Lift off!

Hurrah!

We have arrived at submission.

Here we need to navigate the etiquette of submitting an piece. When it is an article, the journal will have particular requirements for anonymity, cover letters, data, declarations and so on. Similarly if it is a book or edited collection you will have a checklist of everything you need to provide to the editors. You may need to check open access policies and make sure you have necessary copyright permissions in place.

Make sure you see this as an entire task in and of itself that requires careful attention. In the rush to be rid of something, we can make sloppy errors, and fall at the final hurdle.

Make sure you are attentive to all the requirements before you upload your final version, and keep this version identifiable as the one you uploaded to the journal.

Importantly, once you have submitted, take time to celebrate. That day, or that week, but not longer. Go out for dinner and drinks. Tell everyone of your momentous achievement. Give this submission a party it deserves. This is the only time we can celebrate proximate to the achievement of doing the thing, so make it a good one. It is so important for positive reinforcement in our writing practices.

TODAY I WILL…

• Turn on my time tracking software;

• Spend 2 hours 15 minutes giving due care and attention to the final stage of submission, including writing cover letters and attending to all the requirements of the publisher;

• Submit;

• Celebrate!