Journal Submission Basics

  1. Find a journal or open access journal that publishes the kind of research in your paper. A USIC librarian and/or a teacher in your field can help you with this. Some web only journals do charge a fee because they make papers available for free instead of charging by journal.
  2. Ask a teacher who is in your field of research and familiar with the journals to be an advisor for your paper.
  3. Review at the submission guidelines carefully. Details count!
  4. Make sure to make an appointment with a USIC librarian to review your citations before submitting. Incorrect citations are a red flag for journal editors because they expect writers to pay attention to the detail and submission guidelines.
  5. Do not see rejection as a failure! Many, if not most, articles submitted to journals are rejected. There is a limited of number of articles in each journal issue and a limited time for editors to review the papers. Also, certain issues might focus on a topic that is different from what your paper's topic. Writing articles for academic journals is a skill that you can learn. Even after you've learned that skill, it is not easy to get published.

Helpful Links

If you Google your field and how to publish, you will find many more guides. e.g., Google Science Publish in Scholarly Journal