Purpose: During work as reviewers and editors of journals authors are often faced the same types of problems in many articles. The purpose of this piece is to give some guidelines on typical problems that lead to rejection, and how to avoid these. Design/methodology/approach: The paper discusses journal article design and offers some methodology viewpoints; in particular about the differences between a PhD thesis aim and a scientific journal article. It focuses on some typical mistakes found in reviewing papers. Findings: The paper finds that the main criteria to getting published are that the article must include original, empirical research. Originality/value: Following these guidelines the review process of articles will be smoother and the amount of rejects should diminish. Especially young researchers can find good suggestions about how to write a paper for the "Journal of Workplace Learning." (Contains 2 notes.)