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Is it a good idea to submit a paper when you are about to leave academia, say in the next year?

In my field (Mathematics), the review progress is typically very long (At the moment I'm waiting for the first review for almost a year). I do not want to receive a review while I'm in the middle of a new job (probably without access to other academic people, articles, books, etc.). On the other hand, I've done something which is worth to published somewhere.

Should I submit it? How can I improve the length of the review (e.g., by chosing the journal?)?

Edit: Some details: I'm about to finish my PhD and I have no co-authors for the latest paper who could handle big parts of revisions.

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    I think you answered your own question by saying you've got something worth publishing :) Mar 29, 2014 at 14:32

2 Answers 2

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I would say, yes.

If the results are worth publishing, then the world should know about them.

That said, even if the paper is accepted, it is likely that you'll need to make minor or major revisions. If you do not expect that you will have the time to do this, then ultimately the paper will be rejected (or simply just vanish). So you need to consider whether you will, in 1, 2 or 3 years (or whatever the journal turn around time is) be in a position, mentally and otherwise, to address the review comments.

The other option is to archive the paper on arxiv.org and hope that interested people find the work – for the good of science.

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    Another alternative is to ask a trusted colleague to be the corresponding author in your absence. (It used to be relatively common, especially in various Society publications, for results by X to be communicated by Y.)
    – JeffE
    Mar 29, 2014 at 14:22
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If you think it's worth publishing, you should at least put it on ArXiv.

I'd also recommend submitting it to a journal. If the paper is well-written and correct, it shouldn't need a great deal of revision, so it should be possible to do that in your spare time. You could also mention when you submit the paper that you'll be leaving academia so you might need more time than usual to make revisions.

Another possibility is to bring your advisor on board as a co-author to deal with these things.

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