CfSC Manuscript Development Timeline

Manuscript Timeline & Benchmarks

Pre-Submission Phase (~12 months)

12 months before submission - Meet with your primary mentor to discuss manuscript type and scope
Talk to your primary mentor about your interest in developing a manuscript and have a forthright discussion about the required time commitment and your bandwidth in the coming year to take on such an ambitious project. As part of this conversation, identify the type of manuscript that you are considering (e.g., original research, review, meta-analysis). While specific requirements and the timeline below may vary slightly by manuscript type, the overall workflow remains largely consistent. You should also come to this meeting with potential ideas for projects and/or analyses that you’d like to do. While your mentors job will be to help guide you to a reasonable and high quality question, having some ideas at this initial meeting serves to both (a) demonstrate your seriousness about taking on such an ambitious endeavor and (b) give your mentor a clear idea of your interests. At this stage, you should also begin identifying potential co-authors to support the project development.

A selection of previous data sets can be found in the CfSC Production folder in the CfSC Sharepoint and descriptions of many of these datasets can be found on our website here.

11 months before submission - Confirm research question and data
Define your research question and confirm the dataset (if applicable). For original research manuscripts, data collection should be complete or nearing completion. It is acceptable to begin manuscript development if data collection is expected to be completed within the next 4–6 months.

10 months before submission - Annotated bibliography (≥20–30 papers)
Compile a comprehensive annotated bibliography. Each entry should summarize the study’s aims, methods, and key findings, and describe its relevance to your manuscript. You should also begin using a reference manager (e.g., Zotero) to organize citations. This will serve as the foundation for your Introduction and Reference sections.

Advice on developing an annotated bibliography can be found here and here.

9 months before submission - Confirm co-authors and planned authorship order and draft Methods section
Prepare a detailed Methods section to ensure a complete understanding of the study design, procedures, measures, and planned analyses. This step often reveals gaps in understanding that should be addressed early. At this point, the primary co-authors should be confirmed. In addition to circulating the Methods section for review, you should communicate an initial plan for authorship order so that people are able to confirm they have the anticipated bandwidth to contribute as expected. Authorship order can change if involvement or contributions change over the course of development.

Advice on drafting a methods section can be found here. You should also pay close attention to methods sections of similar papers during your annotated bibliography and style them similarly.

Drafts of manuscripts previously published through the CfSC can also be found in the CfSC Production folder in the CfSC Sharepoint. In most cases, it these can be useful as successful templates to help guide your manuscript development.

Some guidance on determining authorship order can be found here, here, and here.

8 months before submission - Finalize dataset for analysis and draft pre-registration (if applicable)
Clean, organize, and finalize your dataset in a master file suitable for analysis (e.g., R, SPSS). Ensure variables are clearly labeled and any data issues have been addressed. Then, prior to conducting any analyses, use your Methods section, analysis plan, and finalized dataset to draft a pre-registration to be posted at Open Science Framework (osf.io). This document should outline your hypotheses and planned analyses. Circulate this document to all co-authors for review and feedback prior to submission.

Tips on doing a pre-registration can be found here , here, and here.

Examples of previous pre-registrations can be found here and here.

A template that may be helpful in developing the pre-registration can be found here.

6 months before submission - Finalize and upload pre-registration
Incorporate all feedback from primary mentor and co-authors and upload the pre-registration to Open Science Framework (or another pre-registration site). It is critical that this document is accurate, as changes cannot be made after submission—particularly with respect to planned analyses.

5 months before submission - Conduct analyses and meet with co-authors
Attempt analyses independently, then meet with your primary mentor and co-authors to review them. You should come prepared with figures and tables already created to facilitate interpretation and discussion.

4 months before submission - Refine analyses and draft Results section
Incorporate feedback on analyses and prepare a complete Results section. If the pre-registration was followed closely, revisions at this stage should be relatively minimal.

Advice on drafting a Results section can be found here,here, and here.

3 months before submission - Draft Discussion section
Develop a full Discussion section, including interpretation of findings, limitations, and future directions.

Advice on drafting a Discussion section can be found here and here.

2.5 months before submission - Full manuscript draft to co-authors
Prepare and circulate a complete draft including Title Page (with authorship order), Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References. Any changes to authorship order should be communicated prior to this.

Advice on drafting an Abstract can be found here and here.

1.5 months before submission - Incorporate co-author feedback
Revise the manuscript based on feedback from all co-authors. This stage may require multiple rounds of revision to reach consensus. Comments should be removed from revisions as they are addressed unless further clarifying information is needed.

1 month before submission - Select target journal
Identify potential journals for submission. Consider scope, audience, impact, special issues, and publication fees. If fees apply, determine a plan for covering these costs. Once the journal is selected, you should spend time formatting the manuscript to be in alignment with the journal specifications.

Initial Submission Day - Submit manuscript
Submit the manuscript to the selected journal following all specified instructions. Unless otherwise discussed, the first author should also serve as the corresponding author and manage all communication with the journal. After submission, celebrate!! 🎉🍻 This is a huge accomplishment!

Post-Submission Phase (~6 months)

0–2 months after submission - Await editorial decision
Initial decisions typically take several weeks to months.

~3 months after submission - Revise and resubmit (if invited)
It is exceedingly rare to receive an accepted decision after your first submission. Typically, you will either receive a revise-and-resubmit or a rejection. If a revise-and-resubmit decision is received, prepare a detailed, point-by-point response to all reviewer comments and revise the manuscript accordingly. Send to co-authors for advice, review, and approval. Resubmit within the journal’s timeframe (extensions can often be requested if needed).

If rejected, review any comments received, incorporate useful feedback, and submit to an alternative journal.

Tips on responding to reviewers can be found here, here, here, and here.

~4 months after submission - Additional rounds of reviews
The reviewers may request multiple rounds of reviews. Continue to respond promptly, thoroughly, and politely.

~5 months after submission - Manuscript acceptance (goal)
Target timeline for acceptance, though timelines may vary across journals. Once accepted, celebrate again! 🎉🍻 This is a major academic accomplishment!

~6 months after submission - Finalize publication requirements
Complete all publisher requirements, including proofing, permissions, and payment of any applicable publication fees. Send the final citation to all co-authors so they can easily update their CVs. Consider promoting your manuscript on social media and developing a press release with the hospital.