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Publishing Guidelines for Researchers
Publishing Guidelines for Researchers
Choosing where to publish your work is hugely important regarding the dissemination of your research. You should target top journals relevent to your work that are likely to be read and cited by others working in your field. The following sections can give you some advice and direction on choosing where to publish, ensuring you get your details right and maximising the impact of your research:
Once you have selected your journal, ensure you follow the publishing guidleines to ensure your paper has a consistent name and is properly affiliated and you receive the correct credit for your work.
Getting your Name and Affiliation correct
Lastly once your paper is published, communication and dissemination is key to broaden the impact of your research - our guide gives practical steps to help you ensure your research is visible in your field and making a difference.
How to select the Right Journal
Deciding the right journal to publish your research in is very important to ensure your research is well disseminated and has an impact. Choosing the right journal to submit your paper to for publication is often challenging, and involves a variety of factors including the fit of the article to the journal, the reputation of the journal, the journal readership, turnaround times and rejection rates.
The guidelines below are here to help you make an informed decision on where to publish your research. Further information and webinars are also available at the Universty of Galway Library
You should target the top quality journals that are relevant for your work, and that are likely to be read and cited by other researchers in your field. The following can help you identify where to target:
- Peer advice - Discuss where to publish with senior colleagues or mentors - they will be well placed to determine which outlets are considered prestigious in your discipline
- Reputation / Prestige: Is the journal indexed and peer reviewed (eg included in a large, multidisciplinary database of peer-reviewed literature (eg Scopus or Web of Science) Proper indexing of journals adds to their reputation and articles published in peer reviewed journals enjoy great respect due to the stringent publishing process. Consider journal citation indicators such as Impact Factor or Citescore - used to measure the importance or imact of a journal by calculating the times its articles are cited.
- Discipline fit: Identify a journal suitable for your discipline - help reach your target audience. Research where your peers are publishing and their success and impact using tools like Scopus.
- Avoid predatory or cloned journals - these are typically open access journals with little or no peer review, low academic standards and little credibility. Beall's maintains a list of such journals.
- other factors to consider include the journals publicaiton turnaround times, whether its open access, if there is a cost to publish in the journal (there may be an institutional subscription) and acceptance rates.
There are numerous third party databases and lists that can aid your selection of an appropriate journals, including
- Discipline specific lists of top journals and publishers like FT50 or ABS List in Business,
- the Directory of Open Access Journals which maintains a list of indexed journals that consider the quality of the paper, the review process, regularity of publications and reputaiton of the journal.
- Many large publishers have online tools that allows you to enter the title and abstract of your paper to easily find journals that could be best suited for publishing in.
Scopus database (part of Elsevier) also have a free journal and rankings database available to help select a journal, and compare journals in your subject area across a number of different bibliometrics including citation indicators to help identify relevant top quality Journals - further details here .
You are advised to discuss any journal selection decision with colleagues or mentors
Top Journals in Scopus
Scopus features three citation indicators to measure a journal's impact; Citescore, SNIP (Source Normalised Impact per Paper) and SJR (SCImago Journal Rank). These indicators use the citation data captured in the Scopus database to reveal different aspects of a journal's impact: Read more on the Journal classification in Scopus.
- CiteScore is a new journal metric available at https://journalmetrics.scopus.com/ and via Scopus. The metric is calculated similarly to the Journal Impact Factor except it is over a three year period instead of two years and all document types are included
- SNIP (source normalized impact per paper) also uses citation data from Scopus. This indicator measures the average citation impact of the publications of a journal. The SNIP corrects for differences in citation practices between scientific fields, which allows for more accurate between-field comparisons of citation impact.
- SJR takes into account the prestige of the citing journal; citations are weighted to reflect whether they come from a journal with a high or low SJR and is calculated over a 3 year period. The SJR normalises for differences in citation behavior between subject fields.
See which Journals on Scopus have the Highest Impact:
Search for your discipline or a specific journal in Scopus online here and compare Citation Scores and percentiles. Journals in the top quarter percentile (i.e. 75% and above) are proven to have more impact and garner more citations. With the Scopus Compare Journals tool you can compare up to 10 journals in your subject area by CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, citations, documents, percent not cited and percent reviews.
Alternatively, you can view all the journals in your subject area from Scopus here. Ensure you have the subject area field displayed as shown in step 1 below, then enter the subject area and finally sort by decreasing order of SNIP. This will sort the journals from the highest SNIP.
Content Selection on Scopus and Suggesting a Journal for Inclusion on Scopus
All content on Scopus is reviewed and selected by an independant Content Selection and Advisory Board (CSAB), an international group of scientists and researchers with journal edior expertise, who represent the major disciplines. Any new journal or book must meet certain technical requirements and then pass a CSAB review. Every year, approximately 3,500 new titles are suggested for inclusion in Scopus, but only 33% of those titles meet the technical criteria. And of those roughly 1,200 titles, only 50% are accepted after CSAB review.
Learn more about the Content selection process here, including a link to a form to be completed in order to suggest a new title for inclusion on Scopus.
