Academic Publication

Wang Zhaohui

October 13, 2025

Content

• 1. Why publication is important?
• 2. Journal
• 3. Monograph
• 4. Book chapter/conference proceeding

1. Why?

• Publish or perish
• Students need publications for PhD graduation in China
• Scholars need publications for promotions

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1. Why?

• Publish or perish
• To crystalize your thoughts and findings

- learning > reading > research > publication

- writing is always the best way

- practice makes perfect

• To increase the social impact of your research

- domestic and international; Xiaohongshu, WeChat, Bilibili or TV

1. Why?

• Publish or perish
• To crystalize your thoughts and findings
• To increase the social impact of your research
• Publication is not only your currency, but also your record. You need to be very serious about it.

- If four-star journal papers (globally recognized), you are holding dollars and free to go anywhere in the world

- If three-star journal papers (disciplinarily and regionally recognized), you are holding euros and feeling very comfortable in the zone

- If two-star journal papers (only regionally recognized), you are holding the local currency and somewhat restricted within the specific country/area (but local currency sometimes works very well or even better than euros and dollars)

2. Journal article

• Types
• Research/original article
• Research note
• Review article (state of the field review)
• Book review

Process

• 1. Research & writing a manuscript 😀
• 2. Submitting to a journal 😁😁😁
• 3. Waiting for the decision 🙄
• (1) Desk reject (one week to one month) 😞
• (2) Reject after peer review (at least three months, with external reviewers‘ reports) 😟
• (3) Revise and resubmit (R&R) 🤓
• 4. R&R and second round of review 🙄
• 5 Accept and publish 😂
• Time of the whole process varies considerably: from 1-2 years, or even more!

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1. Research & writing a manuscript

• • The article (introduction) should answer six fundamental questions:
• (1) What is the research question and why is it important?
• (2) What do we know about the problem/puzzle/debate in question? (framing)
• (3) What is the theoretical or empirical gap in the literature? (literature review)
• (4) What is your argument?
• (5) How do you validate the argument? (methodology & empirical study)
• (6) What are your main contributions? (question? perspective? Concept? theory? data? method?)
• • Length: ideally 8000-10000 words for the manuscript draft

2. Submission: journal selection

• Select a target journal by considering:

(1) audience: disciplinary or area study journal

(2) journal reputation

(3) research ‘fit’

- consider how to best situate your article within existing debates, especially previous works published in your target journal(s)

- familiarize yourself with the target journal’s ‘aims and scope’, ‘house style’ and referencing system, from ‘information for authors’

2. Submission: journal selection, cont.

• (4) career strategy
• - SSCI and AHCI journals recognized in China
• - https://jcr.clarivate.com/jcr/browse-journals
• (5) article processing: email or online submission, individual article or special issue, how many issues per year, how many articles per issue, professionalism of editors and reviewers, etc.

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IR journals

• IO/IS/ISQ/IA/ISR
• European Journal of International Relations, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Australian Journal of International Affairs, Chinese Journal of International Politics, Journal of Chinese Political Science, International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
• Globalisations, Journal of International Relations and Development, International Relations, International Politics…

PS/CP journals

• APSR, AJPS, ARPS, WP, BJPS, JoP…
• CPS, CP, Contemporary Politics
• Journal of Chinese Political Science, Japanese Journal of Political Science, Social Science Japan Journal, Philippine Political Science Journal
• Asian Journal of Political Science, Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

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Area Studies journals: Asia-Pacific in general

• Asian Perspective, Asian Studies Review, Asian Survey, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Journal of East Asian Studies, Asia Europe Journal…
• The Pacific Review, Pacific Focus, Pacific Affairs, Third World Quarterly…
• Journal of Chinese Political Science, Journal of Contemporary China, China Quarterly, The China Journal, China: An International Journal, The China Review
• Contemporary Southeast Asia, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, South East Asia Research

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3. If a rejection…

• Don’t be destroyed
• Take the constructive comments, and ignore the bullshits

- 人心难测

- don’t take it personal

• Do revise the article and resubmit to another journal
• The article will get published anyway

4. Revise and resubmit (R&R)

• Great news! 🤓
• If you get an R&R don’t assume that means you are home and dry

- please take revisions very seriously

• Try your utmost to revise!

- you may defend something, but don’t over do it

• Track changes and provide an honest checklist of revisions with your response letter

- it saves everyone’s time

• If you have any question (i.e. the reviewers’ views are conflicting with each other), you are suggested to ask the editor.

