Writing and Publishing Scientific Article is Expensive and Time Consuming. Here’s Why.

Last Updated on April 25, 2023

That said, the process of writing a scientific article may take several months. Even if it is ready, it may take months or even years from submission to being published in a journal. In addition, we may need considerable funds to pay for proofreading services, and to pay article processing charges (APC) in a journal with an open-access publication model.

To find out more, here are the steps to write and publish a scientific article and their costs.

A. Flowchart of writing to publishing a scientific article

Based on Figure 1, there are commonly several steps from writing to publishing a scientific article, as follows:

1. write a scientific article,
2. editorial or refinement stage (such as translation and proofreading),
3. choosing target journals
4. submitting an article to a target journal
5. If you are rejected, go back to step three to find another destination journal.
6. If revision is necessary, the authors revise in response to the editor’s comments and submit the revised results.
7. If there are no revisions, the article is accepted and ready for publication.

In this case, stages 4 to 6 generally take the longest and are beyond the control of the authors. Moreover, the journal may reject it because the substance does not match the aims and scope of the journal or is beyond the expertise of the reviewers. It is not surprising that the waiting time for an article to be published can even reach several years.

B. Preparing a scientific article

A scientific article is one way to publish the results of our research. So, before starting to write a scientific article, we must first obtain the results and the validations of the research.

Subsequently, a scientific article is commonly written in a structure comprising several sections. It may include an abstract, background or introduction, related methods, proposed methods, experiments, results and validation, and conclusions.

But writing a quality scientific article requires a lot of effort. Moreover, the presentation of the contribution and the problem definition must be precise and concise. That way, people with similar cases can find the article and use it as a reference to solve their problems.

Then, is the proposed method in the article reasonable and actionable? The experiment, result, and validation sections are written to convince the reader that the proposed method is feasible. In addition, all references that are used as a basis, comparison, or support should also be relevant.

Experienced authors may have no trouble assembling the content of a scientific article. On the other hand, inexperienced authors may have difficulties doing it, even though there are many references to help them. In this case, Indowhiz offers consultation and mentoring services to teach how to write a high-quality scientific article.

After the authors finish compiling and writing the scientific article, it may need to go through the editorial stage. It includes the layout editing according to the target journal guidelines and the refining process (e.g., proofreading).

C. Submitting an article to a suitable journal

A reputable journal generally has specific aims and scope. Therefore, it is very important to determine the most relevant target journal to publish our article.

The submission process to the target journal may take several days. Because, in addition to the main article files, a reputable journal generally also requires authors to upload several supporting files, including cover letters, high-resolution images, conflict-of-interest declarations, and biographies. Sometimes we also have to write a lot of metadata or other supporting data for the journal system.

We also need to actively monitor our article after they have been submitted, for example:

• After two weeks, our article should be “under review,” or else we should have been notified that it is unsuitable for that journal (rejected). Otherwise, we need to ask the journal editor about the status of our article.
• Likewise, if the status of our article remains “under review” for around 3 months, we also need to ask the journal editor about progress.

D. Respond to the reviewer’s comments

The editor-in-chief will decide whether the article needs revision, should be rejected, or should be accepted after considering the comments of the reviewers. Subsequently, we will be notified by email, along with the chief decision and the reviewers’ comments. Here, the authors must carefully read all comments. After that, the authors can start discussing and responding to every detail of the reviewers’ comments.

The reviewer’s comments will generally provide insight from another perspective regarding our article. It is hoped that the quality of the articles will improve and be clearer in explaining the possibility of application as well as the necessary evidence. Therefore, we must be thorough in our response and provide any additional evidence as needed.

E. Estimated time and cost

Let’s talk about how much it costs and how long it takes to publish a scientific article in a reputable journal.

1. Writing article: 1 to 12 months (at no cost or up to thousands of dollars).
   • Experienced authors may not require any additional costs.
   • Assistance or consulting services may be needed, which range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
2. Refining article: 1 to 4 weeks (hundreds to around a thousand dollars).
   • If needed, language translation typically costs between tens and hundreds of dollars.
   • Proofreading services can range in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars.
3. Submitting article: 1 week (at no cost).
   • Generally, article submission is free of charge.
4. Peer-Reviews: up to over a year (at no cost).
   • Generally, the peer-review process in a journal does not charge authors.
5. Publishing article: 1 to 4 weeks (at no cost or up to thousands of dollars).
   • Usually, journals with a subscription model do not charge authors.
   • Some journals, especially those with an open-access publication model, may charge an article processing charge (APC) of up to thousands of dollars, after the article has been accepted for publication.

Simply put, the time it takes to write a scientific article and have it published in a reputable journal can range from several months to more than a year. In addition, the costs can be kept to just a few hundred dollars. Using a proofreading service and opting for an open-access publication model, on the other hand, can cost thousands of dollars.

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