Contents
Home
Welcome! We designed this guide with faculty in mind and included resources that can help you at any point in the writing process. Refer to the navigation menu on the left for guidance, but here are some quick hits to get you started:
Deciding Where to Publish
The Library offers many resources to help you in deciding where to submit your work for publication. Important things to consider when selecting potential publications are the Journals' Acceptance Rates and the Impact and Immediacy Rankings.
Writing Advice
We've been there- the ideas and concepts are all churning in your head but you can't figure out how to get them onto that digital page. We've gathered some resources that might help.
Open Access
Consider publishing your work in an Open Access repository or journal. Go to Author's Rights, Open Access, or DigitalCommons@Fairfield to learn more.
Determining Impact of your Scholarship
Selecting the journal(s) to send your manuscript to is an important part of the academic publishing process. Here are the main criteria to consider:
Circulation Statistics
The best place to find the circulation numbers for prospective journals is often on the website of the journal itself. Ask a Librarian if you need help!
You can also consult:
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Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media
Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media (GDPBM) covers approximately 59,000 newspapers, magazines, journals, and other periodicals, as well as radio, television, and cable stations and systems. GDPBM covers the whole media picture -- ad rates, circulation statistics, local programming, names of key personnel, and other useful, accurate information.
Journals: Acceptance Rates
Journal acceptance rates yield important statistical information about the selectivity of a journal.
Some good places to check for journal acceptance rates are:
- The journal itself to see if the acceptance rates are published.
- The website of the journal to see if this information is posted online.
- Article databases specific to your discipline may include articles written on the quality of certain journals and their acceptance rates. For example, check PsycINFO for psychology, CINAHL with Full Text for nursing, or Engineering Source for engineering. For a complete list of databases, click here.
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CabellsDesigned to assist researchers publish their manuscripts in academic journals. Describes publishing opportunities in the areas of accounting, economics and finance, management, marketing, and nursing. With manuscript guidelines, journal acceptance rates, quality metrics, and more.
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Serials DirectoryContains information on U.S. and international magazines and journals. Coverage includes description, where indexed and abstracted, publisher, frequency, price, and more.
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Writer's Market 2019 Want to get published and paid for your writing? Let Writer's Market 2019 guide you through the process with thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, including listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, and literary agents--as well as new playwriting and screenwriting sections. These listings feature contact and submission information to help writers get their work published. Beyond the listings, you'll find all-new material devoted to the business and promotion of writing. Discover the secrets to ten-minute marketing, how to make money covering live events, and seven steps to doubling your writing income. Plus, you'll learn how to do video effectively, create a business plan for success, and so much more. This edition includes the ever-popular pay-rate chart and book publisher subject index! You also gain access to: Lists of professional writing organizations Sample query letters A free digital download of Writer's Yearbook, featuring the 100 Best Markets: WritersDigest.com/WritersDigest-Yearbook-18 + Includes exclusive access to the webinar "Find More Success With Your Submissions" from Writer's Market Editor Robert Lee BrewerCall Number: PN161 .W83 2018 (Reference Main Level)ISBN: 1440354359Publication Date: 2018
By Discipline
The resources listed below contain information on acceptance rates for scholarly journals in specific disciplines. If your discipline is not listed below, consult Cabell's or ask a librarian for more help!
Economics & Finance
- IDEAS/RePEc Simple Impact Factors for Journals: These rankings covers journals, book series, book chapter series, working paper series, and software component series that are indexed in RePEc. The citation ranks are updated daily and cover all items according to several ways of counting citations. Also provides summary rankings that aggregate the various criteria. Allows you to download raw data for the citation rankings.
Education & Library Science
- The Journals in the Field of Instructional Technology. Comprehensive list of topics covered, content, circulation, months to review, and average lengths of articles.
English
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MLA International BibliographyProduced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the MLA International Bibliography is the definitive resource for the study of language, literature, film, and other related fields. It includes access to journal articles, books, and more.
Nursing & Health Administration
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Writer's Guide to Nursing PeriodicalsCall Number: RT24 .D35 2000 (Stacks Upper Level) and OnlineISBN: 0761914919This useful book is a single source of guidelines required by the editors of 101 nursing journals. The purpose is to provide information about nursing journals for people who are submitting manuscripts for publication.
