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Scholarly publishing

Researchers generate new knowledge and the more effectively this knowledge is shared, the greater impact the research will deliver. 

UniSQ researchers are encouraged to publish in quality and high quality journals in their respective discipline. Publishing in such journals also drives excellence ratings (such as ERA) and international rankings. For assistance, ask your research librarian.

If your research is externally-funded, confirm with the Office of Research. To help develop your publishing strategy and maximise the impact of your research findings, consider the following:

  • What are the key publications in my field?
  • How accessible are these journals to my audience?
  • Are these journals ‘quality’ publications?
  • What do I know about this journal’s editorial policies?

Assess quality by:

  • Checking how your preferred journal compares to others within the same or similar disciplines, and look for other citation-based journal metrics comparisons.
  • Determining if the journal has a robust peer-review process using the Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
  • Considering the credentials and publication output of the editorial board. 
  • Assessing the quality of new and emerging journals by verifying editorial board quality, publishing body authority, and thoroughly checking published papers. 
  • Consulting the Book Citation Index Master Book List for a list of scholarly publishers. 
  • Checking the journal website to see if there are submission fees, page charges, or reprint charges.
  • Checking copyright restrictions of a journal on a journal website and/or check Sherpa/ROMEO for copyright, repository, and archiving policies.

To maxmise your research efforts and UniSQ strongly encourages you to publish in quality and high quality journals. Tools like SNIP and SJR help determine journal quality.

SNIP (Source Normalised Impact per Paper)

SNIP measures contextual citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of citations in a subject field. A quality journal has a SNIP of 1 or greater while a high quality journal has a SNIP of 2 or greater.

It is difficult to judge journal quality using SNIP values alone, as citation potential varies not only between subject categories or disciplines but also between different "types" of journals within the same subject category.

SJR (SCImago Journal Ranking)

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) is a prestige metric based on the idea that ‘all citations are not created equal’. With SJR, the subject field, quality and reputation of the journal has a direct effect on the value of a citation.

SJR:

  • is weighted by the prestige of the journal, thereby ‘leveling the playing field’ among journals
  • eliminates manipulation: raise the SJR ranking by being published in more reputable journals
  • ‘Shares’ a journal’s prestige equally over the total number of citations in that journal
  • normalizes for differences in citation behavior between subject fields.

Many other lists of quality journals exist including:

Multidisciplinary lists

  • Excellence in Research for Australia journal list includes over 20,000 titles. Each title is assigned to one or more Field of Research (FoR) codes.
  • CiteScore provides citation impact for over 22,000 titles including journal metrics SJR, SNIP, citation and document counts and percentage cited.

Subject-specific lists

  • Australian Business Deans Council journal ratings list includes of 2600 titles. List is reviewed by a panel of discipline experts and includes alignment to FoR codes.
  • European Reference Index for the Humanities covers core humanities disciplines. This index highlights a range of research published in the European languages and includes journals of national and international categories.
  • Journal Quality List is a collation by Professor Anne Harzing of journal rankings from various sources including journals in economics, finance, accounting, management and marketing.
  • SENSE Benchmarks for Publication Output ranks book publishers in categories of A,B, and C.
  • How long with it take from submission, to review, to publication? 
  • Investigate the acceptance and rejection rates for submitted publications to assess the likelihood that your paper will be accepted for publication. 

Contact the Research Support Team

For help with developing your publishing strategy contact the Research Support Team.