Attract More — and Better — Submissions

Overview

You have a sound journal, a working platform and an editorial board that turns up. What you do not have is enough manuscripts worth publishing. The ones that arrive are either out of scope, from the same three departments, or need so much work that reviewers decline them.

Submission Growth & Author Development Strategy is a twelve-month program that treats submissions as something a journal earns rather than waits for. We start with why authors are not choosing you, reposition the journal’s scope and aims so it is obvious who should submit, then run the outreach, calls, special issues and author support that bring in manuscripts from outside your current circle. We report to you on volume, fit, geography and turnaround.

It is for journals with fewer submissions than they can publish, journals whose submissions come mostly from the host institution, and journals that are preparing for an indexing application and need a credible international author base first.

What’s Included

• Author-side diagnosis — where your submissions come from, who is publishing your kind of paper elsewhere, and why they are not sending it to you.
• Scope and positioning rewrite — aims and scope, article types, and a one-paragraph statement that tells a prospective author whether the journal is for them.
• International outreach program — a target list of research groups, societies and conferences by region, with the messaging and follow-up sequence executed by us.
• Calls for papers — four themed calls over the year, written, distributed and tracked.
• Special-issue program design — guest-editor recruitment criteria, proposal template, timeline, and quality safeguards so special issues raise the journal’s standing rather than dilute it.
• Author services desk — pre-submission enquiry handling, a submission checklist, and formatting and language triage so manuscripts arrive reviewable.
• Quarterly submission report — volume, in-scope rate, geographic spread, time to first decision and time to publication, with the plan adjusted each quarter.

How It Works

1. Month one: diagnosis and scope repositioning, agreed with the editor-in-chief and board.
2. Months two to three: outreach lists built, first call for papers issued, author services desk opened.
3. Months three to twelve: outreach, calls and special-issue proposals run continuously; the desk handles author enquiries.
4. Every quarter: a report and a working session with the editor to adjust targets and themes.
5. Month twelve: handover of the outreach lists, templates and process so your team can continue, or renewal.

Priced as an annual program per journal, with a smaller six-month starter for journals that want to test the approach first.

What Stays With Your Editors

Your editors keep full authority over what the journal publishes. Every manuscript that our outreach brings in goes through your normal peer review; we do not pre-screen for acceptance, influence reviewer choice or lobby for any submission. Guest editors for special issues are appointed by your editorial board. NeucitePress runs the outreach process and the author desk; the editorial judgment is yours.

Important Limitations

• We measure success by submissions received, proportion in scope, geographic diversity and turnaround. We do not promise citations, impact factor movement or database inclusion.
• Where the program supports an indexing application, inclusion is decided solely by each database. NeucitePress prepares, remediates and submits but cannot sell inclusion.
• Outreach is only as effective as the journal behind it. A journal with slow decisions or an inactive site will lose the authors we attract, which is why the desk and turnaround reporting are part of the program.
• We do not solicit or accept manuscripts on the journal’s behalf, and we do not pay authors or guest editors.

Common Questions

Will this bring in more low-quality papers?
The scope rewrite and author desk are there to reduce that. A clear scope repels out-of-scope authors, and the desk stops manuscripts that are not ready from reaching your reviewers.

We are a regional journal. Does international outreach make sense?
Usually yes, targeted at researchers working on your region or your subject from elsewhere. Indexing evaluators also look for author diversity, so it serves two purposes.

Can we run special issues without this program?
Yes, but special issues are the most common way a journal damages its reputation. The program’s guest-editor criteria and quality safeguards exist to prevent that.

Request a proposal, or begin with the Journal Health Check.