The Ideal 12‑Month Timeline From Project Idea to First Submission

The biggest lie students believe about research is that you can “squeeze it in” whenever you have time. You cannot. A credible project that goes from idea to first manuscript submission in 12 months lives or dies by the timeline.

You’re not just fighting data or statistics. You’re fighting:

• Exam blocks
• Clinical shadowing
• MCAT or STEP prep
• Rotations, jobs, family

(See also: Your Gap Year in Research for month-by-month productivity tips.)

So you need structure. Month-by-month, then week-by-week, then day-by-day in the crunch periods.

This guide assumes:

• You’re premed or in preclinical medical school
• You’re aiming for a first submission (to a journal, conference, or poster session) in about 12 months
• You may be starting with no prior research experience

Use this as a working blueprint. Adjust for your local IRB, mentor expectations, and academic calendar.

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Month 0–1: Clarify Your Goal and Secure a Mentor

At this point you should not be “reading papers randomly.” You should be aggressively converging on one mentor and one project direction.

(Related: Final Year of College: Research Tasks for essential tasks before graduation.)

Week 1–2: Define your research goal

Decide what “first submission” means:

• Abstract to a national conference? (e.g., Society of General Internal Medicine)
• Manuscript to a mid-tier journal? (e.g., Cureus, BMC, Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development)
• Institutional research day poster?

Your timeline will move differently if:

• You’re doing a retrospective chart review (fastest)
• You’re doing a survey study (moderate)
• You’re doing a prospective or lab project (slowest; risky for 12 months)

For a 12‑month idea-to-submission plan as a premed or early medical student:

• Prioritize: retrospective studies, surveys, education projects, or meta-analyses
• Deprioritize as primary project: bench/lab work that depends on experiments and animal work approvals

Write down:

• Field you want: e.g., emergency medicine, cardiology, medical education
• Type of work: clinical outcomes / survey / meta-analysis / QI

Week 2–3: Identify and approach mentors

At this point you should be emailing 5–10 potential mentors, not “thinking about it.”

Create a simple tracker spreadsheet:

• Name, department
• Email
• Date contacted
• Response
• Interest level
• Next step

Your target mentors:

• Actively publishing in the last 2–3 years
• In areas tied to your interest (e.g., sepsis outcomes, health disparities, medical education)
• Known for being student-friendly (ask senior students discreetly)

Email structure (short, specific):

1. One line about you (premed at X / M1 at Y)
2. One line about your interest in their specific work (cite 1 paper)
3. One line asking if they have a project that could realistically be brought to submission within 12 months
4. Attach a brief CV

Aim to schedule 3–4 meetings to discuss potential projects.

Week 4: Commit to one mentor and one project

By the end of Month 1:

• You should have chosen a primary mentor
• You should have committed to one defined project

Agree clearly on:

• Primary research question
• Target journal/conference level
• Your role: data collection, analysis, first author writing, etc.
• Meeting frequency (ideally biweekly)

If your mentor cannot meet at least monthly, assume timeline risk increases.

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Month 2–3: Design the Study and Prepare IRB/Protocol

At this point you should be building the blueprint, not “waiting for IRB to open.”

Week 5–6: Deep dive into the literature

Goal: rapid, targeted understanding of your niche, not a full textbook.

Schedule:

• 3 sessions/week, 60–90 minutes each

Tasks:

• Collect 20–40 key articles (use PubMed, Google Scholar, your mentor’s suggestions)
• Create a reference manager library (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote)
• Extract:
  • Typical sample sizes
  • Common outcomes
  • Standard definitions/measurements
  • Gaps and controversies

End of Week 6 deliverable: a 1–2 page literature summary with:

• 1–2 paragraphs: what’s known
• 1 paragraph: key gaps
• 1 paragraph: how your project addresses a gap

Week 7–8: Finalize research question and methods

At this point you should be converting your idea into specific, measurable variables.

Clarify:

• Primary objective (e.g., “To determine whether intervention X reduces 30-day readmission rates”)
• Secondary objectives (limit to 2–4)
• Inclusion criteria
• Exclusion criteria
• Data elements to collect (create a draft data dictionary)

Work with your mentor to choose:

• Study design: retrospective cohort, cross-sectional survey, pre-post, etc.
• Sample size:
  • Ask the mentor or statistician for a basic power/sample calculation
  • At minimum, estimate what is realistically available

If survey-based:

• Start drafting survey questions
• Decide on:
  • Validated scales to include
  • Administration method (REDCap, Qualtrics, paper)
  • Recruitment strategy

Week 9–10: Draft IRB/protocol

You should now be writing, not reading.

