Writing for Academic Journals

It depends on the journal; usually the submission requirements are in the very front or very back of the journal. In the better scholarly journals submissions are peer reviewed by a panel of very respected scholars in the field. It's not something to undertake lightly, nor is one paid.

Sophia--

I used to edit an academic tech writing journal (JBTC). Assuming the journal you wrote for is respectable, if the editor told you s/he would get back to you, s/he probably will, although it can take a while. As Medievalist says, your paper would have been sent to reviewers who go over it and give feedback for free in their spare time. Sometimes reviewers are very slow getting back to the editor. I used to tell authors I'd get back to them within three months, but sometimes reviewers didn't get back to me in that time and I was slower.

The reviewers and editor should tell you about the form. Either they'll say "we never do this" or they'll say "we don't usually do this but this is interesting--please do it the following way." Articles are almost never accepted on the first round. You either get rejected or asked to revise and resubmit. JBTC has an acceptance rate of under 10%, so being rejected was the norm.