Choosing outlets for your research
Publishing strategically will maximise the exposure of your research and increase your chances of generating impact in your chosen discipline.
A wise strategy is supported by informed decisions about an outlet, prior to publication. Ask questions about the outlet, search for information from the broader community and then check the validity of the outlet’s operations.
The Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Waranara Library have identified four crucial considerations for choosing a publication outlet:
Your chosen outlet must be relevant to your field of research to guarantee it will target an appropriate audience.
- Is there a good fit between your topic and the scope of this outlet?
- Do the titles of the research published fit meaningfully into this scope?
- Is your potential audience citing and publishing in this outlet?
- Are members of the editorial board recognised as experts in your discipline?
- Do board members list the outlet on their own institutional websites?
It is important to choose an outlet that is well regarded by those in your research community.
- Will your output meet eligibility requirements for the ERA evaluation?
- Will this outlet/publisher look good on your publication record?
- Is it affiliated with a recognised publication initiative, society or association?
- Are there any relevant performance indicators (eg Impact Factors, journal ranking etc)?
- How is it perceived by the broader community in blogs, forums and other social media?
- Is it indexed in a relevant database for your discipline? Have you checked Ulrich’s?
The exposure of your research will depend on the outlet being easy to discover and access.
- Will this outlet provide readers with sufficient access to the full-text version?
- Does this outlet have an open access policy?
- On the official website, is the lead-time to publication clear and reasonable?
- Has the outlet optimised visibility by adopting standardised numbers (ISSN or ISBN) and permanent links (DOI)?
The increasing prevalence of ‘predatory’ publishers indicates the importance of recognising ethical and valid publishing practices.
- Has there been any personalised unsolicited contact from this outlet?
- Does the official website provide clear information on its peer review policy?
- Is there a proper editorial workflow?
- How easy is it to contact the publisher? By post, email, phone?
- Are author fees associated with the publication process clearly stated and easy to find?
- Who owns the copyright? Is there an embargo?
- Does the physical address of the outlet appear to be legitimate?
- Are any assertions about metrics or quality indicators legitimate and current?
Open Access Publishing
Publishing your research outputs open access means they are free to read, download and use without the financial and licencing restrictions placed on traditional publications. This can mean your work is more visible and accessible, including to scholars who do not have access via expensive journal subscriptions.
Open Access is also increasingly a requirement of research grant funders and our own Macquarie University Open Access Policy. Our Open Access Guide provides more information about how to find and publish in open access outlets.
Protecting your Research
You have invested considerable time into producing your scholarly work and it is important you retain control of how you want it to be used, now and into the future. Publishing agreements typically ask you to sign over your rights to the publisher, who will now control how your work can be used. Our Author Rights page provides information about Creative Commons licences and Author Addendums which can protect your rights.
For further assistance
Contact your:
- supervisors, mentors, colleagues and relevant associations
- faculty’s research office for any faculty-specific advice or guidelines
- faculty’s Faculty or Clinical librarian.