Psychology
- Journal Statistics and Operations Data from the American Psychology Association. Provides information about manuscript rejection rates, circulation data, publication lag time, and other journal statistics.
Journals: Impact and Immediacy Factors
Determining a Journal's Prestige
In considering the prestige of a journal, two common factors are considered:
- Impact factor
- Immediacy Index.
In addition, in the sciences, the Eigenfactor may also play a part.
Finding Prestige Stats
- Science Watch
This open-web resource uses data from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science to periodically publish journal impact reports for disciplines. To see a report, go to search box on website and type "journals ranked" to see a list of prepared reports. - Google Scholar Metrics
Rankings display include the h5-index and the h5-median for each included publication. To learn more about Google Scholar Metrics and its use of h5-index, go to its explanatory page. To search in Google Scholar Metrics, click here and then type in the journal name on top. You can also browse by category, i.e. Social Sciences, Life Sciences & Earth Sciences, Health & Medical Sciences, etc. - Scimago Journal Rank
The SCImago Journal & Country Rank is a portal that includes the journals and country scientific indicators developed from the information contained in the Scopus® database (Elsevier B.V.). These indicators can be used to assess and analyze scientific domains.This platform takes its name from the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator
, developed by SCImago from the widely known algorithm Google PageRank™. This indicator shows the visibility of the journals contained in the Scopus® database from 1996. - CiteScore
A new metric produced by Elsevier as part of Scopus. See this article for details about how the score is produced and what the limitations of it are.
An increasing number of alternative metrics (altmetrics) are available to address the shortcomings of the impact factor and other established metrics. For a good overview, see the following articles:
- Phil Jones, Almetrics, and Research Assessment: How Not to Let History Repeat Itself, 1 September 2015.
- J. Priem, D. Taraborelli, P. Groth, C. Neylon (2010), Altmetrics: A manifesto, 26 October 2010. http://altmetrics.org/manifesto
Cited Reference Searching
Finding Cited References Using Databases
Cited References count how many times a given work has been cited by others.
The resources listed below contain information on cited reference counts. As different sources index different titles, it is best to check all of the applicable sources and remove duplicate cited references for an accurate count.
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
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Google ScholarContents strongest in: Astronomy, Biology, Business, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Environment & Ecology, Finance, Math, Medicine, Nursing, Physics, Sociology.
**Specify Fairfield University (via Scholar Settings) for enhanced access to our library resources. -
JSTORAlthough JSTOR eliminated its Citation Locator feature at the end of 2015, one can still search the database and count results individually. The database covers many disciplines, including Anthropology, Archaeology, Classical Studies, Economics & Finance, Ethnic Studies, Language & Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, and more.
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Academic Search PremierThis multidisciplinary database contains peer-reviewed journals, magazines, newspapers, ebooks, and videos.
BY DISCIPLINE
Art
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Oxford Art OnlineThis collection of scholarly art encyclopedias and reference works includes Grove Art Online, the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. This content is updated regularly to reflect the latest scholarship.
Business
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ABI/INFORMComprehensive selection of key business journals, trade publications, conference proceedings, market and industry reports.
Chemistry
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SciFinder-nSciFinder-n contains information about substances, including chemical structures, chemical names, CAS Registry Numbers®, properties, commercial availability and regulatory information; reaction schemes, experimental procedures, conditions, yields, solvents, catalysts, as well as commercial availability of substances; and references to chemistry and related science information found in journals, patents, dissertations, and more. Note: Requires individual login.
Communication
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Communication & Mass Media CompleteOffers full-text and indexing for journals covering communication, mass media, and other related fields.
Computing
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ACM Digital LibraryContains all Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) journals, conference proceedings, technical magazines, and newsletters.
Environmental Studies
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GreenFILEProvides access to articles on the human impact to the enivronment.
History
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America: History & Life with Full-TextCovers the history, culture, and current affairs of the United States and Canada, with citations, full-text journal articles, and books. Simultaneous user limit:6.
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Historical Abstracts with Full TextCovers world history (excluding United States and Canada) from the 15th century to the present with citations, as well as some full-text journal articles and books. Simultaneous user limit:6.
