Journal Instructions for Authors

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Enhancing essential journal information to support ‘right first time’ research paper submissions

Every journal’s Instructions for Authors are core to supporting researchers in including all the essential information for their research paper submission.  

A journal’s Instructions for Authors guide researchers in constructing their article to meet the journal’s requirements, as well as providing essential details on specific policies relating to the journal, such as clinical trial registry, ethics compliance or open research options. It’s essential they are clear and user-friendly.   

Improving journal instructions for authors 

At Taylor & Francis, we are enhancing this crucial step of the publication journey to be author-centric, meeting the needs of researchers to get this information quickly when they are at the ‘I want to submit my research paper, tell me how’ stage.  

We’ve created new layouts and enhanced navigation and content for journal Instructions for Authors, centered on the key steps authors need to take to prepare their paper for submission, so they can get it ‘right first time’.  

By streamlining the information presented, the submission requirements and preparation process is clear for authors and saves time for journal editors when they first receive each submission. 

See the new Instructions for Authors layout on Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk 

Implementing clear and user-friendly journal instructions for authors 

We’re piloting this on an ‘early adopter’ group of journals and academic editorial teams, who are working with us to make this vital step clear and user-friendly.  

Right first-time research paper submissions: 5 core enhancements 

1. The main sections in Instructions for Authors are manuscript requirements, style requirements, file requirements, checklist, and submit.  

2. Submission requirements are presented on a manuscript-type basis, including whether an anonymous version of the manuscript is required for double-anonymous peer review. 

3. Contextual and explanatory information is linked to on Author Services, to streamline what is in the journal Instructions for Authors. 

4. Text on the suitability of a manuscript has been relocated from the Instructions for Authors to each journal’s Aims & Scope on Taylor & Francis Online, centralizing and standardizing where researchers should go to get that and putting it in the right place in the publication  journey.  

5. Any fee-related information, including for open access, has been moved to the Journal Information page, for consistency and clarity.  

To make them even more user-friendly we’ve also included clearer linking, better navigation and checklists.   

We want to make sure these changes are making the submission process easier for researchers, so we’re analyzing user data and gathering feedback from authors too. What is that feedback telling us so far? 

Authors are consistently positive about the ease of information in guiding them through their submission and right first time tracking for our cohort of early adopter journals is +6%.  

This will ensure the positive impact of all changes and our next steps, putting author needs and a philosophy of ‘how do we support researchers to get every research paper submission ‘right first time’’ at the heart of this digital publishing excellence development.