How to get published as a PhD student

HOW TO GET PUBLISHED WHILE DOING A PHD

(OR THESIS)?

WE’VE ALL FELT LIKE THIS AT ONE TIME…

1. What is my publishing agenda?

2. Where should I publish?

3. How do I get published?

4. What are the key things that I need to know?

4 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF

WHAT IS MY PUBLISHING AGENDA?

Be Strategic:

Consider…

• Your audience

• Your timeline and the Journal’s timeline

• Your long and short term publishing goals

WHERE TO PUBLISHBe Strategic:

Consider…

• Your audience

- Where does your supervisor publish?

- Where do other experts in your area publish?

- Relevance of the journal to your paper/study (who reads this journal?)

- Large audience vs. niche audience?

WHERE TO PUBLISHBe Strategic:

Consider…• Your audience• Your timeline and the Journal’s timeline

- What is the journal’s acceptance/rejection rate?

- How long will it take the journal to review your research?

- What is your publishing timeline? How many papers/how quickly do you want/need to publish?

WHERE TO PUBLISHBe Strategic:

Consider…

• Your timeline and the Journal’s timeline

• Your long and short term publishing goals

- Quantity/Quality…

- Publish during your thesis…

- Publish after submitting your thesis…

WHERE TO PUBLISHPublish in the ‘right’ journal for you & your research:

Journal Citation Ranking Lists• SCImago Journal Rankings – main metric is SJR value• Journal Citation Reports – main metric is Impact Factor • Google Scholar Metrics – main metric is h5 index & h5 median• ERA 2012 – inclusion on the list indicates it is recognised as good

journal

General information about Journals

• Ulrich’s – journal scope, publication frequency, language etc. • Cabell’s – acceptance rate, time to review, number of internal

and external reviewers etc.

WHY EVALUATE JOURNALS?Use journal metrics to evaluate the quality of journals for:

• Grant applications

• Academic employment/promotion

• Identify which journals are best for you to publish in

THE PUBLISHING PROCESS…

Identify audience or readership

Determine publication priorities and time frame

Check quality of journal/publisher/editorial board

Consider publishing options

e.g. open access

Potential target journal(s) selected

EXAMPLE DECISION MAKING PROCESS…

Is the journal peer-reviewed?

Does the scope, publication frequency, acceptance rate etc. fit with your goals

Is the journal of high quality?

Is the journal open-access?

Yes

No

Forget it!

Depends on your goals

- Ulrich’s- Cabell’s

Consult

- Journal websiteConsult

- Ulrich’s- Cabell’s- Journal website

ConsultNo

Forget it!- JCR- SJR- Google Scholar- ERA

Yes

Consult

YesNo

Give careful thought about publishing here

Submitting your article to this journal seems appropriate

GENERAL TIPS• Look at the reference lists of papers you read regularly to

see which journals are publishing the articles which are central to your research.

• Identify a couple of options to publish in (rejection is always a possibility).

• Carefully select the right journal… consider quality/impact vs. acceptance rate/timeline. Beware of scams!!!

• Skim read some of the titles/abstracts/authors who have published in back issues to determine if your research fits with what the journal has published previously

MANUSCRIPT TIPS• Cite papers in your manuscript which were published in

the journal you hope to be published in

• Carefully follow author guidelines for submission

• Pay attention to the details. Editors/reviewers hate badly written manuscripts full of spelling/grammatical errors

• Answer all comments from reviewers; take your time and show that you value their opinion

• Don’t take rejection personally – it happens to the best of us!

If you have been publishing from your thesis during your candidature, consider…

Reuse of your material > manage your rights > permission

• Confirm with your publisher what rights you’ve retained as the author, and under what conditions you can use your own work.

• Ensure that your publisher gives you permission to use your published work within your thesis and to self-archive.

• You can check and compare the policies of different publishers, using the SHERPA/RoMEO and OAKList databases or go to individual publishers’ websites.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

If you plan to publish either your completed thesis or parts of it post completion……

An extra factor to consider is the choice you now have as a result of recent amendments to Deakin’s Higher Degrees by Research (HDR) Assessment Procedure about open access to your thesis

23 Candidates may elect to allow access to their entire thesis via Deakin Research Online, or limit access to the thesis citation, abstract and metadata only. Where access via Deakin Research Online is limited to the citation, abstract and metadata, the Library will make individual digital copies available for consultation, loan and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968

DEAKIN RESEARCH ONLINE (DRO)

SUMMARY

1. Consider the match b/w your research and the journal (Ulrich’s, Cabell’s)

2. Develop a shortlist of potential journals which seem appropriate

3. Evaluate the quality/impact of these journals (JCR, SJR, Scholar metrics)

… then submit! Good Luck!

MORE INFO

For information on making publishing decisions and using tools to

evaluate journal quality, contact:

• Your Faculty Liaison librarian

• Check out our website

• Try a journal finding tool like Journal Finder or JournalGuide