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EDIT Possibly my question might sound strange, sorry about that. I got a PhD in another country years ago. Recently I moved to the US and have a tenured position. Assume I wrote a paper and want to publish it in a journal. Is there anything what it is common to do (in the US) for this? Say, does it matter in what order I do the following things:

1) Present the work in a seminar at my department.

2) Present the work in a conference in my field.

3) Present the work in a seminar at another department.

4) Post on the arXiv.

5) I submit the paper to a journal.

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    $\begingroup$ (1) The Academia Stackexchange may be a better place for this question (2) Somehow you did not include the obvious step of "posting your paper to arXiv". $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 17:01
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    $\begingroup$ Has already been asked there: academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5711/…. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 17:15
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    $\begingroup$ Those are all good things to do, though not always necessary (not all papers make good talks; some percentage of my papers are really technical and intended to provide tools for more concrete things, and I prefer to talk about the concrete things). What I do is to first email copies to everyone I think might be interested, then wait a week to see if anyone sends comments, then post to the arXiv, then wait a week to see if anyone sends comments, then finally submit. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 17:30
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    $\begingroup$ Write the paper in good English. There are at least three grammatical mistakes in your post. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 18:04
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    $\begingroup$ I'd say all the things you mention are optional, and this is hardly specific to a particular country. Also, the order in which you do them will in practice usually depend mainly on organizational issues -- for example your department may want you to give seminar talks at a certain frequency, or a suitable conference takes place on a particular date, or you may get an invitation from some other department to give a talk. Whether or not to submit to arXiv is optional as well -- though if the paper is interesting, it is good to have it available online somewhere as soon as it is ready. $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl
    Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 20:51

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The order in which things are done should not be (and likely is not) specific to the country. Journals have recommendations as to how to prepare articles and what guidelines to follow, and societies such as the American Mathematical Society also have general guidelines which (I imagine) are applicable world wide to mathematicians. More importantly, your employer or grant provider may have rules as to how work done with their support is to be presented. Further discussion of these points is probably better suited in an academic forum.

Very generally, you should have a mentor or advisor or colleague who has gone through the process and can address your specific concerns in person. If you don't have one now, get one. One way to do this is to write to people who may be interested in your paper. Ideally some of them have produced results you used in the paper, and may like to see your application of them. Ask them for advice and for the name of someone else who might be interested in your paper. Be respectful of their time and energy, mainly by being brief and patient and polite.

Assuming you have found some interest in your result, ask for the kind of comments you want. If you want brutal frankness, ask for it. If you can only handle constructive criticism, ask for that. If all you want are compliments and praise, you can request that, but I doubt you will solicit any. Most important however, is to get and address any technical concerns that arise, from correcting mistakes in basic theory and application to using the right terminology for the field.

It may be desirable in other countries to have a public defense of the paper similar to a Ph.D. defense before publishing. My limited experience suggests that it is better in this country for someone to at least skim your paper, decide that you aren't a crank, and make suggestions on how to proceed. Most will say (as has been commented) that posting on ArXiv is necessary; I would recommend first finding someone who is willing to skim your paper and someone to sponsor your ArXiv post (ideally the same someone) before considering journal or ArXiv publication.

Gerhard "Tenure Without Publication? Most Curious!" Paseman, 2016.11.21.

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    $\begingroup$ Why do you think OP has no publications? He/she is simply asking "what do people do in the US". Probably in the country where he comes from they have a different culture regarding department seminars. I don't see anything strange in asking. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 17:44
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    $\begingroup$ My take on it (which I preferred to express in the signature, rather than elaborate upon in the post) is that it seems unusual to have tenure, and then ask "suppose I write a paper". It may be a subtle misuse of language, but it suggests to me not only lack of experience in publishing, but also not much in writing. I may have the wrong spin on it, but I think it is important to note the similarity between this (probably honest and sincere request for cultural norms) and attempts here In the past by others to masquerade as academics. Gerhard "Not Calling Anyone A Liar" Paseman, 2016.11.21. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 21, 2016 at 17:55
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    $\begingroup$ I think both the language and need for the post are explained by "they're not from America." $\endgroup$
    – Pat Devlin
    Commented Nov 22, 2016 at 13:41

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