site in this regard.

29. What next? Usually the revised manuscript is sent to the reviewers again. If get their approval, it would be accepted for publication. If not it would be sent back to the corresponding author for another revison Sometimes it would be rejected.

32. What now? Wait for the galley proof to be e.mailed to you. Always check the proof. Sometimes it is full of errors. Some journals have especial online system for proof reading and for making changes in the proof. Do not change the manuscript too much after proofing. Some journals charge you for this process

36. Author query form Attached to the proof, there is usually the author query form. You should answer these questions carefully These are the questions that have been brought up by the person responsible for proofing process

38. Reprint order form Once published, all rights of your study goes to the publisher. You can not distribute your paper without permission of the publisher. You can only use the reprints of your article which you should pay for.

41. What happens next? Now your article will be published. After a while it would appear in medline, ISI, SCOPUS, etc. Sometimes it takes a long time Sometimes it may appear even before publishing Online first and e.pub ahead of print