Publishing Your Work

The importance of publishing varies by field and the type of job you plan to pursue. If you want to land a tenure-track position at an R1 or R2 university (designated “very high” or “high” in research activity), you may need to publish multiple journal articles or even a book before you can be considered competitive.

By contrast, jobs outside academia may not require any publishing record at all. Even with those jobs, however, publication credentials can make your CV or resume stand out from the stack. Successfully placing an article shows you have the acuity and tenacity to accomplish what many others have only thought about doing, or have tried to do but came up short. In some fields, journals average an 80 percent rejection rate for submitted manuscripts. Moreover, 85–90 percent of leading authors say they have had their work rejected at some point.

Whether you’re successful at it or not, the experience of trying to publish a scholarly journal article can deliver worthwhile benefits on its own. This process gives you practice at conducting in-depth research, positing an original thesis and supporting it with credible evidence, modeling and refining a paper to meet publication conventions and guidelines, and corresponding with editors.

If you aren’t familiar with the leading journals in your field, your academic advisor can give you the names of the most respected periodicals and offer suggestions based on your research focus. You can also search Waldo Library’s online journal database, which allows you to browse journals by subject, title, or ISSN. For example, if you choose a subject like “Biomedical and Health Sciences,” the site will offer you an option to narrow your search by a category such as “Diseases” or “Nutrition”—each of which allows you to further refine your list of target journals. 

Another Waldo search method: Visit “Course and Subject Guides” and click on your subject. A guide will appear identifying the most relevant and worthy sources based on your search criteria. Next to it, you’ll see contact info for the librarian specializing in your field. These liaisons are there to help you with your research, so make use of their library expertise.

If you’d like to learn more, consider enrolling in a Scholarly Publication Workshop at the library. You can also take a workshop on Journal Impact Factors for Tenure and Promotion. 

Once you’ve fine-tuned your list of journals, notice you have the option to sort the journals alphabetically or by “SJR,” which stands for SCImago Journal Rank. SJR (also called the Journal Impact Factor) measures a journal’s prestige based on how often its articles are cited in other journals over the past three years. 

Caution: Watch out for predatory publishers with pay-to-publish policies and a lack of peer review. While respected journals in STEM fields often do charge publication fees, they maintain a scrupulous peer review process. Ulrich’s keeps a directory that can give you more information about legitimate, respected journals. 

When deciding where to submit, consider choosing three prospective journals based on their credibility and relevance to your research. Then, organize your list by preference, perhaps placing the most prestigious journal on top. You want to land a publication, of course, but you also want your work to appear in a venue where other researchers can see and respond to it. Creating a list of worthy journals gives you backup options if your top journal rejects your manuscript. In that situation, you can revise based on reviewer feedback and submit a stronger paper to the next journal on your list. 

Go to the journal’s website and look for “Submission Guidelines.” There, you’ll find specific information, such as how to format your manuscript (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago style), publication and peer-review policies, and instructions on how to submit. Some journals use an online system such as Editorial Manager to track article submissions. Others may require you to submit your manuscript directly to the editor over email. 

Before you submit, consider this insider advice from a major publishing house: Editors first look at your cover letter, abstract, conclusion, and references to determine whether your article fits their journal’s scope. You have the best shot at getting published if your article:

• is within the scope of the journal
• describes research that advances the field
• adds to an active research field
• is carefully prepared and follows the journal’s submission guidelines
• uses clear and concise language
• follows ethical standards

An article goes under peer review when an editor submits it to two or more subject experts who then give constructive feedback and either recommend or reject the article for publication. “Double-blind” peer review means the author and reviewer identities are hidden from each other. With “single-blind” review, the authors do not know who is reviewing their article, but the reviewers know who wrote it. Both review strategies are designed to help eliminate bias. 

All “open access” (OA) scholarly articles are freely available online for anyone, anywhere, to read and cite without paying subscription fees. Academic publishers like Taylor & Francis are working to promote OA to make scholarly research and discoveries more widely accessible.

One clear advantage of OA publishing is increased visibility and citations. Research shows nearly 19 million journal articles are now available through open access, and they’re earning a minimum of 18 percent more citations than articles that are not open access.

If you are considering publishing in an OA journal, you should also be aware of potential drawbacks. Some researchers have concerns about quality, believing OA articles undergo a less rigorous peer review process. Other OA critics object to the practice of charging authors excessive fees to make the content open access.

Open access publishing features three levels that indicate a journal’s fees and accessibility: golden, green, and diamond. For more information and links to short videos covering the essentials of open access, visit the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition.

The Directory of Open Access Journals maintains a comprehensive database of open access journals and articles. There, you can search author rights and fees by journal title. 

An embargo (sometimes called a moving wall) refers to the gap in content between archival journal issues and recent issues. This embargo is set by the publisher and can last up to 10 years, although most journals have 3—5 year moving walls. The wall “moves back” in early January, making another year’s worth of issues available through the database. So, if you can’t find a recent issue of a specific journal, a moving wall is the likely culprit. 

As a WMU scholar, you can try scaling that wall using a couple of different strategies. You could request a copy of the periodical or book through interlibrary loan. Or, you may be able to find a pre-print version of the article. Authors sometimes upload their work to an institutional repository, which you can try to locate through Google Scholar, a research-sharing site like Research Gate, or by searching the university’s online repository. 

If nothing turns up, click on the “Live Chat” button at the bottom of the WMU library screen. A Waldo librarian may be able to help you. 

The wait begins. Editors will decide either to send out your article for peer review or reject it up front without a review at all. Rejection at this early stage can occur if your article is not a good fit for the journal or it fails to meet the submission criteria. 

If your article is sent out for peer review, the editor will usually email a short note to you saying when you can expect to hear back. Response times vary considerably by field of study, ranging from three weeks to three months. Take stock in the fact that your paper is in good hands, and reviewers usually respond with targeted and useful feedback. 

Meanwhile, focus on other projects and potential new articles. Unlike creative writers who can submit the same piece to multiple publishers simultaneously, scholarly article writers should only submit to one publisher at a time. Academic publishers view simultaneous submissions as unethical, so you will need to wait to hear back from one journal before trying the next on your list.

If you haven’t heard back from the editor within the expected time frame, consider sending a polite email inquiry about the status of your article. Sometimes the reviewers will take longer than anticipated, or the periodical only has a small staff to handle a large volume of work. Either case can delay the response time. 

Celebrate! You did it. Along with your note of acceptance, the editor will likely include some required revisions. Rarely will a publisher accept an article as is. These revisions may take you some time, too, but it’s worth it; they ensure your article will meet the journal’s publication standards. Review these requests carefully, and—even if you don’t like some of the changes—try to comply. 

Keep in mind: The editor oversees the publication process, and you want to demonstrate that you’re easy to work with and professional. If you’re unclear about what one of the reviewers is asking you to do, send a query to the editor asking for clarification. 

Usually, the editor’s revision requests are necessary and fair, but if a requested change distorts or inaccurately represents your research, then you have the right (and responsibility) to challenge the recommendation. Write a polite email to the editor explaining why you believe the article is stronger or more accurate without the change. 

It’s natural to feel disappointed but do not despair. Even top scholars working in the field for years receive rejection notices. Besides, you prepared in advance for just this situation, so now it’s time to turn to Plan B. 

Carefully read the feedback given to you by the peer reviewers and use that guidance to revise your manuscript. Then, start taking steps to submit your revised article to the next journal on your list. Begin by consulting that journal’s submission guidelines and adjusting your article accordingly.