How to get Published

Be Strategic: 

Choose the right place for your research.

Publishing strategy needs to be part of the research planning process. Consider your goals for the research first. The choices you make around publishing will affect who the research reaches, how quickly it is made available and potentially what kind of impact it will have. Think about your audience. Who will read it? What are the needs and priorities of those who will use your research? Identify these, even if they're outside of academia, be specific. Embed them. Likewise, identify those who might be impacted negatively, those who might block or facilitate. Ask questions, and consider ethical implications. Review these throughout the research process.

Things to Consider when Choosing Channels for Publication:

• Open Access options
• Audience
• Time to publication
• Citation potential
• Reputation and quality
• Accessibility and discoverability
• Copyright and intellectual property
• Scope and relevance

If you're Aiming to Publish in a Journal:

Which journal will you aim for? Which one is the best fit for your article? Read the journal's home page and follow the guidelines for formatting and referencing. Are the implications of your research time sensitive? Will this affect your choice of journal?

Should you consider publishing in an open access journal? If the journal you're aiming for publishes both open and closed material, do you have the funds to pay an APC? And if not, are you happy to publish behind a paywall or does the journal policy allow for the author accepted manuscript to be made available through Research Commons?

What is the citation potential of your journal, and its reputation/quality? What is its impact factor? Check our indexing databases for more metrics and statistics that will give you insight into how well it aligns with your goals.

Think about accessibility/discoverability – Is the journal indexed? Will your main audience need to pay for access? Check copyright/Intellectual property – will you still be able to do what you need to with your work after it’s been published? And avoid predatory publishers.

There isn't a one size fits all approach. Your publishing strategy will depend on your goals. Do you want to be published in a maximum impact journal with a wide audience. e.g. Nature, or a journal that may have a low citation rate but is known to be read by those with the most expertise. e.g. New Zealand Journal of Vocational Education Research? Would it be better to aim for a journal outside your discipline, or one with an interdisciplinary focus - introducing new knowledge and perspectives previously unexplored?

If you're Aiming to Publish for the Public:

Do you want to write for The Conversation web pages or publish a book? Or write for a trade journal? There are many different forms of publication- reviews, letters, software, data, audiovisual material. Ultimately your choice must reflect your research trajectory.

Maximise your Chances of Acceptance:

Sage has a comprehensive guide on  How to get your journal article published.

See also:

• Cabells Scholarly Analytics
• Scopus