how many times are articles supposed to be reviewed before they are published. am a law student so any social science comments would help.

an article is sent in to a journal then it is sent out to either 2/3 academics who will read it in the first instance. It can be accepted straight away, or sent back for revisions, this can take place a number of times, I have recently had an article sent back on 4 separate occasions from the same journal to make changes, then finally published. Normally it takes about 2 reviews for it be published, but depends on how particular the journal is.

isn't that great if that's the case? but what if there are mistakes. i don't want to make an obvious mistake. the problem is that most lecturers appear to be too busy to review the article for me. do you randomly send it to academics?

The Journal editor will send your article to two (or more) reviewers who usually remained anonymous. You shouldn't submit an article for publication without first getting approval from your supervisors, who will presumably be co-authors? Obviously, co-authors will need to contribute to your article and you usually need their signed consent as part of the submission process.

coauthors? supervisors? i wrote it on my own. my thesis has nothing to do with it. so does my supervisor still come into this? remember it's a social science thesis, your supervisor helps you out & ur in charge of the direction of the thesis..unlike sciences where the supervisor directs ur research so why on earth would they want recognition when they contributed nothing?????

another point Ann: ok, if i send the article to journals, then does that mean that i am not expected to have got it reviewed before hand?

If you wrote the article on your own you can submit on your own. You don't review it - the journal will send it to 2/3 reviewers. They may reject, accept or send back for revisions - these may have to be done very quickly e.g. 2 days. Each journal publishes conditions e.g. word length, style etc. You should read these carefully.

My advise would be not to submit without discussing with your supervisor first - publishing is highly competative and you are unlikley to get anything published at this stage without some input from your supervisor.

Hi Sweetchic, I think you may have a rather inaccurate impression of science PhDs, we certainly don't just get a list of instructions from our supervisors and off we go! Science PhDs, like any other, involve a substantial amount of independent thought and require a student to take ownership of the project as they develop their research skills. I agree with Camper, even if your supervisor will not be an author, she/he will very likely be able to give you some good advice. First time publishing is hard. Best of luck with your paper :o)

thanks for your informative reply Ann, but you should have noted that I was looking for social science views..am not interested in the goings on in the sciences, so remember that next time before assessing my understanding of a science PhD which am not and will never be interested in.

thanks for your advice camper. i'll certainly get someone to look at it. my supervisor has no interest in the field the article is on, so guys don't always assume that students only write stuff based on their research.

Dear Sweetchic, I'm sorry that you feel that I should not have replied to your post because my field is science. I think it is clear from my post that I was trying to be helpful. Publication of papers is a process that is common to all researchers, regardless of field. I was sincere when I wished you best of luck with your publication.

thanks Ann for your helpfulness. however, your advice would have been more helpful had you not offered some unsolicited analysis of my understanding of PhDs. all i wanted to know was about reviews..how necessary they are. not whether i should publish or not and not whether i should do so on my own or not. ur right. am not too amused.

some good news guys. one of my lecturers agree to review the article. isn't that great. thanks all of you for emphasising on the need to get a review. will let you know how that goes.

Hi Sweetchic, it was not entirely unsolicited. I was responding to your comment
"remember it's a social science thesis, your supervisor helps you out & ur in charge of the direction of the thesis..unlike sciences where the supervisor directs ur research " cont.

I replied on this occasion because you’ve said this type of thing before i.e. 11th May, when you said "with social sciences your supervisor assists you with your project, not like in sciences where you assist them. as a social scientist, you are in charge of the direction your thesis takes". Anyway, this is off-topic and not helpful to your original query. Hope the publication goes well, which journal are you targeting? All best wishes, Ann