Finding a Home for Your Manuscript
As we approach the mid-point of August, many of us will return to campus (or at least to the more unforgiving schedule of the academic term). Hopefully, you have had some time over the summer months to advance one or more manuscripts. If so, you may be thinking about where the best place is to submit your piece. This blog post explores some considerations for selecting a publishing venue. I am indebted to Anthony Normore, who offered guiding questions to help authors evaluate different possibilities.
Who is the intended audience? The audience you plan to address may not always match the audience for the more prominent journals in your field. For example, if you want to speak to practitioners, you may want to avoid a publication with a strong empirical or methodological focus. Choosing a practitioner-focused outlet doesn’t mean you can’t describe your research; it simply means you will spend less time focused on method and analysis and more on the application and significance of the findings for that audience.
How competitive is the journal? In other words, what is the journal acceptance rate? A lower acceptance rate may suggest a more selective review process, decreasing your chances of publishing in that outlet.
What is the subscription volume and breadth? Circulation figures can be difficult to ascertain, given that academic libraries typically buy subscriptions in bundles and that many academic journals are tied to association and society memberships. Still, you can talk with colleagues about which journals in the field are top tier or which have a good international reputation. Similarly, you might ask whether there is a niche journal you should consider if your piece is likely to appeal to an audience of specialists.
What are the typical citation rates for articles published in this journal? Impact factors, or the average number of citations for articles published in the previous two years, are frequently used as proxies for the relative status of journals in the field. Folks building a tenure and promotion file will want to shoot for the highest-ranked publication possible while ensuring their chances of getting published. That is, it’s essential to balance circulation and impact with competitiveness when selecting a publication outlet.
What is the time to publication? It is not unusual for journals to have a time-to-print pipeline of more than a year. That said, the increased use of advanced online publication means that accepted articles may be in circulation several months before a print copy is available.
Another question you will want to consider is what is the turn-around time? In other words, how long does a journal typically take to issue an initial disposition on a manuscript? While we are always hopeful for a positive response (keep in mind that a revise and resubmit is a POSITIVE response), if a journal decides to pass on a manuscript, the sooner authors know the disposition, the sooner they can repackage the manuscript and submit it elsewhere.
What type of article is most suitable for this journal? Before you submit, spend some time reading recent issues of target journals to understand the kinds of topics and studies published by the journal. The submission guidelines should spell some of this out, but a review of abstracts and keywords for recent issues may give you an indication of what is resonating with reviewers. If you have a question about whether your piece will fit, you can always send a query to the journal editor before submitting the manuscript. Manuscripts that are off-topic or do not reflect the journal’s methodological bent are likely to receive a desk reject (i.e., they will not be sent out for peer review).
What is the typical article length? In addition to looking at overall article length, usually defined in the submission guidelines, Dannelle Stevens recommends that you do a structural analysis of manuscripts published in target journals. How much space is devoted to each of the major sections? How many tables, figures, or other data displays are included? How many citations are in the reference list? This analysis will offer insight into how well your piece may fit with other manuscripts published by the target journal. Where you see discrepancies between your manuscript and those published in the journal, you have the opportunity to make some adjustments before submitting it.
You’ve spent a significant amount of time producing a manuscript for publication. You want to honor that investment by strategically identifying possible publication venues.
References
Normore, A. H. (2011). The process of transforming the dissertation or thesis into publication. In. T. S. Rocco & T. Hatcher, The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing. Jossey-Bass.
Stevens, D. D. (2019). Write more, publish more, stress less! Five key principles for a creative and sustainable scholarly practice. Stylus.
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