We finally did it!
Our project work has been published in an article for the Journal of the Operational Research Society. It has been a great learning experience to have organised and led this process. If I can offer some tips to authors who want to get their work published after a research project, they will be:
1) Draft whatever you can and send it. Looking back, the very first draft version of the paper does not resemble much of the final one. Yes, we included some diagrams at the beginning (we wanted to show some data), but even they were very preliminary versions. We put the first draft out there and asked for feedback from co-authors (not every one contributed in the same way). We started the process as a new stage after the project funding ended. And asked for help, which we got in unexpected ways.
2) Try to use the help you get in the ways it comes. Some co-authors were good at refining the writing of ideas and adding their own. Others were too specialised. I had to find a way of accommodating their contributions. I also had to adapt my schedule to theirs. And wait patiently. One of the co-authors wrote only a few paragraphs but they were unique in the way that they helped us position the paper in the current literature and discussions. Another used the language of her discipline (not systems thinking). So we had to find ways to translate contributions. Often, we mean very similar things.
3) Make decisions. As much as I waited patiently for contributions, I had to shape the content of the article to what I thought was important and to meet deadlines! Gradually, the scope of what could be changed had to be reduced and some contributions were reduced or lefr for the next paper. Reviewers assume that there is consensus among co-authors. So should you as lead author.
4) Involve practitioners. We had a project group with practitioners, so we asked for their feedback. Like academics, they are very busy people and moved onto other projects if not their day to day job (which is not to write papers!). They said though that the main benefit of their involvement was not the paper but the learning that came with it. This and other insights (they have helped disseminate the paper in their networks, and they have praised it with their peers in front of me!) are definitely worth considering.
5). Enjoy and use it! The paper was published online a few months ago. Am still over the moon with it! I keep talking to people about it and it has brought me other possibilities for future research. Whilst I decide what to do next, am contacting people who I think can benefit from knowing about it. Not a big network in terms of numbers.
Sadly, I have to fight back the urge to think of the next paper in a better ranked journal. Luckily I have got busy with other commitments, but hey, I keep looking at this paper. I am hope the joy lasts for longer !
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