Identifying possible relevant journals

There are a range of methods and tools that can be used to identify relevant journals within subject areas such as journal lists. The lists often include rankings and citation metrics.

Measures of relevance include:

• How well known is the journal within a research discipline? Speak with your colleagues or supervisor.
• The journal and publisher are known to me.
• The journal is well regarded in my field of research. 
• My colleagues regularly publish in this journal. 
• The journal has been recommended to me.
• This is a journal that I regularly read and cite works from.
• There is a match between the subject of my article and the journal's aim and its scope.
• The journal matches my target reader audience.

Resources to assist selection of relevant journals

There are also resources from publishers that can assist with finding a relevant journal to submit an article based on a title and/or abstract:

It is recommended to check authoritative sources, rather than rely on the journal’s own information. 

Identifying quality journals

An indication of a journal's quality is whether the journal conducts peer reviews on submitted journal articles.

Not all articles within a peer reviewed journal will be refereed. Editorials, letters and opinion pieces are examples of non-refereed articles.

For a journal article to be included as a research publication at a University such as RMIT, it must be refereed/peer reviewed. For more information about the eligibility criteria for a journal article to be included as a research publication at RMIT, refer to the RMIT Researcher Portal.

Measures of quality include:

• The journal is peer-reviewed. Check the status in Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory. 
• Whether the journal has an impact factor or a SCImago journal ranking. Check the status in SJR (SCImago Journal & Country Rank).
• The journal title is included in the 2023 ERA journal list.
• The journal title is included in a discipline ranking list.
• Is the journal's publisher a member of a recognised professional association?
• The journal has a clear peer-review process.
• The journal has clear publishing fees.
• The journal has clear information regarding acceptance and rejection rates.
• The journal has a clear timeframe from submission to publication.
• Contact details are available for the journal's Editorial Board.
• The journal is a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

Ensuring discoverability of your work

When selecting a journal, consider whether your target audience can find your work.

Measures of discoverability include:

• The journal is indexed in a significant number of databases. Check the status in Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory.
• The journal is indexed in large citation databases. Check Scopus and Web of Science. 
• The journal is indexed in discipline-specific databases.

Another option is to consider an open access publication. Open access publications are available freely online and increase the potential readership, beyond those within academic databases.

If your publication is open access, ensure that a copy of the full text is included in the RMIT Research Repository. This is an open access repository providing free, searchable access to research publications authored by RMIT University staff and students.

Multidisciplinary based journal rankings

Discipline based journal rankings

Useful resources

The following table lists various sources that may be used to verify the relevancy, quality and discoverability of the journal/s you are considering submitting your manuscript to.

Choosing to publish a book or book chapter

So, you are thinking of a book or book chapter as a publication type for your research. Some points to consider are:

• Are books and publishing book chapters well regarded in your discipline?
  • Are your colleagues / supervisors publishing in books?
  • Speak with your colleagues / supervisors about their experience with publishing books and/or book chapters.
• Would a book or a book chapter meet your publishing objectives?
• Do you have the experience and research track record to write a book proposal that will be accepted?

Choosing a publisher

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a publisher for your book or book chapter. The Think. Check. Submit. campaign provides researchers with a useful checklist in selecting a suitable, high-quality book publisher as well as assessing its credentials. Other strategies that may be helpful when choosing a publisher are:

• Identify reputable academic publishers in your field. Do this by mining your own sources: which books are on similar topics and who has published them? You can also search library catalogues such as Worldcat.org or websites like Amazon.com 
• Check academic publishers' webpages for recent titles and subject areas to ensure that your proposal matches the publisher’s market, or would fill a discernable gap
• Always read advice and guidelines for prospective authors before submitting a book proposal
• Read the fine print of any contracts you sign and seek legal advice if you have concerns

Potential problems in book publishing practice

Vanity publishers, print-on-demand and publishers specialising in theses are not considered to be commercial publishers. They do not offer peer review or editorial services and publishing with them may have copyright implications for publishing your work elsewhere, e.g. in academic journals.

Trade or academic publishers invest in the books they publish. They invest in editorial processes, production and design aspects, marketing and will seek to have the book reviewed. They will generally reject books that are assessed to not be marketable. There are other publishers, however, that make no such investment and only produce a book once it is sold. Quality is not as relevant (they invest little in the book) as they have no risk of unsold stock.

Is your book or book chapter a research output?

If you publish using RMIT University as your affiliation, you are required to report your publication.

