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Faculty Publishing Guide

Fit

Choosing a publisher: Fit

 

Your favourite journal may not (always) be the right place for you to publish your research.  Publishing best practices limit you to submitting your work to one journal at a time - so it's important to save your time and energy for the journal or publisher with the best "fit" for your work.

Start your research on the journal or publisher's homepage.  Look for sections such as:

  • About the Journal
  • Publish with Us
  • Aims and Scope
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Information for Author

Consider

Important Considerations

 

Pay particular attention to how well your work, publication goals, and/or institutional requirements match with those of your intended journal or publisher. Consider factors such as:

 

  • Funder / Institutional policies: Does your funder and/or the College have particular publishing requirements?  e.g., does your funder require that your final data-sets be made openly available in a certified data repository?
     
    • Does the publisher's contract allow you to adhere to such requirements?
       
  • Access/Paywalls:  Is it important to you that your work be freely available?  If your preferred journal is not Open Access your work may be pay-walled. 
     
    • Check: Is it permissible to upload a version of your article, such as the "pre-print" to an open repository such as DOOR? 
       
    • If your preferred journal is Open Access - does it charge article processing fees? Do you have the means to pay them?
       
  • Subject Focus: Does the journal publish research in your subject area?  Would your work fit into a typical issue?
     
  • Research type: What type of research are you conducting?  e.g., which research methodolog(ies) are you using? Are you utilizing specialized tests?  Does the journal or publisher typically publish such research?
     
  • Ideal Audience:  Does the journal or publisher focus on your intended audience?  E.g., do experts in the field serve on the editorial board?  Does the publication sponsor or send reps to key conferences?
     
  • Reputation: Is the journal or publisher well established, respected and/or influential in your field? Do leading scholars contribute their work to it?  Is work published by it well cited?  See the Impact Factors & Other Rankings page to learn more.
     
  • Publication Timeline: what is the typical time frame between submission and publication?  Does this match your  needs?