Research Guides: Scholarly Communication and Publishing : Publishing a Journal Article

Publishing a Journal Article

Finding and selecting a journal can be one of the toughest parts of the publishing process. Fortunately, there are ample resources that can help you in discovering the right journal for your writing. Take a look at the sub-tabs in this section for more information on how to go about this process. As an overview:

Considerations for Selecting a Journal

Scope of the journal (to ensure your topic is covered)
- Topics it publishes about
- Type of articles it publishes – Original empirical studies, Reviews of research, Reports, Case Studies, Commentaries, etc.
Open Access vs. Subscription
- Can anyone view it or only subscribers/purchasers?
- If OA, do authors pay to publish in the journal? If so, what are costs?
Publication Time Line (How soon do you need/want to publish?)
- Length of time between submission and publication
- Review deadlines
Review Process (for Peer-reviewed journals)
- Who are the reviewers/editors?
- Blind review?
- Review timeline
Journal Impact - Metrics and Impact Factor – How often are articles in this journal cited by articles published in other journals?
- PlumX Metrics This link opens in a new window – record buzz on the journals article – includes social media mentions, as well as articles and commentaries, etc.
- Cabells This link opens in a new window, Scopus, SCImago This link opens in a new window all report Journal impact factors
Copyright (Which rights will you retain to your content after publication?)
- Author’s rights in the Journal Publishing Agreement/Author’s contract – Who owns the content, what are the limits on republishing, reusing the work, etc.
- Access
Indexing (Where will this journal be indexed and searchable by users?)
- Where is this journal indexed? EBSCO? ProQuest? Major databases?
- Does Google Scholar index this journal?
- Does Semantic Scholar index this journal?

Check out this new book about writing articles for journals:

Publishing Journal Articles by Zheng Yan & Catherine Snow This link opens in a new window
Call Number: Online
ISBN: 9781108277426
Publication Date: 2020
Journal publication and grant writing are two core professional skills for new scholars today. However, systematic training is not typically offered in graduate programs worldwide. This book equips readers with the current scientific knowledge by providing a concise introduction to the science of journal article publication. The overall structure generally matches the curriculum of a graduate course and each chapter features a learning sequence based on Daniel Kahneman's intuitive judgement theory. The volume analyzes the intuitive thoughts of new authors from a variety of countries, uses over fifty real-life cases, and focuses on core concepts from nearly 100 research articles. It provides scientific advice for new authors, junior researchers, and graduate students to publish their scholarly work and advance their academic careers.