Where should I Publish?
Some of the factors you might consider when selecting a journal include:
- Scope of the journal and topical fit
- Composition of the editorial board
- Peer review e.g. single blind, double blind, open review
- Will it be read by your target audience?
- Where are your peers publishing?
- Turnaround times, and how quickly e-publication is available
- Acceptance and rejection rates
- Open access options
- Does the author retain copyright?
- Is the Journal indexed in major citation/impact tracking databases e.g. Web of Science, Scopus
- Journal ranking metrics such as the Journal Impact Factor, SJR or SNIP (see below for further information)
Where are the top authors in your field publishing?
Search by Author in Scopus or Web of Science to get a full author profile
Connect to them via the A-Z of Library Databases
Types of Peer Review
- Different forms include:
- Single blind peer review is when the identity of the reviewer(s) is kept anonymous, but the author's name and affiliation is identified on the manuscript.
- Double blind peer review is when the identities of the reviewers and the authors are both anonymised.
- Open peer review is when the identities of the reviewer and authors are both made known.
- Each form of peer review has advantages and disadvantages, check them out before you submit your article !
Publishing Strategically to Enhance your Research Impact
Where are the top academic departments publishing?
Search by affilation/address in Scopus or Web of Science and filter by subject area and source
"Plan S"
Plan S is an initiative for Open Access publishing that was launched in September 2018. The plan is supported by cOAlition S, an international consortium of research funders. Plan S requires that, from 2020, scientific publications that result from research funded by public grants must be published in compliant Open Access journals or platforms.
Some interesting comment here on the "Plan S" debate as Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe reviews the feedback submitted in response to the Plan S consultation and highlights 7 themes that emerged from the thousands of pages submissions made to cOAlition S .
MURAL (MU Research Archive Library): Guide to How & Why you should deposit your Research Output in MURAL
Open Access refers to unrestricted online access to articles published in scholarly journals, and also increasingly to book chapters or monographs. There are many benefits to publishing your research output as Open Access.
Find out more about MU Library Open Access Publishing Agreements by going to the Open Access Publishing Agreements Guide. Here you will find full details of all current agreements, which publishers are covered and who can make use of these agreements.
Journal Ranking Metrics: finding the highest ranking journal in your field
There are a number of tools available to measure the impact of journals including:
Scopus (Sources Ranking & Journal Compare)
SciMago (Journal & Country Ranking)
Web of Science (Journal Impact Factor)
Google Scholar Metrics or download "Publish or Perish"
More details here under Key Bibliographic Databases & Alternative Metrics
Predatory Publishing
- Predatory Publishing GuidePredatory open-access publishing is an exploitative open-access academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without providing the editorial and publishing services associated with legitimate journals (open access or not). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_open-access_publishing
Think, Check, Submit Checklist for Publications
- Think Check SubmitThink. Check. Submit. is a campaign to help researchers identify trusted journals for their research. It is a simple checklist researchers can use to assess the credentials of a journal or publisher.
- Beall's list of Predatory JournalsThis is an archived version of the Beall's list - a list of potential predatory publishers created by a librarian Jeffrey Beall. It also includes a new updated list.
Manuscript Matching Tools
These tools analyse journal data and existing citations in an attempt to match your abstract to a well-suited journal.
For example:
Endnote (Clarivate) Manuscript Matcher
Pubmed: PubReMiner
Open Access Publishing Agreements
Funders Open Access Requirements
- Research Funders Open Access PoliciesMany funders now have as a condition of funding that the research output is made available as Open Access.
Open Access Publishing
- Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)The DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) was launched in 2003 at Lund University, Sweden, with 300 open access journals. Today, the independent database contains ca. 12000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities. DOAJ is a community-curated list of open access journals and aims to be the starting point for all information searches for quality, peer reviewed open access material.
- MURAL (MU Research Archive Library)Maynooth University Research Archive Library (MURAL) is an institutional repository of ePublications which showcases the research output of Maynooth University and St. Patrick's College staff and postgraduate students. This open access ensures the widest possible dissemination and impact for our work in Maynooth and contributes to the growing body of research literature that is now freely available online. Guide to depositing your work here http://nuim.libguides.com/mural/how-to-deposit
- Open Access Advantages & DisadvantagesThe greatest benefit of open access is that it enables the results of scholarly research to be disseminated more rapidly and widely
- Open DOAROpenDOAR is a global directory of Open Access repositories and their policies.
- Sherpa Romeo WebsiteSHERPA RoMEO is an online resource that aggregates and analyses publisher open access policies from around the world and provides summaries of self-archiving permissions and conditions of rights given to authors on a journal-by-journal basis.