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Three golden rules of R&R response letter

• Answer completely
• Answer politely
• Answer with evidence

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• Your top goal: don’t let the editors invite alternative reviewers to review the manuscript

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5. No reply/decision after submission

• No news is good news for the first 4 months
• No news is not always (always not) good news for longer
• When more than 4 months, you may inquire in a polite and reasonable way

My experience 1: wait patently, but no good luck

• 9 months to get the final decision of rejection

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• Manuscript submission in September 2015
• First inquiry in January 2016
• Second inquiry in March 2016
• Last inquiry in May 2016
• Final decision (rejection) in June 2016

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My experience 2: inquire, or even complain, in a polite and reasonable way

• Manuscript submission in June 2016
• First inquiry on 7 October 2016: no reply
• Second Inquiry on 15 October 2016: no reply
• Finally chose to deliver an “ultimatum” on 19 October 2016

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19/10/2016, 10:07

Dear Professor XXX,

I hope this email finds you very well.

I have submitted an article titled “XXX” to XXX. It has been more than four months since I last heard from the editorial assistant. I made several inquiries about the review process earlier this month but receive no replies.

The thing is that I will have a faculty annual review in the coming year, which is critically important for my career development. I think the article has been under review for more than four months and a decision should have been made. Could you please kindly check it for me? Many thanks. If I still cannot get reply from the editorial assistant within one month, I am afraid I will have to withdraw the submission and consider publishing elsewhere. Thank you for your comprehension of this situation.

Best wishes,

19/10/2016, 20:12

Dear XXX:

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay.

We have however recently received news from our distinguished outside reader and will forward our verdict to you within the next few days.

Cordially,

24/10/2016, 21:45

• Dear XXX,
• We have read your above-titled manuscript and are pleased to inform you that we are accepting it conditionally for publication.
• The reviewer’s evaluation suggests that your paper should be an excellent contribution to XXX and to the field. At the same time, the reviewer raises a number of incisive queries and comments that, once addressed, should significantly strengthen the manuscript.  We concur with this evaluation, which is appended below. We ask that you address the reviewer’s comments during preparation of your final draft and return the draft to us with a cover letter indicating how you have incorporated the changes by December 15, 2016.
• To expedite editing and publication, the final draft MUST conform fully to XXX style, particularly regarding footnotes, citations, and abbreviations/acronyms (see attachment).
• …

6. Publishing myth

• Myth 1: Only theory-heavy articles with sweeping implications get published

- but your article/empirical study does need to engage with theories and have theoretical implications

• Myth 2: Only articles with lots of interesting ideas will get published

- articles get published not for the number of ideas presented but for being carefully organized around a single significant idea

• Myth 3: Only articles that are entirely original will get published

- complete originality is almost impossible, but it remains true that you must do something ‘new’ to be published

- be careful with overclaiming: don’t exaggerate your originality and contribution

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7. Some dos and don’ts

• Don’t exceed the word limit.
• Don’t submit your article to more than one journal at one time.
• Don’t directly translate your Chinese article into an English one.
• Don’t argue/complain with the editor.

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• Properly cite articles for the journal to which you would like submit your article.
• Do proofread before formal submission.
• You are suggested to present your unpublished article in conferences.
• Knowing the journal editor and editorial board members could be of help.

- to reject you more quickly, and to give you more chance to revise

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8. Something else

• Reviewers preferred/to be avoided
• Cover letter
• How useful is impact factor?

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There is a difference between knowing the path & walking the path

• 1. Research & writing a manuscript
• 2. Submission: journal selection
• 3. If a rejection…
• 4. Revise and resubmit (R&R)
• 5. No reply/decision after submission (>4 months)

3. Monograph

• Book publication is more time-consuming
• Publisher: academic (Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, HKU, NUS) > commercial (Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, Brill) > others (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, World Scientific Press)
• Length: ideally 70000-90000 words, 250-350 pages for the book draft

- the length difference between Chinese and Western PhD theses

• Two pieces of important advice:

- you do not have to publish a monograph to obtain a PhD degree or to secure a faculty position; instead, you can do it afterwards

- you can republish you journal article(s) in a book, but not vice versa

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4. Book chapter / conference proceeding

• Book chapter / conference proceeding easier and quicker, but with lower value added
• My personal advice: don’t do it when you have to.

- you are sponsored to attend a conference

- you are making a contribution to a very important book (but less likely)

- you are requested by your supervisor/a famous editor to contribute a chapter

- you feel your article not qualified for a decent journal (but often it is not the case)

- you can republish your journal article as a book chapter, but not vice versa