Starting the publishing journey

If you are at the start of your career as a researcher, you may be wondering where to start in terms of getting published. Publishing research is currently the major route to research dissemination, is often used to assess the quality of your research, and can help with future funding and progressing in your career. Alongside this, publishers provide infrastructure for reviewing the quality of research, particularly peer review, which if done correctly can help people to trust your research.

We have a lot of information on our webpages relating to some of the later stages of getting published, but what do you need to think about to get started?

Some simple questions to ask yourself are:

• What format would best showcase your research? Journal article? Book chapter? Monograph?
• What publishing avenues exist in your subject area? Which ones do you read?
• What are the submission guidelines?
• Do you need to share your data if publishing with a certain venue? If so how are you going to do it?

We don’t have all the answers, particularly where a question relates to a particular discipline, but there are some useful resources out there that could help you make choices.

The library has advice on choosing a journal via a guide at https://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/media/departments/lis/skills/study-guides/SR031-Where-to-publish-journal-articles.pdf and more information on choosing reputable publishers and avoiding predatory publishers at Publishing and Sharing Research - University of Wolverhampton. We have blogged in the past on predatory publishers and hijacked journals, two publishing phenomena that cause problems for authors.

Cambridge University Press have put out some videos that go through the submission process with an interesting perspective on what a publisher wants. The videos promote some of their journals and systems but offer useful information on what not to do when submitting to a publisher.

The publisher SAGE has published an article on how best to write for publication.

The following resource may be of use while you have access to university systems: How to get research published in journals - University of Wolverhampton.

Open research works to normalise sharing research outputs from throughout the research life cycle, so there are non-traditional options to explore as well. These include preprints, sharing datasets and engaging with public venues.

If you would like further information on resources that help you selecting a publisher, you can contact the Scholarly Communications Team.

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash