Disseminating our findings is part of the scientific process, so that others know what we found. Not making our results available leads to duplication of effort because other researchers don’t know we did the work. Publication bias arises when researchers don’t publish findings because they are non-significant. We may need to publish to advance our career, but this is not the purpose of scientific articles. Confusing these two aims can lead to questionable research practices. This chapter goes through the of submitting a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. Peer review involves the scrutiny and evaluation of our work by experts. I begin with how to choose a journal, and things to consider before you submit, then I explain the cover letter, submission, and the review process. I explain the editor’s decision, what to do if your manuscript is rejected, revising your manuscript and resubmitting it. Finally, I cover what happens after your manuscript is accepted.

We find out what scientists know about a topic by searching the scientific literature. Literature searches range from a preliminary search to find out what we know about a general area to a specific search on a precise topic. As we explore a research topic, we focus our searches to identify the main open questions, the hypotheses proposed and the support for them, potential model systems and methods, and the experts in the field. Broad background reading is also fundamental preparation for a study because no study goes as planned and we may need to identify new research questions as we progress. I begin this chapter with sources of information we have available, then describe how we identify search terms and assess the quality of the literature we find, I explain the importance of reading broadly and how to choose what to read, and end with how we keep up with the literature