Today, I’d like to provide some information about journals and publishing your work in journals. This will be a two-part feature; Part 2 will be sent in a couple of weeks. Part 1 will include a description of various types of publications, types of article reviews, and a brief overview of the publication process. Next time, I will focus on responding to reviewers and editors and give you some tips to help you along the publication process.
Types of publications
There are so many different types of publications that I’m confident that there will be something that appeals to you! The gold standard of scholarly publication is a data-driven empirical article where you collect and analyse data to answer a research question. Most journals will have a category for this type of article, typically called a “research paper” or simply “article”. Some journals also publish shorter versions of these research papers (sometimes called “research briefs” or “research notes” or something similar). If you have a small research study or preliminary findings, you might consider publishing it as one of these brief papers.
Reflection or essays are also accepted by many journals. Although the format and focus vary, they are typically based in empirical research, but might describe something you do in the classroom (or out of the classroom, like grading, lesson planning, even self-care!) Be sure to read the instructions on the journal website and also read some examples of the published articles of this style to get a feel for what the journal is looking for. Most journals have at least one sample issue available for free (and if an article interests you, but you don’t have access to it through our library, you can always email the author directly and request a copy- it is very rare that they deny your request!)
If reading books seems more like your cup of tea, many journals also accept book reviews of books related to the topic(s) of interest to that journal.
Types of article reviews
Once you submit your article to a journal, it will be reviewed to determine if it is suitable for publication.
For some journals, this is a peer-reviewed process where other academics review your article and provide you (and the editor) with feedback and a recommendation about its publication: accept as is (this is a unicorn- I don’t think it even exists! Haha); revise and resubmit for review after minor revisions; revise and resubmit for review after major revisions; or reject. If you are given feedback and revisions are requested, you can decide whether you want to make those revisions and have you r article re-reviewed or if you want to try another journal (more on this in Part 2). Usually, the editor will have read your manuscript and will find reviewers who have some expertise in your topic area. Also, the peer-review process is typically double-blind, so you don’t know who the reviewers are and the reviewers don’t know who the author is. This is why the article you submit usually needs to be anonymous (no author name on the title page or identifying information in the article) and that information is submitted to the journal elsewhere (e.g., online form or separate document). Some examples of journals with a peer-review process are: Transformative Dialogues, The Journal Education Infomatics, and the Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
Other journals will only have editors review your article. These editor-reviewed journals often have faster turnaround times. Similar to the peer-reviewed process, an editor may request some revisions, but there is a greater likelihood that your article will be accepted without any revisions. Some examples of these types of journals are: Innovation Abstracts, Faculty Focus, and Scholarly Teacher.
The publication process
Here is a quick overview of the scholarly publication process. You, an expert in your field, write an article. You find the journal that you think it is most appropriate for and submit it to that journal (ideally, you would have an idea of which journal you’d like to send it to before you start writing so that your article follows the requirements of the journal for formatting, length, scope, audience, etc). Some journals accept articles via email while others require you (and your co-authors, if you have any) to make an account on their submission portal/website and submit your article there. Once your article is submitted to the journal, the editor will take a look and decide how to proceed. If it’s a peer-reviewed publication, the editor will find suitable reviewers and assign them to your article. Typically the review process takes a couple of months for an editor-only review and 6+ months for a peer-reviewed article. After your article is reviewed, you will receive some feedback and suggestions which you will address and resubmit (more details on this process in Part 2). Finally (hopefully!) your revised article will be accepted and you will receive a copyright agreement to sign, after which your article will be in the queue for publication in an upcoming issue (which can take several more months). Please note that you can NOT have your article for consideration at more than one journal simultaneously. Most journals explicitly state this, but even if they don’t state it explicitly, it is expected that you follow this practice.
Stay tuned for Part 2 in a couple of weeks where I will focus on responding to reviewers and editors, then give you some tips to help you along the publication process. As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see from me, please reach out to me via email (lynne.kennette(at)durhamcollege.ca) or on MS Teams, or pop in during my weekly “office hours” on whereby(dot)com(slash)drlynne (every Friday from 12:30-1:30).
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