Previously, I shared examples of publishing pipelines and walked you through making your own plan. In this post, I’m sharing a publishing pipeline template that you can download for free and adapt for your own needs. Currently, the template is available as an MS Excel file only, but I am working on a version to use on the Notion platform.
The template is for a goal-oriented publishing pipeline with a specific time limit. It currently consists of a simple publication planner, although I plan on developing it further and adding other parts, specifically a multi-year progress tracker.
The Publication Planner
The publication planner allows you to plan for and track a manuscript’s progress until publication. It is currently set up for 30 publications, which is, of course, a rather large number. Your publication goal may be significantly lower. The planner includes drop-down menus as well as colour coding, so you can see the stages your manuscript has already passed through at one glance.
The planner has the following columns, with numbered columns being publication stages:
0. Idea (Tentative title): Enter your tentative publication title here.
Publication Type: From the drop-down menu, select the publication type. Current choices: Monograph, book chapter, edited volume, journal article, conference paper, grant application, and research software development.
Authorship: From the drop-down menu, select the authorship for the publication. Current choices: Solo author, first author, second author, third author, last author, editor.
1. Research: Select In progress or Completed.
2. Outline: Select In progress or Completed.
3. First Draft: Select In progress or Completed.
4. Submitted to: Enter the journal or publisher you submitted your manuscript to.
5. Under Review: Select In progress or Completed.
6. Revision: Select In progress, Completed, or Not applicable. The final option is in the rare case your publication is accepted without any revisions.
7. Resubmitted: Once you have resubmitted your manuscript, select Completed. If your publication was accepted without any revisions, select Not applicable.
8. Revision under Review: Select In progress or Completed. You can also select Not applicable.
9. Accepted: Select Completed.
10. Published: Select In progress or Completed.
Additional notes: This row is for additional information, such as the name(s) of your co-author(s) in a collaborative project, or a journal’s impact factor for any articles published.
What to Do…
If your manuscript is rejected
You have three options if your manuscript is rejected: 1) You can submit it to another suitable publisher without making any changes, 2) you can use the feedback you received to revise your manuscript and then submit it to another publisher, or 3) you can postpone or abandon the project entirely. Depending on the choice you make, the manuscript will cycle back to an earlier stage in the planner. Select the blank cell option for any stages the manuscript will have to go through again. If there is a project you are certain you will not return to, you can delete it from the planner entirely.
If your manuscript needs to be revised several times
It is not uncommon for manuscripts to undergo several rounds of revision. In this case, you will simply cycle through stages 6. Revision, 7. Resubmitted, and 8. Revision under Review several times.
Possible Modification for the Publication Planner
Add or remove stages
Depending on your discipline and working preferences, you may want to add or remove stages. Stages you might add include Proposal, Literature Review; separate stages for Data Collection and Data Analysis (instead of Research), and Polished Draft (in addition to First Draft). In some cases, you may have to add the formatting for the drop down menu and the cell colours to the new column yourself.
Add or remove publication types
Depending on your own needs, you may want to add or remove publication types. You can do this in the Key (Sheet 2). If you haven’t created a drop-down list in Excel before, you can learn how to do this here.
Add or remove authorship options
Depending on your own needs, you may want to add or remove authorship options. Just like for publication types, you can do this in the Key (Sheet 2).
Change cell colours
Most cells on the planner are colour coded for specific text. If you select In progress, a cell will automatically fill with orange colour; if you select Completed it will turn green. You can change the colours with conditional formatting.
Enter different data for cells with drop-down menus
All cells will drop-down menus have been formatted to accept so-called invalid data, i.e., data that differs from the drop-down menu options. This allows you, for example, to enter the date you submitted a manuscript to a journal or publisher. However, if you wish to add a new publication type or authorship option, I would recommend amending the lists in the Key, rather than overriding a cell’s drop-down menu.
Get Your Publishing Pipeline Template
You can download the template by clicking the button below.
This publishing pipeline template is a work-in-progress. If you find any errors or have suggestions on how to improve it, please get in touch.
Related Posts
Read my previous two blog posts on publishing pipelines: How to Set Up a Publishing Pipeline That Works for You: Examples and How to Set Up a Publishing Pipeline That Works for You: Your Plan.