In 2020, Hindawi moved all of its journals onto a new journal management platform; Phenom. This bespoke platform was designed in-house by Hindawi to ensure a simple submission process for our authors, followed by more efficient manuscript screening checks. The Phenom platform is easy to use and provides improved transparency to authors regarding the status of manuscript submissions. This blog outlines a step-by-step process for submitting an article to one of our journals, starting from choosing a journal.
Before starting a submission
We advise that all prospective authors consider the following questions before starting a submission:
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Do I know which journal I want to submit to?
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Am I able to pay the Article Processing Charge?
Hindawi’s catalogue of journals is available at https://www.hindawi.com/journals/. If you have a few journals in mind but you’re not sure which one to choose, then you can find out more about each one by clicking the “About this journal” button. For more information on choosing the right journal you can refer to this helpful guide. If you’re not sure what journals are on offer, then we suggest using the “Filter by discipline” search engine which will narrow down all of the journals relating to your field.
It’s also important to check the journal's Article Processing Charge (APC). The APC’s for each journal are slightly different, and they are displayed on each journal's webpage. You won’t be asked to pay the APC until the editor agrees to publish your research, but you should consider whether your research team, institution, or other funder will be able to pay this fee if your research is accepted for publication.
Other questions to consider before starting your submission are:
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Do I have the email addresses and affiliation information for each author?
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Is my main manuscript file finalized and in PDF or Word format?
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Are each of my figures in separate files?
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Have I prepared a data availability statement?
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Have I acknowledged all funding sources for the research?
If you can answer “yes” to all of the above questions, then you’re ready to submit! If the answer to any of these is “no”, then you may need to do a little extra preparation. This doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to start a submission. You can start a submission and then come back to it at any time. Our submission system is always open 24 hours a day so you have the flexibility to start, edit, or finish a submission at a time that fits your schedule.
Starting the submission and creating an account
You can make a submission to one of our journals by visiting the journals page on the Hindawi website. Simply visit https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ and select the journal that you wish to submit to. On the right-hand side of the page there is a green “Submit” button, and this will take you to our login page. Alternatively, if you already have an account with us, then you can log in and select “submit” to start a new submission.
If you do not have an account with us then you will be asked to create an account. This is a short process where you will need to fill in your name, email, and create a password. When this is done, you will be taken to the submission page.
Editing your submission
You will be able to continually edit your submission right up until the point that you select the “Submit” button. This includes changing which journal or special issue you are submitting to, changing author details, and changing the manuscript files.
Tracking your submission
On your account you will be able to view and track your submission and any other active submissions that you have with Hindawi. When you submit a manuscript our system will create a file for it which will contain all of the information that you provided during the submission. It will also have a “status” display so that you know where your manuscript is in the submission process. Most of the time your article will be in a status where it is being checked. Sometimes we might need you to make some updates, and this will always be accompanied with an email notification explaining what you need to do next.
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Complete submission (before you submit the manuscript) - you have not yet finalised the submission and you are able to continuing editing.
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Submitted - Your submission has been registered with us and will be undergoing the Hindawi screening checks.
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Complete submission (after you have submitted your manuscript) - Our screening team has emailed you regarding a required update to your manuscript. We have reopened your submission for editing so that you are able to make these updates. You will need to click “submit” again once your update has been made.
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Under review - Your manuscript has completed the Hindawi screening checks, and is in peer-review.
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Submit revision - The editor assigned to your manuscript has asked for a revision to be made to the manuscript. We have reopened your submission for editing so that you are able to make these updates. You will need to click “submit” again once the update has been made.
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Pending approval - The editor is due to make a decision on your manuscript.
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Submit Updates - Our quality check team has emailed you regarding a required update to your manuscript. We have reopened your submission for editing so that you are able to make these updates. You will need to click “submit” again once the update has been made.
The transition to our Phenom platform has advanced both the ease of submission and the ability to track the status of all submissions. We are continuing to review author feedback and improve our technologies to ensure that we are providing the best possible service.
For more information about our submissions process please see our related blog “How a format-free submission process works”. Or if you are interested in learning more about our pre-submission author services please visit https://www.hindawi.com/publish-research/authors/author-services/
This blog post is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). The illustration is by Hindawi and is also CC-BY.