Drawing upon my experience as an Editor for the Journal of Materials Science, this presentation will focus on multiple aspects the world of scientific communications. First, the mechanics of the anonymous peer-review process will be elucidated, including the financial underpinnings of the current process and alternative schemes currently being implemented, developing a profile of the typical reviewer, rankings of journals, and rankings of researchers. The second part of the presentation aims to highlight best practices for presenting scientific data, including your own data and properly using and citing the work of others. The overall goal of this presentation is to provide some useful insights and strategies to help students as they embark on the process of publishing the results of their research.