10

Throughout this course, you’ve taken a deeper look at the process and politics of scholarly publishing. Now it’s time to put it all together and try your hand at creating your own publishing plan.

Using journal directory/indexing tools (subscription resources such as Cabell’s, Ulrich’s, and Journal Citation Reports, if they are available to you; as well as open tools such as Sherpa Romeo and journal/publisher websites) locate two journals that might be a good fit for publishing your work. In a 3-5 page paper (roughly 1500-2000 words), name and describe the journals you have selected and explain why you have chosen them. Reflect on criteria such as:

• Scope: What subjects/topics does the journal cover? What kind of work, and in what format, does the journal seek to publish? Do issues have a distinct theme? Does the journal have a geographic focus?
• Targeted audience: Who reads this journal? Are they the audience you are trying to reach?
• Information for authors: Are the manuscript guidelines clearly communicated? What is the article acceptance rate? How long does the publication process typically take, from initial submission to final publication? Who are the editors? How long has the journal been in existence?
• Transparency of policies and practices: What information is readily available? What can’t you find about their policies? Are there any “red flags” or practices that concern you?
• Business model: Is it published by a commercial company? A professional society or association? How does the journal pay for expenses? Is it evident what an individual or institutional subscription costs?
• Peer review: Is the journal peer-reviewed? Single or double blind? Open peer review? Is there any information about how their particular peer review process works?
• Open access options or compatibility with OA (such as eligibility for institutional repositories): Is the journal partially (hybrid) or fully open access? Are authors asked to pay an article processing charge (APC) to make their work open access? What are the terms that authors must follow if they want to deposit their accepted manuscript/post-print into an open access institutional or disciplinary repository?
• Copyright/Author’s rights: Are authors required to transfer their copyright to the journal publisher, or do they retain copyright? Does the publisher provide an example of the author contract or its verbiage?
• Bibliometrics/Altmetrics: How is the journal measured by bibliometric indicators (such as Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore, SCImago Journal rank, or Scopus SNIP) and altmetric tools (such as Altmetric, Impact Story, PlumX) systems? Does it have name recognition in its field? Are your peers, colleagues, and/or instructors familiar with the journal?
• Other factors that are important to YOU