Publication cycle


Publication cycle is the process through which authors take their ideas and put them into viewable form. This includes all forms of publication, from initial research reports, to articles posted on websites, and the commonly recognized magazine articles and books.

Publication process

Idea

The cycle begins with the authors deciding on what topic they wish to publish about. This can be a very quick step for some authors, who decided on a topic and develop it more later in the process, or the author can take a large amount of time fully developing a complete idea.

Research

This is when authors take their ideas and find out all the information that is readily available. For scientific publication, this includes previously done experiments as well has conducting more experiments that focus mainly on the chosen topic. For literary authors, this step includes reading previous publications and to see if any other authors have published work similar to theirs.

Informal communication

Informal communication is when authors get together and exchange ideas without there being any formal purposes or any structured agenda to guide them along. This includes dinners, going to the bar, phone calls, parties, and small gatherings.

Idea protection

Idea protection is when authors formalize their ideas and reserve their rights to them. This includes patents, copyright, trademark, registered trademarks, and creative commons. It is important for authors to protect their work so that others do not take credit for their work.

Report findings

This can be done in many different ways. There are formal reports, such as lab reports, research documents, and other white paper publications. Informal versions include posts on person web pages, blogs, and new forms like facebook posts.

Conferences

These meetings include both formal and inform forms of communication and are great ways not only to present your findings but also begin the cycle. Presentations and discussions are held to publicize research.

Magazines and newspapers

One of the more public and common types of publications, these are one of the most popular types of printed publications. These are used at many levels such as small towns, college campuses, and regional or national levels.

Journal articles

These vary a lot throughout their process, but they generally have the same objective in mind: to present an idea or position These can range from a personal to corporate journal and have many various subjects. Depending on the level, the journal article may be peer-reviewed by others in the field or a dedicated editing staff.
This is possibly one of the longest processes due to the many levels of review that go into the production of a book. There are usually many editions of books because each must be reviewed and revised before it actually goes into production. Also, many revisions to manuscripts may be made because of grammatical errors or a focus that needs to be fleshed out in more detail.

Government documents

There are many varieties of these documents. They can range from bills, deeds, constitutions or government contracts. These carry the most complexity with them because it must be kept updated regularly to reflect the current version of the document. Amendments to government documents make these documents have a longer publication cycle than most other documents because they must constantly be revised and it has to publicly be known that an has been added and usually there are a series of checks these documents must pass through before their publication cycle has ended.

Types of publication