2. Total Submissions Total submissions rejected without review Total original articles Original articles sent for review % Rejected with review % Original articles accepted Number of papers accepted 200144030%63%26% 200251435%29958%27%107 200353040%29357%26%112 200454356%24764%16%72 200557055%28864%16%76 200662558%55528057%18%99 200764958%57430552%20%116 200869263%61332454%17%103 200969364%61428958%15%91 201071459%61925758%18%109 201176760%68527658%17%117 201278063%68025152%15%105

3. Main Reasons for Rejection without Review: 1) scope, fit, and audience 2) format, appearance, language, organization 3) originality and scientific priority 4) lack of a clear aim or hypothesis Main Reasons for Rejection with Review: 1) fatally flawed design or analysis 2) data don’t support definitive conclusion 3) massive changes required in structure of paper

4. Picking a journal 1) public health, epidemiology or substantive public health American Journal of Public Health Canadian Journal of Public Health International Journal of Public Health BMC Public Health etc epidemiology American Journal of Epidemiology Epidemiology International Journal of Epidemiology Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Annals of Epidemiology etc substantive NeurologyBMJGerontology CancerLancetJAIDS CirculationPediatricsHealth Policy JAMAStrokeClinical Infectious Diseases etcetcetc

5. Open Access versus Subscription 1) Advertiser pays: JAMA, NEJM 2) Subscriber pays: Epidemiology, AJR 3) Author pays: PLoS, BMC 4) Government pays: EHP Impact Factor Insane: NEJM, Science, Nature, Lancet High: Epid Reviews, EHP, CMAJ Moderate: Epidemiology, IJE, AJE Low: J Urban Health, EJE, BMC Pubic Health ~Zero: Sante Publique, J Nepal Med Assoc Increasing your Chances of Publication 1) Follow guidelines for authors obsessively 2) Look at articles in the current issues for style 3) Adhere to word counts, but include appendices 4) Promote the article in the cover letter 5) Seek pre-submission review from colleagues 6) Respond to reviews obsessively and obsequiously 7) Resubmit early and often (but revise first) 8) Pray

6. 11 DON’TS from Thomas Plümper (via Jackie C) 1. Don’t be afraid of rejection letters. 2. Don’t start too low on the journal ladder. 3. Don’t submit the manuscript to more than one journal at a time. 4. Don’t submit unfinished/unpolished manuscripts to get comments from the reviewers. 5. Don’t format the manuscript according to the journal standards for your 1st submission. 6. Don’t add the name of your supervisor to the paper if s/he has not substantively contributed. 7. Don’t complain about the referee reports, if your paper gets rejected. 8. Don’t throw the paper away if it gets trashed by the referees. 9. Don’t ignore the referee reports if your paper gets rejected. 10. Don’t do everything the referees ask for if your paper gets an r&r. 11. Don’t forget to write a detailed ‘letter to the editor’ to explain your revisions and justify your decision not to do what the referees want if you get an r&r.