Selecting a Journal Venue

Agenda

● Identifying a journal

● Predatory publishers

● Evaluating a journal

● Submitting a manuscript

● Contract Negotiation

Identifying Journals

Identifying Journals

● Ulrich’s Global Serials DirectoryA source of detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals of all types. Available through CUNY’s Queens College and John Jay libraries, and NYPL.

● Directory of Open Access JournalsA curated, independent, searchable directory of open access peer-reviewed journals. Freely available to the public at www.doaj.org.

● Subject specific database

Identifying Journals

● What journals do you read?

● What journals do articles in those journals cite?

● Find similar articles to what you’d like to write. Where are they published? What journals do they cite?

Know the Journal

● Read articles from the journal

● Know the audience and tone of writing

● Identify trends and preferences

● Read the author guidelines

Know the Journal

Know the Journal

Know the Journal

Know the Journal

“Predatory” Journals

“Predatory” Journals

● Collect real articles into issues and volumes

● Deceptive about policies and practices

● Exist purely for profit, not the advancement of scholarship

● May not be transparent about article processing charges (APCs)

“Predatory” Journals: Invitation to Submit

“Predatory” Journals: Invitation to Submit

“Predatory” Journals

“Predatory” Journals

Open Access Journal Quality Indicators: Negative Indicators● Journal website is difficult to locate or identify

● Publisher “About” information is absent on the journal’s website

● Publisher direct marketing (i.e., spamming) or other advertising is obtrusive

● Instructions to authors information is not available

● Information on peer review and copyright is absent or unclear on the journal website

● Journal scope statement is absent or extremely vague

● No information is provided about the publisher, or the information provided does not clearly

indicate a relationship to a mission to disseminate research content

● Repeat lead authors in same issue

● Publisher has a negative reputation (e.g., documented examples in Chronicle of Higher

Education, listservs, etc.)

bit.ly/OAindicatorsThe listing of Open Access Journal Quality Indicators was developed by the Grand Valley State University Libraries, and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Open Access Journal Quality Indicators: Positive Indicators● Scope of the journal is well-defined and clearly stated● Journal’s primary audience is researchers/practitioners● Editor, editorial board are recognized experts in the field● Journal is affiliated with or sponsored by an established scholarly society or academic institution● Articles are within the scope of the journal and meet the standards of the discipline● Any fees or charges for publishing in the journal are easily found on the journal website and

clearly explained● Articles have DOIs (Digital Object Identifier, e.g., doi:10.1111/j.1742-9544.2011.00054.x)● Journal clearly indicates rights for use and re-use of content at article level (e.g., Creative

Commons CC BY license)● Journal has an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number, e.g., 1234-5678)● Publisher is a member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (http://oaspa.org/)● Journal is registered in Ulrichsweb.com, Global Serials Directory● Journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (http://www.doaj.org/)● Journal is included in subject databases and/or indexes

bit.ly/OAindicatorsThe listing of Open Access Journal Quality Indicators was developed by the Grand Valley State University Libraries, and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Identifying “Predatory” Journals

● Do you or your colleagues know the journal?● Can you easily identify and contact the publisher?● Is the journal clear about the type of peer review it uses?● Are articles indexed in services that you use?● Does the journal site explain what these fees are for and when

they will be charged?● Do you recognise the editorial board?● Is the publisher a member of a recognized industry initiative?

Identifying “Predatory” Journals

Wouldn’t a list be easier?

● Blacklists often conflate lower-quality and less-experienced practices with predatory ones

● Consider a list of vetted journals and publishers instead○ Directory of Open Access Journal (doaj.org)○ Committee on Publication Ethics (publicationethics.org)○ Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (oaspa.org)

Evaluating Journals

Why are manuscripts rejected?

● Don’t fit the journal’s mission

● Poorly conceptualized

● Research design can’t answer the questions posed

● Poor writing.

Evaluating Journals: The Pre-Review

● Scope

● Audience

● Time to publication

● Reputation

Evaluating Journals: The Pre-Review

● Scope

● Audience

● Time to publication○ Online vs. print

● Reputation○ Editorial Board○ Metrics

■ Journal (i.e. impact factor)■ Article■ Author

Journal Impact Factor

# times article is cited ______________________ total # articles in journal

over past 2 years

2019 Journal Impact Factors

New England Journal of Medicine 74.70

Journal of Clinical Oncology 18.30

Cancer 5.742

Annals of Behavioral Medicine 4.480

Journal of Cancer Survivorship 3.880

Psycho-Oncology 3.380

Journal of Psychosocial Oncology 1.300

How can you increase your chances of getting a manuscript published?

● Choose the journal wisely

● �Read the journal’s guidelines and follow them

● �Good research –conceptualization, research design,

appropriate interpretation

● �Clear writing

Submitting a Manuscript

● �Follow journal’s guidelines

● �Cover letter○ 1-sentence describing the study and how it fits the journal’s

mission○ not published or under review elsewhere○ Study conducted according to ethical guidelines○ Suggest reviewers (varies by journal)○ Contact information

Authors’ Rights whenAuthors Write

(I am not your lawyer)

(I am not a lawyer)

©

U.S. Constitution Article 1, Section 8

“The Congress shall have Power to. . . promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and

Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”

...to Authors and Inventors..

Some exceptions:

• Copyright is transferred

• Work for hire, in which case the employer is the author

(see: CUNY Intellectual Property Policy)

...the exclusive right...

• the right to reproduce the work• the right to create derivative works• the right to distribute copies the work• the right to perform the work• the right to display the work

© • applies to nearly all types of fixed work• exists at the moment of creation• copyright protection lasts for life of author plus 70 years• copyright owners may allow public uses• copyright can be transferred

Licensing

• Allows authors to retain specific rights– Authors keep copyright and license other rights

(e.g., first publication)– Publishers take copyright and license rights back

(e.g., reproduction, derivatives)

• Exclusive or non-exclusive license

Maximize Impact

• Paywalled JournalReaders access content through library subscribed databases or paying a fee directly. Many potential readers cannot access content because of the paywall. $

• Open Access JournalContent is made freely available online at the time of publication and may carry less restrictive copyright and licensing barriers. Some (but not all!) open access journals may have an article processing charge, paid by authors, their grant, or institution.

• Hybrid JournalPublishes both paywalled and open access content, giving authors the option to pay to make their work freely available online. $ /

Two paths to Open Access

Open Access JournalsPublishers automatically and immediately make the work availableand allow anyone with an Internet connection to read it for free.

Open Access RepositoriesAuthor(s) of a work self-archive the work in an open access repository.Repositories are often specific to an institution, a discipline, or a funder.

academicworks.cuny.edu

If preparing to sign a contract, read it.

• Does it ask for a copyright transfer?• Non-exclusive or exclusive license? (remember: copyright is five rights)• What can you do with your work once it’s published?• Are there terms like “work for hire”? • If it’s for a book or book chapter, does it include a rights

reversion clause?

See something you don’t like? Contact the publisher.

• Just ask• Submit an addendum• Modify the language of the contract itself• Agree to quid pro quo (i.e. an embargo period)

Adapted from the Authors Alliance guide Understanding Open Access: When, Why, & How to Make Your Work Openly Accessible, made available under a Creative Commons Attribution license. Copyright © 2015 Authors Alliance, CC BY 4.0

thank you.