When to submit for publication?

[BCHistory]

I'm a grad student in history, and I've got five substantial, archivally-based research papers that are more or less complete (i.e., pretty much exhausted the archives and my source base; historiography covered; writing complete - they were all for seminars; and a few have gone through conference presentations). My question is basically, when is enough enough? I feel like it's time to start submitting these, but I have this constant, nagging feeling that I'm missing something in the literature, that there are more sources left to find, etc. How do you know when you've reached the point that the research is done and it's time to submit to a journal? Should I just get it over with already and rest assured that reviewers will point out to me if I've made any critical mistakes?

Also, is there anything wrong with submitting all five of these at once (to different journals)? Should I try to stagger my submissions, or should I just send them all out in one big batch?

Thanks!

Edited February 17, 2012 by BCEmory08

[rising_star]

Whether to send them all at once depends on the topic. Are all 5 likely to need the same set of peer reviewers? As for when to send them, I'd get a colleague to review them and provide honest feedback on whether or not they're ready. Then, run them by your advisor. Then submit. If you need to add more literature, you will be told by your colleague, your advisor, and/or by the peer reviewers and the editor of the journal. Good luck!