As an individual, all you can do to get more (quality) publications is keep working, but here are a few ideas to improve productivity-

+ Persevere, getting publications is more about motivation and endurance than anything else. If you want it and put in the hours you can get the publications.

+ When a paper is rejected, read the feedback, revise and resubmit elsewhere. Think of the feedback received with each rejection as free advice to help you get it published elsewhere next time.

+ Don't get demotivated. The peer review process is notoriously random. Papers rejected from one journal are often accepted easily with an other. Often it's not your work at fault, it's just poor reviewing.

+ Choose carefully where you send a paper. A major limiting factor in gaining publications is your writing time. You waste time on edits and rewrites if you send to journals which are inappropriate for the topic or methods that you have used. This also goes for the quality of the journal, aim too high and you will spend all your time rewriting the same paper. Choose well and get it accepted quickly so that you can move onto the next paper. Even think about picking the journal before you start the research, then you can be sure do do something that perfectly fits the journals type.

+ Consider preregistered publication. Some journals are now offering a service where they review the protocol before the research is actually conducted. If they think the protocol is good the journal then agrees to accept and publish your research, regardless of the results.

+ Teamwork, it's very slow gaining publications if you a lone wolf. If possible, work in teams, help people with their papers and they help you with yours. The reason that academics with high output levels achieve so much is that they work in environments in which they are members of multiple research teams and they get an authorship whenever one of the teams publishes.

+ On the other hand, try and see when collaborations are going nowhere. It's easy to waste time on research projects with people who are unlikely to ever publish. Collaborate with people who have previously published papers.

As an individual, all you can do to get more (quality) publications is keep working, but here are a few ideas to improve productivity-

+ Persevere, getting publications is more about motivation and endurance than anything else. If you want it and put in the hours you can get the publications.

+ When a paper is rejected, read the feedback, revise and resubmit elsewhere. Think of the feedback received with each rejection as free advice to help you get it published elsewhere next time.

+ Don't get demotivated. The peer review process is notoriously random. Papers rejected from one journal are often accepted easily with an other. Often it's not your work at fault, it's just poor reviewing.

+ Choose carefully where you send a paper. A major limiting factor in gaining publications is your writing time. You waste time on edits and rewrites if you send to journals which are inappropriate for the topic or methods that you have used. This also goes for the quality of the journal, aim too high and you will spend all your time rewriting the same paper. Choose well and get it accepted quickly so that you can move onto the next paper. Even think about picking the journal before you start the research, then you can be sure do do something that perfectly fits the journals type.

+ Consider preregistered publication. Some journals are now offering a service where they review the protocol before the research is actually conducted. If they think the protocol is good the journal then agrees to accept and publish your research, regardless of the results.

+ Teamwork, it's very slow gaining publications if you a lone wolf. If possible, work in teams, help people with their papers and they help you with yours. The reason that academics with high output levels achieve so much is that they work in environments in which they are members of multiple research teams and they get an authorship whenever one of the teams publishes.

+ On the other hand, try and see when collaborations are going nowhere. It's easy to waste time on research projects with people who are unlikely to ever publish. Collaborate with people who have previously published papers.

Dear Sivamani,

Besides choosing the journal based on its scope, other things need to be considered:

- The contribution of your work to the field would orient your choice to journals with high, moderate or low impact factors. This would spare time and could avoid multiple rejections.

- Some papers get rejected based on the quality of writing. Therefore, English editing prior to submission might increase chances for acceptance.

Sincerely yours,

Moussa

Rule No. 1: sit down and write (see the nice book from Silvia, How to write a lot).

Rule No. 2: see rule No. 1 - Sorry, joke!

Rule No. 2: As Gerd Giegerenzer proposed: what is your very best research result! Tell the world about it! Be clear to yourself and your readers!

Are your findings understandable and clearly presented in your article? Ask colleagues outside your expertise if they would understand and if the article was interesting to read.

Rule No 3: Don't let it bring you down ... when a paper is rejected! This is the most likely outcome of a submission. The normal case. Only a small proportion of papers are accepted in the first run (I guess much less than 30%). Getting a major revision has to be considered a success!

So take it easy: falling down, standing up again, adjust your crown ... and go on!

Rule No. 4: Rejected or revision: please take heed of the reviewers responses and try to answer them in detail (or do a rebuttal, if the reviewer is wrong!). These are the experts in the field, and usually they provide you with valuable information you'll never get from elsewhere again!

Rule No. 4: Be patient! Some articles take literally years until their publication (look up the famous example of the wonderful transform a certain Monsieur Fourier had developed ...).

Best wishes,

dk