Getting published in an academic journal without holding or seeking a PhD?
fadmmatt: I've now served on peer-review committees for selective venues in my field, so I can say that the authors' background and training are not considered when making the decision to accept or reject.  (Double blind venues won't even know who you are.)That said, good papers do share a common structure.  Part of what you learn when you get a Ph.D. is what that structure is.  My recommendation is to read through the previously accepted papers for the venue to which you're submitting.  Note the level of exposition, formality, rigor, style of empirical evaluation, etc.  When you submit, try to match that.Non-academics fail most frequently on related work.  Spend time researching related work and comparing it to your own before you submit!  I've seen great papers dismissed out of hand, simply because the coverage of related work was deemed inadequate.In computer science, many papers fail because they don't explain their core idea quickly or clearly.  Failing to snag the reviewer's interest early on will lead to a grumpier reviewer, one more likely to magnify forgivable errors into unforgivable ones.Lastly, if you get reject, take the feedback to heart, and keep trying.  Academics have papers rejected all the time, and we learn early on to brush it off, take our criticism constructively and move on.  Don't get discouraged!