Library Instruction and Support For Faculty & Staff

Intended Guide Usage

This Scholarly Communications guide is intended to provide resources, information, and general insight into the publishing process. This is not meant as to be taken as an endorsement of any one journal or publishing outlet nor can we make decisions on your behalf. We can simply present you with the information that is available to us and empower you to make the best decision on your own. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns and we'll do our best to assist you. 

Steps of the Academic Publishing Cycle

Below is the basic outline of the academic publishing cycle. A visual example of the cycle is below.

• Preparation and Creation
  • Research your topic
  • Write & Edit your work
  • Select a Publisher
• Submission and Peer Review
  • Follow the publisher's submission guidelines
  • Wait for the paper to go through the peer review process
  • Revise or update as directed by the publisher
• Production 
  • Final revisions/ edits have been made 
  • Publication formally accepts the work
  • Copyediting & formatting for publication occurs
  • Copyright transfers to publisher (may change depending on contact/ publisher)
  • Dissemination to differing outlets
• Preservation and Reuse
  • Work is submitted to places like archives, libraries, and other information storage sites
  • Use and Citation of work occurs - this also promotes dissemination 

"The Publication Cycle" by University of Winnipeg Library, licensed CC BY 4.0

A list of definitions of Scholarly Communication terms:

• Open Access
  •  any scholarly content that is freely available to the public, usually accessible via the publisher. 
• Predatory Journals/ Publishing
  • deceptive and/or unethical journals or publishing practices that value profit (for themselves, not the author) over scholarly integrity and academic rigor. 
• Digital Repository
  • Is a system that allows for the preservation, management, and access of digital information. Think of it as a electronic equivalent of a physical library or archive. 
• ORCid 
  • Stands for Open Researcher & Contributor ID and is a name-independent person-identifier founded specifically to help solve the problem of name ambiguity in research and to enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and their affiliations. Follow the highlighted link for more details. 
• Journal Impact Factor
  • the average number of times articles from a journal have cited by others, typically within the last two years. 
  • it is calculated by dividing the total number of citations by the total number of articles published within a specified timeframe. 
  • For example: an impact factor of 2.5 means that on average that articles from that journal were cited about twice within the timeframe. 
  • Impact factors can also be calculated for individual articles as well. 
• H-index 
  • A metric that combines a researcher's productivity and citation impact to present a simplified visual assessment of an author's contributions to their field. 
  • An H-index is calculated by counting the number of publications for which an author has been cited by other authors at least that same number of times. For example: if an author has an h-index of 15 that means that 15 of the authors articles have been cited at least 15 times each. If the author writes their 16th article but it is only cited twice - the H-index remains at 15, only increasing if their citations increase above the number of total articles. 
  • BE WARNED: the H-index can fluctuate depending on who is doing the calculating. If a database only has access to 4 out of 9 total articles by an author - their h-index will not reflect the most accurate number. So while useful, it should not be solely relied upon. 

If you have suggestions for how to make this page better, please contact Elizabeth Jerow, Library Director (jerow@msoe.edu).