Create:

1. Study protocol (5–10 pages):

   • Background and significance (from your literature summary)
   • Objectives and hypotheses
   • Methods (design, setting, participants, data collection, statistical plan)
   • Risks and benefits
   • Data security plan

2. IRB application:

   • Use your institution’s portal (e.g., iRIS, Cayuse)
   • Work under your mentor’s PI status
   • Prepare consent forms if needed
   • For minimal risk retrospective work, ask about expedited review or exemption

End of Month 3 deliverable:

• Completed IRB draft ready for mentor review

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Month 4: IRB Submission and Pre‑Data Prep

This is where many students stall. You cannot control IRB timelines, but you can control what you do during the wait.

Week 11–12: Finalize and submit IRB

At this point you should:

• Incorporate mentor edits aggressively within 3–4 days
• Submit IRB by end of Week 12 at the latest

Double-check:

• All documents uploaded
• Surveys attached
• Data collection forms included
• Team member list accurate (include yourself)

Ask the mentor:

• Typical IRB turnaround time for this study type
• Whether preliminary de-identified feasibility checks are allowed (often yes for QI or aggregate counts)

Week 13–16: While IRB reviews, build infrastructure

Do not “wait.” Build your project skeleton.

Tasks:

• Create final data collection sheet:
  • Use Excel, Google Sheets, or REDCap
  • List each variable with clear definitions and units
• Set up file structure:
  • /Protocol
  • /IRB
  • /Data (secured per policy)
  • /Analysis
  • /Manuscript
• Learn basic stats tools:
  • If using R, SPSS, Stata, or Python, complete a short intro course/module
  • Practice with dummy data

If survey-based:

• Program survey into REDCap/Qualtrics
• Test on 3–5 friends for logic and timing (don’t collect real data yet if IRB not approved)

End of Month 4 deliverable:

• Data capture system ready to use on Day 1 of IRB approval

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Month 5–7: Data Collection

Once IRB approval hits, your mindset shifts: execution, not planning.

Week 17–18: Launch data collection

As soon as IRB approval arrives:

• Save the approval letter
• Confirm:
  • Approved protocol version
  • Any modifications required
• Start data collection within 1 week

Retrospective study:

• Arrange EHR access
• Clarify:
  • Inclusion dates
  • How you’ll identify eligible patients (ICD codes, procedure lists, clinic rosters)

Survey study:

• Launch survey within 7–10 days
• Set preset timeline: e.g., survey open for 4–6 weeks
• Pre-schedule:
  • Reminder emails at 1 and 3 weeks

Week 19–24: Maintain a data schedule

At this point you should treat data collection like a course with scheduled lab time, not a side hobby.

Create a weekly routine:

• 2–3 sessions/week, 2–3 hours each, blocked on your calendar
• Each session has a target:
  • “Abstract 15 patient charts”
  • “Enter 50 survey responses and clean 2 variables”

Good practice:

• Keep a data log:
  • Date
  • What you did
  • Any issues (missing fields, ambiguous notes, etc.)
• Backup data according to institutional rules (often secure server / REDCap)

By end of Month 7:

• You should be ≥75% done with data collection for a 12‑month timeline
• If you’re far behind, schedule a reality check with your mentor:
  • Reduce sample size?
  • Narrow outcomes?
  • Adjust your submission target (institutional poster vs national conference)?

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Month 8: Data Cleaning and Preliminary Analysis

This is the month most beginners underestimate. Messy data destroys timelines.

Week 25–26: Clean and finalize dataset

Tasks:

• Standardize:
  • Date formats
  • Categorical codes (e.g., 0/1 vs Yes/No)
  • Units (mg/dL vs mmol/L)
• Handle missing data:
  • Document patterns of missingness
  • Decide on exclusion rules with mentor

Create:

• Final “analysis dataset” separate from raw dumps
• A data dictionary:
  • Each variable
  • Type (numeric, categorical)
  • Coding
  • Original source

Week 27–28: Run basic analyses

At this point you should not be inventing complex models without support.

Minimum analyses:

• Descriptive stats:
  • Means, medians, standard deviations
  • Frequencies and percentages
• Simple comparisons consistent with your question:
  • t-tests, chi-square, or non-parametric equivalents
• Simple regression only if mentor/statistician guides you

Schedule:

• Meet with mentor or statistician at least once this month to review:
  • Analysis plan
  • Preliminary results
  • Feasibility of your planned tables/figures

End of Month 8 deliverable:

• Stable preliminary results and draft tables/figures

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Month 9–10: Writing the First Manuscript Draft

Now you transition from “student doing research” to “junior colleague writing a paper.”

Week 29–30: Decide journal/venue and outline manuscript

At this point you should pick a specific target journal or conference. Not “something in cardiology.”