Information Systems and Technology
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Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA)Provides access to key library and information science journals, magazines, trade publications, and books.
Music
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Oxford Music OnlineThis collection of scholarly music encyclopedias and reference works includes Grove Music Online, the Oxford Companion to Music, and the Oxford Dictionary of Music. Also includes timelines and the Grove Opera Indexes. This content is updated regularly to reflect the latest scholarship. Simultaneous users limit: 3.
Nursing
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CINAHL Plus with Full TextComprehensive coverage of the top nursing and allied health journals. Includes publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. Contains evidence-based care sheets.
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PubMedProvides access to the journal literature in the fields of medicine, nursing, and other medical related fields.
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Ovid NursingProvides access to full-text and indexing for journals and books in the fields of nursing. Includes Evidence Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR). Simultaneous user limit: 2 for EBMR only.
Psychology
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PsycInfoProduced by the American Psychological Association (APA), PsycINFO is the definitive resource for the study of psychology and related disciplines. It includes access to journal articles, books, and more. Also includes full-text content from PsycARTICLES.
Sociology
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SocINDEX with Full TextA comprehensive collection of sociology journals covering the areas of gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, racial studies, social work, and more.
Don't see your field of study listed? Don't worry, use our database finder here.
Finding Cited References in Books
Finding citations inside books can be difficult. Luckily, there are plenty of digitized books or native e-books that can make it somewhat easier. Consider using:
- Google Books - try searching title of work and/or author's name
- Google Scholar - first find work in Google Scholar and then click on Cited By link. Books may come up in results.
Author Rights
1. Know Your Rights as the Author
This information adapted from SPARC.
- The author is the copyright holder. As the author of a work, you are the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement.
- Assigning your rights matters. Normally, the copyright holder possesses the exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance, public display, and modification of the original work. An author who has transferred copyright without retaining these rights must ask permission unless the use is one of the statutory exemptions in copyright law.
- The copyright holder controls the work. Decisions concerning use of the work, such as distribution, access, pricing, updates, and any use restrictions belong to the copyright holder. Authors who have transferred their copyright without retaining any rights may not be able to place the work on course Websites, copy it for students or colleagues, deposit the work in a public online archive, or reuse portions in a subsequent work. That’s why it is important to retain the rights you need.
2. Think about Retaining Your Rights as the Author
Retain Your Author's Rights
This information adapted from SPARC.
Transferring copyright doesn’t have to be all or nothing.The law allows you to transfer copyright while holding back rights for yourself and others. Some available options:
- Choose journals with non-exclusive agreements (more info: Open Access/SHERPA/RoMEO section)
- Choose journals with self-archiving friendly agreements (more info: Open Access/SHERPA/RoMEO section)
- Choose an Open Access Journal (discover at Open Access/Directories & Repositories section)
- Negotiate with the publisher to amend existing agreement (SPARC Author Addendum)
- Use an alternative agreement (Creative Commons License)
3. Advice on SPARC Author Addendum or Creative Commons License
What if the Publisher Rejects the Author Addendum or Creative Commons License?
This information taken from SPARC.
- Explain to the publisher why it is important for you to retain the rights to your own work.
- Ask the publisher to articulate why the license rights provided under the SPARC Author Addendum or Creative Commons license are insufficient to allow publication.
- Evaluate the adequacy of the publisher’s response in light of the reasonable and growing need for authors to retain certain key rights to their works.
- Consider publishing with an organization that will facilitate the widest dissemination of their authors’ works, to help them fulfill their personal and professional goals as scholars.
4. Submitting your Work to DigitalCommons@Fairfield Guidelines
Copyright and Submitting to the Repository - DigitalCommons@Fairfield
Adapted from the University of Connecticut's Copyright Guidelines.