Publishing Guidelines for Researchers
Once you have selected your journal, below are the publishing guidleines to ensure your paper is properly affiliated and you receive the correct credit for your work:
1. Ensure you have the correct University Affiliation:
As a University employee or research student, or an affiliate with honorary status, when publishing journal articles and other works associated with research undertaken while at the University, you must declare your primary affiliation to be the University of Galway. Publications can often get misaligned to other universities or indeed to other people who have similar names. Best practices are listed below to ensure the correct alignment of both the institution's and the individual researcher's name.
a) Your Institution
When publishing, always use the same institutional name and always use the designated university name the University of Galway when submitting your manuscript for publication.
b) Multiple Affiliations
You may also wish to include your school or research group, but always LIST THE UNIVERSITY FIRST as
this is the safest method for ensuring that the institution (and thus
the appropriate school/research group) receives the credit for the
publication in the bibliographic databases and analysis.
For multiple affiliations please ensure a semicolon is used in between the different affiliation entities e.g.
University of Galway; Ryan Institute; School of Natural Sciences.
Where an author has a substantive or honorary contact with the University and, say, the HSE, both organisations can appear as affiliations in submissions for publication.
2. Ensure you are using the correct/consistent version of Your Name:
When publishing, always use the same author name. Problems can arise due to:
- Authors alternating between the English and Irish versions of their name
- Authors alternating between using middle initials and/or shortened versions of their first name
- Common names e.g John O' Brien, Mary Ward etc
- Name changes, e.g. marriage
See more on how to manage your profile with a unique author id: Tips for managing your research profile
3. Create your ORCID (www.orcid.org):
This unique identifier helps overcome issues with wrong affiliations and author names and will make it easier to identify you as the author of scholarly work. Include it on your personal webpage, when submitting publications and when applying for grants – see here for further guidelines. Including your ORCID when publishing will make it easier to associate you with the publication in bibliographic databases and make sure that you are credited for your work.
4. If your article has been accepted for Publication:
a. Ensure it is recorded on University of Galway’s Institutional Research Information System IRIS and uploaded onto University of Galway’s open access repository ARAN.
b. Ensure you are complying with any specific funder requirements as set out in your Grant Agreement/Letter of Offer – the Research Office can offer further guidance on this
c. Consider how you will manage access to Research Data - more details are available here https://www.nuigalway.ie/media/staffsub-sites/researchoffice/files/Research-Data-Management-Policy-(QA509)
Broadening your Research Impact:
The last step in the process, once you have a paper published and correctly aligned to your university with your own unique author ID, is to ensure you communicate and disseminate your research to Broaden your Research Impact
Tips for Increasing Research Impact
Increase the impact of your Manuscript
- Publish where it counts - journals that are indexed by major citation services, eg Scopus help increase recognition for your work.
- Select the appropriate Journal –consider Journal Impact Factor, Scopus ASJC Codes, cross-discipline, where do your competitors publish?
- Aim high - papers in highly cited journals attract more citations and sooner - see here for list of Top Journals in Scopus
- Consider the publication timeline - does the journal do preprints? Digital Object Identifier?
- Title – longer more descriptive article titles attract more citations.
- Title (and Abstract) words are heavily weighted by search engines and a keyword-rich title will push your article towards the top.
- Write a clear Abstract, repeat key phrases (search engines search the Abstract)
- Write a Review - Citation rates of reviews are generally higher than other papers
- Use more references – strong relationship between no of references and citations.
- Open Access to underlying research data and materials – makes your paper very attractive Check the review period and on-line pre-prints.
- Publish in Open Access journals and Open Access Digital repository – greater access, visibility, digital access and some research funders insisting.
International Collaboration
- International experts in your field (Scival can help identify potential collaborators)
- Multi author and multi institutes
- Correlation with higher citation rates
Promotion, Visibility and Accessibility
- Importance of Self Promotion, Networking and Visibility
- Participate in conferences and meetings – present your work at every opportunity
- Offer to give lectures or talk about your research.
- Build an online presence:
Create a website that lists your publications –include University of Galway.
Use Social Media - Facebook, Twitter, ResearchGate, LinkedIn, Blogs, Youtube video, TedEd lesson etc
- Utilize both Institution and publisher press releases and public relations.
- Distribute reprints to scientists you have cited or to those who may find your work interesting.
- Publish in Open Access Journals and Open Access Digital repository – greater access, visibility, digital access and some research funders insisting.
Cite and you will be Cited
- Cite your colleagues, including those with results contrary to yours
- Cite leaders in your field and pertinent papers.
- Self Citations - Cite your own relevant work (limit to 3 or 4, only include Journal Papers)
and Finally - Make sure you get the credit for your work - see Publishing Guidelines for Researchers
- Manage your online identity – Consistent form of your name, ORCID ID
- Make sure you include University of Galway address in the correct form.
- Reclaim any misspelt citations by others – Scopus feedback service.
- Monitor your output ensuring bibliometric databases accurately capture your work.
Sources:
• Ref: Effective Strategies for Increasing Citation Frequency: http://eprints.rclis.org/20496/1/30366-105857-1-PB.pdf
• http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/working-in-higher-education/2169/how-to-increase-your-citation-rates-in-10-easy-steps-part-1
• http://www.aje.com/en/arc/10-easy-ways-increase-your-citation-count-checklist/
Institutional Reseach Office
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