Notes on publishing in academic journals
Why publish articles?
- It can spread the findings of your research known to a wider audience
- It is expected of you in your employment
- It can help you secure promotion
- It can advertise your interest/expertise in a particular research area
A key point is that not all research is worth publishing, at least not in academic journals. Some theses contain research which results in the award of a postgraduate degree but may add little to knowledge, in which case there is no point in trying to publish it beyond the thesis. Papers based on existing literature are unlikely to contribute to knowledge.
Is publishing in journals an effective way of making your research known?
Not particularly. Few journal articles are read by more than a handful of people. Presenting at seminars or conferences, radio/TV/social media presentations and newspaper articles are likely to reach a much wider audience.
How do journals work?
An article is first looked at briefly by the journal editor to assess its overall suitability for publication in the journal, including its structure and language. If it passes this scrutiny, the editor sends articles to two academics for review. ‘Double blind peer reviewing’ is the common procedure, which means that the author is not known to the reviewer and vice versa. It can take many months for reviews to come back. (FYI, if I do get a reply within six months, I withdraw the article and submit it elsewhere). A year between submission and publication is common.
Once published, journal articles in many but not all journals are included in electronic databases and become available electronically (e.g. via the DUT databases). Many are open access (freely downloadable).
Two types of journal
- 1. Predatory journals are designed to make money for the publishers and have little if any concern for the quality of articles. Usually there is no reviewing process (which enables them to publish quickly) and authors must pay a charge for publication (other journals may also charge). They are not well regarded by promotions committees and are generally not indexed in databases so your article is unlikely to be found by other researchers. It is not recommended that you publish in such journals.
How to find out whether a particular journal is predatory?
DUT Library website> Research support>Scholarly publishing>(Login to DUT Library)> Cabells Predatory Reports
- Non-predatory journals can have very different levels of standing or respectability.Some journals have been published for many decades and may have high prestige in academia, while others are recently established and are little known. There can be high quality articles in both types of journal. One way of finding the standing of journals by using SCIMAGO https://www.scimagojr.com/ If you enter a journal name, you can find out whether it is a Q1 (very highly rated) journal through to Q4. Rating is determined by the number of citations made to articles published in the journal i.e. articles in Q1 journals are more often cited than those in Q2 etc. It is usually very difficult to get published in a Q1 journal. A high rating does not mean the journal is efficient in terms of reviewing.
Another indicator of a journal’s respectability is whether it is accredited by the South African Department of Higher Education & Training. Many South African universities provide financial incentives for their staff and students to publish in such journals. The DUT Library website home page provides lists of accredited journals.
Journals in peacebuilding https://kujenga-amani.ssrc.org/peacebuilding-journals/
The journals in this list (there are others) vary in terms of open access, whether they charge authors, the time they take to review articles and whether they are DHET-accredited.
Two final remarks
- Submit your best shot. This means taking you time in order to submit a good quality article.
Getting published is a lottery. Sometimes, good articles are rejected by non-expert reviewers. If you believe yours is a good article, then by all means submit it