Article Publication Process

Publication Steps

  1. Article Requirements
  2. Article Submission
  3. Checking Progress
  4. Initial Checks & Peer Review
  5. Peer Review Decision
  6. Membership Confirmation
  7. Publication Agreement
  8. Prepare the Final Submission
  9. Copy Editing & Proof Inspection
  10. Final Checks
  11. Article Publication

Step 1: Review the Requirements

All article submissions must meet the Article Requirements listed on our Author Guidelines page. Before submitting your article, please thoroughly review these requirements, and revise your article to follow these requirements as listed.

Initial Submissions

Initial submissions which do not meet these requirements will be returned to the author(s) for revision.

Step 2: Upload the Article Submission

Once you have verified that your initial submission meets our article requirements, please visit our Article Submission page and complete the Article Submission Form.

Submission Form

Please only submit the form once per each unique article. If you have submitted the form once already, please do not submit it again for the same article. After we receive the form and your full article, we will notify you by email in 3 to 4 business days.

Step 3: Checking Progress

Once your article is received, you will receive updates on the status of its progress. All article submissions are managed internally by our editorial staff. Authors will receive status updates via email from cgnetworks.org. The status update messages will always reference the article Work ID number, a unique identifier, specific to each article submission.

View an Article Status

Authors can view the status of an article by searching the Work ID number at View My Article Status. If you have questions about the status of your article, you can also reach us by opening a ticket.

Step 4: Initial Checks & Peer Review

Submitted articles are then verified against the Article Requirements. If your article satisfies these requirements, your initial submission will be verified and await peer review. The article is then matched with appropriate reviewers and sent for review. Please note, during this time authors and coauthors are eligible to be selected to as a reviewer for other articles in this same stage.

To submit an article for consideration you must be willing to participate as a peer reviewer.

  • The peer review process is dependent on qualified authors reviewing article submissions from their peers.
  • All reviewers are carefully selected by the editorial staff to properly match areas of expertise.
  • All authors and peer reviewers are required to adhere to Common Ground's Peer Review Policies.

Step 5: Peer Review Decision

When both reviewer reports are returned, inspected, and verified, you will be notified by email and provided with the reviewer reports. At this time, we will also inform you of the publication decision based on the peer review results.

Eligible Resubmissions

Articles which are rejected once in the peer review process are allowed a second opportunity to be reviewed by two new reviewers. To be reviewed by two new reviewers, you will need to make revisions based on the comments and feedback of the first round of review, and these changes must be detailed using a change note. If an article is not accepted by peer review after this second opportunity, it will be withdrawn from consideration.

Step 6: Membership Confirmation

Network Membership is a post-acceptance requirement for journal publication. If your article has been accepted in peer review, it will enter the membership confirmation stage. Each membership is represented by a unique Membership Card. One card is required for each article. When a membership has been confirmed, the status on the Membership Card will be marked accordingly and your article Work ID will be recorded on the card.

Membership Cards

Membership Cards are designed to help you keep track of when a membership can be applied to an accepted article. Each Card includes a one-time-use benefit that allows you to publish an article (pending acceptance by peer review). The card will indicate when this benefit can been applied to an article. It will also help identify when the benefit has already been used and indicate the Work ID of the article to which it was applied. Visit Your Memberships to see a summary of your membership cards.

Step 7: Publication Agreement

Next, you will be asked to accept the Publishing Agreement. If you are interested in Hybrid Open Access, this step is the best time to register for Open Access publication. We also encourage you to learn about your Journal Author Rights & Permissions.

Opting for Open Access

If selecting open access as part of your agreement, please complete your open access registration before returning the signed agreement. For instructions, please visit How to Register for Open Access.

Step 8: Prepare and Send the Final Submission

After the publication agreement is final, you will have 30 days to complete any revisions to your final submission and return your article. Please ensure your final submission meets the Final Submission Requirements before returning your article. This includes such criteria as the correct the use of the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) and the other listed requirements. Articles which have been accepted with revisions will require a change note to be included with the final submission. After sending the final submission of your article, you will receive a confirmation message to notify you that the file was successfully received.

Final Submission Requirements

Articles which do not meet the final submission requirements will be returned for revision until the requirements are satisfied.

Step 9: Copy Editing and Proof Inspection

During Copy Editing, our editorial staff will note minor problems with citations, references, grammar, spelling, or formatting. The author(s) will be responsible for correcting these noted problems. Careful adherence to the article template and the citation style guide will greatly minimize the need for corrections. After all copy editing notes have been resolved, we will create a typeset proof for the author(s) to inspect.

Corrections & Edits

While making any corrections noted by our editorial staff, please also incorporate any minor edits of your own at this time. The returned file should include all corrections and all author edits.

 Step 10: Final Checks

Once we have received the final submission of your article, our Publishing Department will give your article a final review. If the final submission meets the Final Submission Requirements, the article will enter Copy Editing.

Final Check Queue

After you are notified that the file was successfully received, your article will enter the final check queue. Final submissions are inspected in the order received.

Step 11: Article Publication

Individual articles are published in Website include a full citation and a registered DOI permalink. Be sure to update your G-Scholar profile and include your ORCID iD. Published articles are linked to each author's ORCID iD to help maximize the visibility of your publication.