However, RMIT only accept publications that meet certain conditions imposed by the ARC's Excellence in Research Australia (ERA).

According to the RMIT Research portal, overall eligibility criteria requires the publication to:

• be a major work of scholarship
• have been reviewed for publication in its entirety by qualified, independent experts
• have been published or made publicly available

Additional specific book/book chapter requirements mean that the book:

• is offered for sale
• has an International Standard Book Number (ISBN)
• is published by a commercial publisher

Non-academic publications

To reach a broader audience beyond academia, you might want to consider writing a non-academic publication such as a newspaper article, an online article, blog post or an article for a professional journal or newsletter. Writing for a non-academic publication could be one way to show research impact or engagement.

Pitching and publishing an article relating to your research within The Conversation could lead to the general public reading about your research. As a number of articles within The Conversation are republished (under a Creative Commons licence) online within The Age newspaper or under the news section on the ABC website.

If your research has practical implications for a profession such as accounting, architecture, engineering, law or science, then publishing articles in both academic and professional journals may be beneficial. As professionals working in industry are more likely to read a professional journal rather than an academic journal. Some examples of professional journals include:

Creative works

Non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) such as creative works can be included as a research output if it meets certain eligibility criteria specific to the type of output.

Examples of creative works include:

• an artwork, a diagram or map, a photography, a sculpture or an installation
• a building or a design project
• a public exhibition or a live or recorded performance such as a play or a film
• a novel, an exhibition catalogue or an entry in an exhibition catalogue

Points for consideration when selecting an outlet for your creative work:

• Take into account the reputation of the gallery or venue, the exposure your work may receive and how it will be discovered and promoted.
  • Will your work be independently reviewed, and will you be able to show engagement through attendance, feedback, reviews or through other means?
  • Can you show evidence that your work has been selected based on evaluation by one or more peers within the same research field and the work is available in a public outlet or venue. See the list of approved venues which RMIT does not require evidence of peer review as these venues are known to use a peer-review or expert selection process for selecting creative works. 
• Will information about your creative work be discoverable online - for example, through a catalogue, recording, video, images?
  • Will it be promoted through social media?
  • Is there a website that can be linked to in a social media post or added to a researcher profile or personal website?
• Finally, refer to the creative practice tab on the Library's guide to research evidence for more information on demonstrating engagement with your NTROs when applying for research grants or academic promotion.

Information to ensure that your non-traditional output is classified as research:

• Refer to the Reporting creative research works and portfolios (staff only) article within the RMIT Research Portal for information about the specific criteria that a creative work needs to meet to be considered a research output. Reporting your output will ensure that it is included in the RMIT Research Repository. Note: Only NTROs by RMIT University staff can be reported.
• For creative works, in addition to meeting the eligibility criteria, a research statement must be included when reporting the output as research to RMIT. For information on a research statement, refer to the Instructions on writing a research statement (Creative Works) article within the RMIT Research Portal.

Choosing to publish a report

When you and your research partners have a report to publish, there are a few things to consider: 

• Do you want to make your report available open access? 
• Do you and your research partners/co-authors own copyright or have the right to make your report available open access?  
• If you own copyright, have you thought about assigning an open license to your report such as such as a Creative Commons licence? 
• Do you want to assign a persistent identifier to your report such as a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)? 
• Do you want your report to be searchable via other sources such as Google Scholar or Trove? 

Where to publish

The Analysis and Policy Observatory (APO) service is a digital repository of reports and other grey literature and is based at Swinburne University. Since 2002, they have been publishing reports and making them available to a world-wide audience for free. 

APO can provide a DOI for your report and makes their collections searchable via Google Scholar. It’s also possible for your publications to be included in APO specialist collections. APO can provide customised metrics dashboards and reporting to view organisation and author impact. 

See the link below for information and instructions on how to publish with APO 
https://apo.org.au/how-to-use 

Is my report a research output?

If you publish using RMIT University as your affiliation, you are required to report your publications. Only those that meet certain conditions required by the ARC's Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) are eligible for reporting.

ERA’s eligibility criteria for reports are as follows: 

• It must be commissioned or solicited by an external body. The external body can be a government department or private company. 
• The report must be available open access. 
• The author's employment must not be linked to the external organisation at the time the report was produced. 
• Must have been peer-reviewed for publication in its entirety by qualified, independent experts.
• Create substantial new knowledge and/or use existing knowledge in a new and creative way.

 
The above content is from the RMIT Research Portal. For more information, please refer the RMIT Research Portal.