UMSI PhD students share advice on how to publish your first research paper

For many PhD students, publishing a first authored paper can feel mysterious and overwhelming. The timelines are long, the feedback can be tricky and the process is anything but linear. For students starting their doctoral program, it can be difficult to know where to begin. 

University of Michigan School of Information PhD students Sena Kojah, Soo Ji Choi and James Dumlao share what it took to get their first papers published, what surprised them along the way and what they wish they had known from the beginning: 

For all three students, the process began much earlier than they expected. Long before they submitted their first papers, they were already laying the groundwork. For Kojah and Choi, that foundation started with reading. 

“If I were doing this all over again, I’d tell myself to read widely and with intention,” Kojah says. “It’ll help you see what styles you resonate with. There’s a language in academia, and maybe it’s intuitive to some people, but it was new to me.” 

Choi says reading, before beginning a project and throughout the research process, helps you keep up with current trends and helps you craft the literature review section of your paper. 

“The literature review part was overwhelming at first,” she says. “I’d forget to consistently read, and then I’d be catching up while writing the paper, which made everything harder.” 

Reading and preparation aren’t the only part of getting a first paper ready. All three students emphasized that publishing a paper also requires systems, structure and support. 

For example, Choi recommends setting up an organizational structure, like Zotero, to keep track of papers, notes and ideas. 

“It sounds small, but it makes a huge difference in quickly finding material when you’re writing your paper,” Choi says. 

She says another piece of advice she’d give is to ask for help more often and keep your advisers close. 

“Talk to them as much as possible,” she says. “Don’t wait until you’re stuck, or try to do everything on your own.” 

Kojah’s experience also reinforced how collaborative research is. Her first paper was a project with former UMSI PhD students Daniel Delmonaco, Ben Zhang and associate professor Oliver Haimson. She joined the project during the data collection portion. 

“I had a lot of support from people who had written papers before and knew the process,” she says. “It made a huge difference.” 

For Dumlao, the biggest lesson was just how long the process can take, and not feeling discouraged. He started his PhD in fall 2022, and his first paper wasn’t published until summer 2025. 

“Publishing cycles in my field are often two to three years,” he says. “I wasn’t surprised by this, but living through it is something else.” 

Dumlao had a head start: The project used existing data from his advisor, Misha Teplitskiy. Despite this, the paper went through some major changes. At one point, he and Teplitskiy cut half of the paper and still went through several rejections and rounds of revision. 

“We had put in so much work, and the paper was getting stronger, but in the end it still wasn’t working out yet,” he says. “I remember after receiving feedback, I took the day off. Your first reaction is always defensive, and you might need time to cool off and think about what the reviews are saying.” 

Kojah echoes that sentiment. Her paper wasn’t accepted the first time it was submitted, but she says the reviews helped the team realize they were underappreciating their most interesting data. 

“We leaned into the feedback, reworked the paper and resubmitted,” she says. “And then it was accepted.” 

Both Kojah and Dumlao came away with the same conclusion: Rejection is only temporary. 

“A ‘no’ is not a no forever,’” Kojah says. 

Dumlao, who studies the peer review and academic publishing systems, says the review process can be a “noisy process.” 

“Reviewers don’t always agree,” he says. “You should count rejections as part of the process and keep aiming high.” 

Along the way, he learned some important lessons he wished someone had told him earlier: There is no such thing as a final draft, and every round of revision requires flexibility.

“Build a flexible, automated workflow for tables, figures and formatting because every new round of revision and every journal will require changes,” he says. “I kept thinking, ‘this is the final draft’ and it never was.’

The biggest mindset shift, he added, is realizing that a research paper is not a term paper. 

“You’re not showing how much you know,” he says. “You’re educating the reader. Your job is to make the contribution clear. Pay attention to confusion, not just from reviewers, but anyone you talk to about your work. If someone looks confused, that’s feedback. If they ask questions that seem off, that’s a sign something isn’t clear yet.” 

All three students emphasized that publishing your first paper is as much about learning how research works as it is about the final publication. It’s about building habits, learning new processes and leaning on others. 

“Give yourself grace,” Kojah says. “You do what you can, and eventually you get to the other side.” 

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Learn more about UMSI’s PhD in Information program.

See more of Sena Kojah, Soo Ji Choi and James Dumlao’s work by visiting their UMSI profiles. 

Read more First Paper Fridays by UMSI PhD students by visiting this link.