Publish or Perish: Understanding journals and journal publishing
21/02/2018 (Thursday) 13:00-14:00 E21B-G002
Publish or perish’ is the sine qua non of the university, both locally and globally. The pressure to publish in high impact journals can be confusing and frustrating. Do you publish in a highly ranked journal just because of its ranking? Or do you publish in a lower-ranked journal, believing it a better way to reach your intended audience, and lead to more citations? While journal rankings and citations are blunt instruments over which you have little control, getting published is not. With persistence, effort, and a better understanding of journal publishing as a process, you can get published. But the most difficult part is getting past the first hurdle – get your foot in the door. This involves some basic steps. First, carefully read information on a journal in order to decide if it is right for your work. Second, and after submitting, understand and follow the track your article takes through the review process. Third, write revisions and response letters that best explain your work to reviewers and the editor(s). These steps are not secret, nor rocket science. In this talk we discuss the process of journal publication, offering insights and advice based upon our experience as editors of two internationally ranked journals. We also talk about what we have learnt in our roles as editors about journal publishing, including the successes and mistakes people make when submitting their work. Keep in mind that the editor’s purpose is NOT to reject your work. But it is to find good articles that can be published, that will generate readership, and ensure the success of their journal. A better understanding of the role of the editor and the submission process, can help both you and the editor produce high quality, publishable work.
Todd Sandel has published over 20 articles in SSCI and Scopus Ranked journals. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International & Intercultural Communication. JIIC is a peer reviewed, Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science), Scopus journal: Q1 in Cultural Studies and Q2 in Communication.
Richard Fitzgerald has published over 60 articles in SSCI and Scopus Ranked journals. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Discourse, Context & Media. DCM is a peer reviewed SSCI (Web of Science), Scopus Q1 Journal in Communication and Cultural Studies, with an impact factor of 1.136.