Choosing where to publish your research takes time and is an important step in the scholarly research process. Strategic scholarly publishing involves following a thoughtful approach to ensure you publish in an effective source in order to maximize your publishing success. Scholarly publishing has multiple benefits including contributing to scholarly discussion in your industry or field, helping raise your academic profile, increasing the visibility of your work and adding to the reputation of Sheridan.
The primary goal of scholarly publishing is to communicate your research findings to your field, often via a journal article or conference presentation. In recent years, academics have also opted to share their work in online forums including podcasts, blog posts, and social media as these platforms have numerous benefits including more control and flexibility over research content.
If you decide that you want to publish your research in a journal, here are things to consider as you work toward your journal shortlist:
Choosing which journal to publish in should done early in the writing process. A list of titles will enable you to compare journal measures and shape your publishing choice. Three reflection questions that may help you narrow your list of journal titles are:
Try using free, open-access journal matching tools. Tools developed by publishers will suggest journals drawn from their family of publications. However, the general journal selection tools listed below cover a broad range of titles across publishers. Due to their breadth, free journal selection tools may not include details about licences, whether there are article processing fees, article specifications such as length and citation formats, or the publishing process followed by the journal. Some journal selection tools may also offer fee-based services such as editorial advice and abstract development supports.
| Name of tool | Number of titles | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Research Square JournalGuide | 46,000+ | Broad coverage of disciplines and publishers |
| Elsevier Journal Finder | 2200+ | Business, Engineering, Health Sciences, Life Sciences and Social Sciences from Elsevier journals |
| Springer Journal Suggester | 2500+ | Multi-disciplinary journals in Springer and BioMed Central |
| SJFinder Journal Recommender | 30,000+ | Broad coverage of disciplines and publishers |
Journal Citation Reports (JCR)are often available via university libraries. JCR is a resource that may help you evaluate and compare journals using citation data drawn from scholarly and technical journals. JCR is both international in scope and multi-disciplinary. A report will include a quantitative “impact factor” of the journal which measures the frequency with which an article in a journal has been cited in a particular year. The calculation is based on a two-year period and involves dividing the number of times articles were cited by the number of articles that are citable. The impact factor of a journal is just one of many things you might consider when selecting a journal. There are opportunities to be published in other great journals or publication that have lower impact factors but will still get you lots of readership. Citation counts via impact factor are only one measure.