Submitted

Earlier this week my co-author and I finally submitted an article (based on my senior thesis research) for publication. The editing process has been both long and painful, not because my thesis needed a great deal of work to be reformatted for publication, but because my co-author, Walt (my thesis adviser at CLAS) is just about the worst type of person for getting things done. I never would have finished my thesis were it not for my academic adviser, Alan, and an extra-large helping of independence in my genetic makeup.

Unfortunately, submitting the paper to a peer-reviewed journal was not something I could do without him, so I had to grind my teeth and, over the last couple months, email him mercilessly to coax him into completing his part of the process. I had my initial revisions finished and on his desk a week after I graduated in May of 2009, so it's taken 15 (!) months for him to get his stuff together. He openly admitted to me a few weeks ago that he sees little incentive to publish now that he has tenure, even though he understands how important it is to individuals (like myself) who are just starting out.

This has been a particularly trying process since the beginning of the summer, because: 1) I talked with several graduates from this years' class who had work In Press (already accepted for publication), or, at the very least, in review, and 2) I know exactly how important a publication on my record is going to be for graduate school admissions this year. In fact, having some of my work published is the one thing most often stressed by potential advisers with whom I've been in contact. No one, thus far, has said I need additional research experience or fieldwork, but they've all said that a publication in the works would go a long way toward making me an irresistible candidate for admissions.

Nonetheless, the paper has finally been submitted. Now I just have to hope that it goes to review! I feel like the odds of the paper going through the review process and being accepted for publication before I send in my graduate school applications this fall are against me.  I'm just going to hope for the best (and speedy reviewers), and keep my fingers crossed that even if I don't manage to have In Press on my CV by the time application deadlines roll round, professors will still look more favorably on something in review than something in preparation, or nothing at all.