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Current Awareness

Learning About the World in which You Write

Most writers would say that they do not write in a vacuum; they are constantly reading, exploring what else is out there, gathering ideas and staying on top of new activity in their field.

You can best keep up with ideas, trends and innovation in your field by participating in the world of publishing as readers as well as writers. Subscribe to several journals of interest. Pick up new journals each time you are in the library or your department offices. Ask on discussion lists what others like to read. Note journals that appear in bibliographies of papers you admire.

When you begin to develop your own current awareness system for keeping up with ideas in the field and trends in publishing, the work of identifying appropriate journals for your own submissions (which we’ll cover in detail in Module 2 - Laying the Groundwork) is much easier.

What can authors do to ensure the publication process goes as smoothly as possible?

Work very hard, and send a polished article in that is very well-written. It also helps to meet editors at meetings, and do presentations of working papers and get feedback before submitting and become known in the field.
-- Elizabeth Cooperman, peer reviewer and author

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