Getting started with publishing

If you're new to academic publishing, this guide will give you some pointers on finding an appropriate venue to publish and share your work.

You probably have been working on your research project for a number of months, potentially even years, so do not be tempted to send it off to the first journal you can find.  You may be under pressure to publish quickly, but it is important to find the right venue – both to avoid any predatory publishers, and to maximise the impact of your work. 

Watch this video to find out what editors and publishers look for, and how you can best prepare yourself for the world of academic publishing. This presentation highlights the first steps needed to publish your research [19 min 41 secs long].

Create a journal shortlist

A good first step is to create a short list of between 5 – 10 journal titles that may be suitable for your first publication. You can do this in a number of ways: 

  1. References. If you have already written your manuscript you can take a look at the reference list and identify the most frequently referenced journals in your paper. It is highly likely that your work will match the aims of these journals and you can add the top 2-3 to your shortlist. The exact number will depend on the total number of citations. 
  1. Literature mapping tools. Another more systematic way of finding related journals is to use a literature mapping tool to identify similar papers based on user provided collections of articles. Some examples of commonly used tools are: 

These literature mapping tools were developed to aid the discovery of related published research, to help perform literature reviews, or perhaps just catching up with the latest published research on your chosen topic. You can however use these tools to map the literature landscape in your study area and find journals who publish related research topics. 

  1. Recommendations. Ask your supervisor and colleagues for advice. Your supervisor should be able to assist you in deciding which journal to aim for.  
  1. Using Journal selectors tools. There are a range of tools out there that will make suggestions for you. If you choose to use one of these selectors we recommend using more than one publisher specific tool as they will obviously only recommend journal titles from their own portfolio. Some example services are listed alphabetically here: 
  1. Journal lists.  You can try using an abstracting and indexing database to provide lists of journals by subject that may help you find journals for your shortlist. Some common indexing tools that are available for you to use are listed below: 

If you are trouble logging in to these services try looking at the Library’s Databases A – Z web pages which may help you access them (https://library.ed.ac.uk/finding-resources/library-databases/databases-a-z)  

Journal selection process

Once you have a shortlist you can focus on winnowing the selection with this checklist: 

  • Acceptance/Rejection rate. Some glamour journals (like Nature) have rejection rates of 95%+ so you need to be pragmatic about your chances of a successful submission otherwise you could be wasting your time. You can normally find information on acceptance rates by visiting the journal website (e.g. try looking in the Author Guidelines section).  
  • Editorial board. Some things to check are whether it is geographically diverse, gender balanced and contains notable subject experts? 
  • Peer review - Is the journal peer reviewed, and if so, what type of peer review does it offer? 
  • Timescale – Does the journal state the time it will take for a paper to move from submission through peer review and on to publication? A fast turnaround time may be attractive, but it may also indicate that corners are being cut in quality.  
  • Metrics- you should not base the decision of where to publish purely on metrics, like impact factors for example.  However, it may be useful to look at the relative ranking of the journal within its field, as opposed to looking at a single metric which does not tell the whole story. 
  • Openness – investigate whether the journal has option access options and what they are.  
  • Costs - Investigate the journal web pages to see if the publisher charges any costs and confirm who will be able cover these. If you are publishing in an Open Access journal they may incur an Article Processing Charge. Some journals may also incur extra Page, Colour or Overlength charges for your paper. Again, please check before submission that you have access to funds to pay these fees. 

Picking the right one

The most important thing is you should always be certain that your chosen journal is a good fit for your article. Check that your manuscript fits the scope and topics that the journal editor is looking for. This information is normally found on the ‘Instructions for authors’ section of the webpages. 

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