Learn more about Digital Commons
Visit DigitalCommons@Fairfield
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Author With Copyright: Any author publishing work in DigitalCommons@Fairfield must either be the copyright owner for the work or have the permission of the copyright holder to publish it in the Repository. If the author retains copyright for their submission, no further efforts are required, and they may proceed to the submission process. |
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Author Without Copyright: If the author does not maintain copyright, he/she still may be able to submit material to the repository. Many publishers will allow placement in an institutional repository of articles published in their journals or books as a form of "self archiving" in pre-print or post-print form. SHERPA-RoMEO provides information by publisher on what kind of self-archiving activity is allowed for articles in their journals, and one can search for a particular journal and its policies here. If after consulting these sources and/or the publisher, an author is unable to determine whether they retain the right to post their material in the repository, they can email digitalcommons@fairfield.edu for assistance. |
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Preserve Self Archiving Rights: Remember, authors can always preserve basic self archiving rights when negotiating copyright issues in book and journal contracts. The DiMenna-Nyselius Library endorses the SPARC Author Addendum which contains language that allows for the posting of published documents in an institutional repository, and which can be attached to any publisher’s publication agreement. We encourage authors to use this form or otherwise protect their rights when submitting documents to a publisher.
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Definitions
Author Pre-Print version: the author copy PRIOR to any peer-review – [usually the initial submission for publication].
Author Post-Print version: the author copy POST peer review but PRIOR to any publisher formatting, copyediting, pagination, etc.
Publisher PDF version: the actual article as it appeared in the publication. All peer-review, formatting, copyediting and pagination has been included.
Open Access
Understanding Open Access 
A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access by Peter Suber
What Faculty can do to Support Open Access?
DigitalCommons@Fairfield
A service of the Library that offers open access to the collected scholarship and creative works of Fairfield University faculty, students and staff. Learn more: http://digitalcommons.fairfield.edu
SHERPA/RoMEO
Want to find out what your favorite journal's open access policy is? Search for the journal title in SHERPA/RoMEO to find out what you are permitted to do with your article post-publication.
Green: archive pre-print, post-print or publisher's PDF
Blue: post-print (final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's PDF
Yellow: pre-print (pre-refereeing)
White: Archiving not formally supported
Remember that you can ALWAYS ask to retain the right to self-archive your article!
Open Access Directories & Repositories
General
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
Directory of peer-reviewed journals that operate with an open access model, ie articles are freely available to anyone.
Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN)
Aggregates high-quality academic research by aggregating peer-reviewed Open Access publications from across Europe.
Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR)
The aim of ROAR is to promote the development of open access by providing timely information about the growth and status of repositories throughout the world.
Humanities
Open Humanities Press
Open Access Press that publishes peer-reviewed monographs and journals in the humanities.
Perseus Digital Library
Covers the history, literature, and culture of the Greco-Roman world.
Sciences
arXiv.org
Access to 791,125 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance, and Statistics.
Public Library of Science (PLOS)
Publishes seven peer-reviewed open-access journals in a variety of scientific disciplines.
Aquatic Commons
The Aquatic Commons is a thematic digital repository covering the natural marine, estuarine /brackish and freshwater environments.
Social Sciences
Social Science Research Network
Contains an abstract database (448,000 working papers) and an electronic paper collection (362,000 full text pdfs).
IDEAS: Economics and Finance Research
Contains 1,200,000 items, part of a large volunteer effort to enhance the free dissemination of research in Economics, RePEc.
Research in Agricultural and Applied Economics (AgEcon)
Contains working papers, conference papers and journal articles in applied economics, including the subtopics of agricultural, consumer, energy, environmental, and resource economics.
Author's Rights Resources from Scholarly Publishing and Resources Coalition (SPARC)
SPARC Author Rights Inititiative: Great starting place to explore author's rights issues.
* Posting the article on a personal or institutional Website
* Creating derivative works
Community Engaged Scholarship
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Journals (SoTL)
The Kennesaw State University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) has developed an extensive list of SoTL journals. The searchable directory is on the right-hand side of the page.
Kennesaw State University CETL Teaching Journals Directory
Journals - Calls for Articles and Editors
Community Engagement | Community Engagement - Editors
Service Learning | Service Learning - Editors
Campus Community Partnership for Health
CES4Health was launched by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) in November 2009 as a free online source of peer-reviewed products of community-engaged scholarship. CES4Health peer-reviews, publishes, and disseminates products of community-engaged scholarship that are not journal articles - videos, curricula, policy reports, digital stories and online toolkits, for example.
