Assessment of Postgraduate Chemistry Students' Knowledge and Perceptions of Academic Publishing Protocols: A Survey-Based Study

The landscape of scholarly publishing has become increasingly competitive, and early-career researchers and graduate students must gain knowledge of editorial protocols and peer-review dynamics that are often not taught in a systematic way in traditional curricula. This study explores researchers' knowledge and perceptions of basic manuscript submission and peer-review procedures to identify areas of high procedural literacy, as well as remaining misconceptions. A quantitative, questionnaire-based survey was administered to 36 chemistry students at Al-Nahrain University enrolled in a Teaching Methods course. Most participants correctly identified selecting the right journal as the first step before submission (88.9%, n = 32), and the purpose of the cover letter as explaining novelty and suggesting reviewers (80.6%, n = 29). A majority also correctly identified answering reviewer comments point-by-point (83.3%, n = 30), meeting revision deadlines as the key factor accelerating publication (88.9%, n = 32), and lack of rigorous peer review as the main reason to avoid predatory journals (86.1%, n = 31). The participants were postgraduate chemistry students who had received instruction in research methodology, including fundamental principles of scientific research and academic publishing. The study aimed to assess their knowledge and perceptions of key academic publishing protocols. Participants showed strong procedural literacy regarding pre-submission strategy but more variable understanding of post-review, author–editor interactions, indicating a need for structured training in scholarly communication as part of graduate curricula.