I have had the opportunity to read on varied opinions expressed by a few people regarding the ideal number of pages a standard article for publications should contain. I need education on this.
The quality of the publication matters not the number of pages.
Matey - Subir is correct in that 'quality over quantity' does count - but word journal word counts are also there to try and ensure this. That is why most journals 'average' around 4-5,000 words per article. There are a whole number of reasons for this - but mainly to keep production costs down, to encourage authors to learn 'summary' skills, and and to maintain a 'level playing field' so that one author isn't advantaged over another. You state 'pages' and I have suggested word count. Some journals state one (usually word count) - but others do state page count. It amounts to a similar thing and reason overall. The pages/word count may or may not include figures, tables, abstract, reference list etc. The author instructions will usually guide on this.
Some journals will allow 8-10,000 words- particularly philosophical journals. However, they usually state that they prefer less. You can also approach the editor, in the first instance, if your word count/pages are more than the journal recommendation - but I would advise no more than 500-1,000. Keep a note of the agreement if it is offered. Some journals also allow extra word count/pages for qualitative studies - as these need a rich and descriptive narrative to illustrate.
Amongst the 'hardest' journals to submit to, are the likes of certain 'hard disciplines' i.e. medicine. Popular medical journals (BMJ, Lancet etc) often have a very strict limit of no more than 3,000 words - even if it's a longitudinal study or a study i.e. mixed methods with multiple data sets etc. They are popular and competitive and dictate 'short and sharp' manuscript submissions.
How many pages are required of an average article for publications?
It varies from journal to journal & the types of paper. The best approach is check with the journal or they might published in their website on number of words, font size, line spacing, single or double columns per page, size of the diagram or number of pages restrictions etc. My personal experience is it can in the range of around 5 to 20 pages.
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