Publishing Help

You may find a publisher for your work via the following methods:

• ask your colleagues for recommendations
• find journals in your literature review citations
• Google your subject area keyword(s) and add journal, publisher, etc.
• search the library's databases and journals

Review publishers' websites and read the publications' scopes.  The scope indicates whether your work fits the publication.  If so, determine if they accept unsolicited scholarly work.  If they do, consider the elements listed below to select the best publication for your work.

If a publisher accepts author submissions, its website should have instructions for authors.  Read them carefully!  Author instructions (sometimes labeled submission guidelines) may cover the following:

• submitting queries vs. full works
• format and citation style
• submission instructions
• fees
• author rights
• review process
• other author information

The more you understand and follow the guidelines for author submissions, the better chance the publisher will accept your work.

Queries vs. Full Works: Some publishers may want a query, abstract, or summary first instead of the complete work. Even if your work is complete, follow the author instructions if they want a query first.  

How to Submit: Many publishers use an online submission management system that requires you to create an account.  Other publishers accept submissions via email.  Follow the publisher's submission guidelines carefully.

Simultaneous Submissions: Be aware that most publishers do not allow you to submit the same work to multiple publishers to see who responds first.  In other words, once you submit your work to one publisher, you must wait to hear from that publisher until you contact another.  Read each publisher's website to learn if you must follow this restriction.

Turnaround Time: The turnaround time for a decision on your work can vary widely from a few days to a year.  Many publishers give a time frame on their website.  You may also find process updates in the online submission management system.  You can request a status update if you have not heard anything from the publisher after the specified time frame has passed.

Editing Process: The editing process varies by publisher.  If a publisher indicates your work needs editing, they may do the following:

• edit your work and send it to you for review
• ask you for edits, you make them, and they review them

The publisher guides you through the editing process.

Notification Process: The lead/corresponding author receives notifications about submitted work.  Those notifications may come from the online submission management system, an editor, or both.  Some publishers send regular updates as your work moves through the process, including submission verification, review, feedback, decision, etc.  Other publishers communicate less often.

The lower the acceptance rate, the more competitive the publication.  Some publishers list their acceptance rate on their websites either at the publication level () or the publisher level (.)  If it is not on their website, Google the publisher or journal name and acceptance rate to find it online. You may also email the publisher to ask.  Knowing the acceptance rate informs you of the likelihood of acceptance and can help you decide which publisher to select.

Journals with higher impact factors are typically considered more prestigious.  Often a journal's impact factor is posted on their website.  You can also Google the journal name and impact factor to find results. However, there is no official tool for determining impact factor, so it may vary across different sources.  

Below is a very limited list of impact factor sites.  If you find others, carefully read how the factors are calculated.  If a site doesn't describe how it calculates the journal impact factors, you should not consider it reliable.

• : searchable database to evaluate the influence of scholarly journals in the scientific community
• : provides "an easy way for authors to quickly gauge the visibility and influence of recent articles in scholarly publications"
• : journal rankings with information from the Scopus database without requiring a Scopus subscription 

Predatory publishers publish work without a rigorous review process while also requiring author fees. This practice means that work rejected by reputable publishers can still be published without regard for sound research, data validity, or ethical practice. Predatory publishers often use the open-access model to justify author fees. The Society for Scholarly Publishing has more information on . 

Unfortunately, there isn't one way to determine if a publisher is predatory.  Below are suggestions to properly vet a publisher before submitting your work:

• ask your colleagues about the publisher
• evaluate the publisher using a checklist (example: ) 
• read published works from that publisher and evaluate their validity
• ignore publishers' email/spam solicitations and find your own journals
• Google the publisher name and predatory and review the results

There are many lists online of predatory journals, but no list is 100% accurate or reliable since predatory status is subjectively evaluated.