A Visual Guide to the Scientific Publishing Process

Why scientific articles are more trustworthy than that video your Uncle Joe shared on Facebook.

2 min readAug 11, 2020

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Friends! Did you know that legitimate scientists publish their research in academic journals? (not on youtube)

Getting science published is a rigorous process. Let’s break it down.

Step 1: Get an education. Then more… then more… then more…

Step 2: Conduct research (this could be its own graphic)

Step 3: Write it up.

Step 4: Submit to a journal. Important: must avoid so-called “predatory journals”

Step 5: A journal editor gives the first check to make sure your paper meets basic quality standards

Step 6: Peer review. 2–3 scientists critique your paper.

Step 7: First decision. Based on the peer reviews, you receive a decision of reject, accept, or accept with revisions.

Step 8: Revise. This might involve collecting more data, conducting new analyses, or more.

Step 9: Re-submit. The average paper goes through 2 rounds of peer review.

Step 10: Accepted! Did you know that scientists are not paid for the papers they write?

After publication: citation. Other scientists might cite your paper or try to replicate your results.

All scientists go through this publication process: evolutionary biologists, climate scientists, & medical researchers

There are nearly 8 million full-time researchers, and the vast majority are collaborative and truth-seeking

Science should be a source of hope, not fear and anger.

Being a scientist is demanding and rigorous. It helps when we have your support. Thanks for listening! — Illustrations: Kathryn M. Everson / Data Worth Seeing

Written by kmeverson

Biology postdoc by day, graphic designer by night. Creator of “Data Worth Seeing.”

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