Consider:

• Audience: clinical, educational, subspecialty
• Word limits
• Structured abstract requirements
• Tables/figures limits
• Open-access fees (ask mentor)

Then:

• Download 3–5 recent articles in your chosen journal that match your study type
• Study their:
  • Structure
  • Level of detail
  • Table formats

Create a detailed outline:

1. Introduction
   • 3–4 paragraphs: what’s known, what’s unknown, why this matters
   • Final paragraph: your specific aims/hypotheses
2. Methods
   • Design, setting, participants
   • Variables and outcomes
   • Statistical analysis
3. Results
   • Participant flow
   • Baseline characteristics
   • Main outcomes
4. Discussion
   • Summary of key findings
   • Comparison to prior literature
   • Strengths and limitations
   • Implications and future directions

Week 31–34: Draft section by section

Use a 2–3 day mini-deadline approach:

• Days 1–3: Methods draft
  • You know this best; it’s mostly describing what you did
• Days 4–6: Results draft
  • One paragraph per table/figure
  • Avoid interpretation; just state the findings
• Days 7–10: Introduction draft
  • Use your earlier literature summary
  • End with a crisp final sentence: “We aimed to…”
• Days 11–14: Discussion draft
  • Start with: “In this [design], we found…”
  • 2–3 key findings
  • 3–5 limitations (be honest but not self-destructive)

By end of Month 10:

• You should have a full manuscript draft, imperfect but complete

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Month 11: Revision with Mentor and Co‑authors

This month makes the difference between “student draft” and “submission-ready.”

Week 35–36: First mentor review

At this point you should:

• Send the full draft to your mentor with a clear ask:
  • “Could you please review for content and structure by X date?”
• Provide:
  • Draft manuscript (Word)
  • Separate file with figures/tables
  • Proposed authorship order (and ask if they agree)

Mentor feedback may take 1–3 weeks. While waiting:

• Refine references
• Format according to journal style
• Proofread for obvious grammar issues

Week 37–38: Incorporate feedback and share with co‑authors

After mentor returns comments:

• Schedule a 30–60 minute meeting to clarify major points
• Prioritize:
  • Any requested additional analyses
  • Major structural changes

Then:

• Revise within 7–10 days
• Circulate to co-authors with:
  • Clear deadline (1–2 weeks)
  • Specific request: “Please focus on Methods and Discussion for your sections of expertise.”

Keep a change log:

• Versioning (v1, v2, final)
• Major changes summarized so mentor can track progress easily

End of Month 11 deliverable:

• Near-final manuscript, approved in principle by mentor

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Month 12: Final Edits and First Submission

This is the push across the finish line.

Week 39–40: Last technical checks

At this point you should be in polish mode, not rewriting the study.

Checklist:

• Journal formatting complete:
  • Word count within limits
  • Structured abstract formatted correctly
  • References in correct style
• Figures:
  • Correct resolution
  • Clear labels and legends
• Tables:
  • No redundant information
  • Clear titles and footnotes

Run:

• Spell-check and grammar check
• A “read-aloud” pass (you’ll catch clunky phrasing)

Week 41–42: Authorship and submission package

Clarify:

• Final authorship order
• Corresponding author (usually your mentor)

Create:

• Cover letter draft:
  • Briefly state importance
  • Why it fits this journal
• Highlights or key points, if required

Send final draft + cover letter to mentor for final sign-off with explicit subject line:

• “FINAL pre-submission draft – please confirm OK to submit”

Week 43–44: Submit

The actual submission day should be scheduled like an exam.

Tasks:

• Create account on journal submission system
• Upload:
  • Manuscript (masked if double-blind review)
  • Figures, tables, supplementary materials
  • IRB approval letter if required
• Complete:
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Funding declarations
  • Author contributions

Once your mentor confirms:

• Hit “Submit” and confirm email receipt

Document:

• Submission date
• Manuscript ID
• Estimated review time frame

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Daily and Weekly Rhythm That Keeps This Timeline Alive

A 12‑month research timeline on top of premed or medical school demands micro-planning.

General weekly template (during active phases):

• 2–3 blocks/week of 90–120 minutes each dedicated to research only
• 1 standing 15–20 minute weekly review:
  • What did I do this week?
  • What must be true by next week to stay on track?
• 1 touchpoint with mentor every 2–4 weeks, even if brief

High‑density periods (writing, data collection):

• Use “sprint weeks”:
  • 5 days in a row, 60–90 minutes each day
  • Single focus: e.g., finish Methods section, or abstract 50 charts

Avoid:

• “I’ll work on it when I have time” (that means never)
• Going >3 weeks with no movement; that’s how 12 months becomes 24

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Core Takeaways

1. The project only fits into 12 months if you front‑load: mentor, topic, IRB, and data systems in the first 4 months.
2. Every phase has a concrete deliverable: protocol, IRB, cleaned dataset, full draft, revised manuscript, submission. Treat those like exams with dates.
3. Weekly protected time and regular mentor check‑ins are what turn a vague “idea” into a real first submission—on schedule.