Publishing Guide

Before submitting your work to a publisher or journal, it is important to first verify the quality and impact or "reach" of the publisher you are submitting to. Do your research, read some of their publications, and ask questions such as:

1. Is this a respected journal or publisher in my discipline?

2. Do colleagues follow, read, and talk about this journal or publisher?

3. Do I know other professionals who have successfully published with this journal?

4. How impactful are articles or books from this journal or publisher? (Are the articles/books used and cited by other professionals in the field?)

5. Does the journal require peer review? If so, what type:

• Double blind: Neither author nor reviewer's identities are disclosed
• Single blind: Author's identity is disclosed to the reviewer, but the reviewer's identity is concealed
• Open: Author and reviewer's identities are both disclosed
• Post publication: Minimal peer review prior to publishing, other than to confirm basic accuracy and results. Scholarly community ultimately assesses the article post-publication via discussion and commentary.

Sites for Assessing Journal Quality

Use the resources and sites below to retrieve journal recommendations for publishing your article.

Journal impact factor is the measure of citations to articles from the journal in the last two years, divided by the total number of published articles within the journal over the last two years.

Consider publishing in an open access journal. Open access is defined as: “...free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.”

(Peter Suber, Open Access Overview)

The submission process varies from publisher to publisher. Consult the publisher's submission page for information unique to that publisher or journal, such as required editorial styles like APA, Chicago, or MLA (amongst others). Often instructions and resources are provided to ensure proper submission. 

Ensure (especially with open access) that if there are any submission fees, that payment is due upon acceptance, rather than at the time of submission. Additionally, review the journal's/publisher's copyright policy. The policy should be clear and concise, and will indicate potential copyright transfer information or author's retention of copyrights.

After you submit your manuscript it will likely undergo review by the editor and peer reviewers. They will be reviewing your work to ensure it:

• meets their publication criteria and adheres to their submission guidelines
• focuses on journal/publication's content area
• contributes to the scholarly conversation within the field
• clear, easy to read, free of errors, and adheres to style guidelines
• factual with sound research methodology

Reviews often take a minimum of two to three months, but it can sometimes take significantly longer depending on if the publisher has a backlog or the complexity of the manuscript.

After your manuscript has been reviewed the editor will either respond to you with a) rejection, b) the option to revise and resubmit, or c) acceptance. Most manuscripts will need revisions, so expect this as part of the process. Review the comments provided by the editor and/or reviewers, and decide which revisions to include and which to ignore.

*Review slides 12-14 of the tutorial below for more information about the revision process.