CES Journals - Partial List
Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice
Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Learning
EPiCHE Journal Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education
Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement
International Journal of Civic Engagement and Social Change
International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement
International Journal of Research on Service-Learning in Teacher Education
Journal for Civic Commitment (no longer publishing - archive only)
Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education
Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship
Journal of Experiential Education
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement
Journal of Service Learning in Higher Education
Metropolitan Universities Journal
Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning
Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement
Undergraduate Journal of Service Learning and Community-Based Research
Journals Often Publishing Community Engaged Scholarship:
Social Media to Build Your Online Scholarly Identity
You've published your work, now what? How can you maximize its reach?
Social Media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and even Instagram can be incredibly useful tools to share your research with your colleagues, other researchers, your students, and the general public! How can you do it? Consider the following Tips for Using Social Media to Promote Your Research from Nature Publishing Group or these 5 Tips for Promoting Your Research using Social Media from the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering.
Feel free to contact your liaison to personally discuss ways you can use your existing social media platforms to promote your research.
Additional Resources to Consider
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Reeve, M.A., Partridge, M. "The Use of Social Media to Combat Research-Isolation."
Research-isolation is a common problem affecting many researchers who are disconnected from their research communities. It can be caused by a number of factors, including physical isolation, unfamiliar research topics, diversity, and the nature of the supervisory relationship. All of these aspects can have an impact on both work and the mental health of researchers. Increasingly, researchers are turning to social media for support, by both looking for communities and for increasing the impact of their work. In this paper, we set out a brief introduction to a range of social media platforms used by researchers and present a discussion of the networks within those platforms aimed at reducing research-isolation. These examples highlight just a few of the number of small communities that have grown online to meet the needs of those seeking support through social media. We conclude with some recommendations for those affected by research-isolation and highlight the need for more research into the role of social media on mental health in academics.
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Using Social Media to promote your research: Reddit AMAsReddit is a social news website that has become a major driver of traffic to blog posts, videos, images and news articles. Reddit offers a significant platform for social scientists to disseminate work and engage with the public – this post focuses in particular on ‘Ask Me Anything’ posts (AMAs) in the Science sub-reddit.
Citing Your Sources
The links below point to brief informational guides for creating accurate citations. For more complete information, consult the original books at the library (see call numbers below) or contact a librarian.
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Chicago:
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Ref. LB2369.G53 2016 |
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Ref. Z 253.U69 2017
Questions about Citations? Save time, ask a Librarian!
Citation Managers
RefWorks is an online citation management tool that allows you to organize your citations and quickly create bibliographies without having to type a word. Click the logo for more info!
Zotero (pronounced "zoh-TAIR-oh") is a standalone application that uses browser connectors to save full text, organize sources, and create citations. Click the logo to see more info!
Writing Advice
Writing Process
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Becoming a Productive Faculty Writer — A Summary of Best Practices (From the University of Oregon)Helpful tips and additional links put together by our friends over at the University of Oregon
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Writing Your Journal Article in 12 WeeksCall Number: Z471 .B45 2009 (Stacks Upper Level)ISBN: 9781412957014Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success is a revolutionary approach to enabling academic authors to overcome their anxieties and produce the publications that are essential to succeeding in their fields. This invaluable resource is the only guide that focuses specifically on publishing humanities and social science journal articles. -
From Dissertation to Book (2nd Edition)Call Number: PN162.G37 2013eb (Online E-Book)ISBN: 9780226062181At the heart of From Dissertation to Book is the idea that revising the dissertation is fundamentally a process of shifting its focus from the concerns of a narrow audience—a committee or advisors—to those of a broader scholarly audience that wants writing to be both informative and engaging. William Germano offers clear guidance on how to do this, with advice on such topics as rethinking the table of contents, taming runaway footnotes, shaping chapter length, and confronting the limitations of jargon, alongside helpful timetables for light or heavy revision. -
Writer's Market 2019Call Number: PN161 .W83 2018 (Reference Main Level)ISBN: 1440354359Want to get published and paid for your writing? Let Writer's Market 2019 guide you through the process with thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, including listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, and literary agents--as well as new playwriting and screenwriting sections. These listings feature contact and submission information to help writers get their work published. Beyond the listings, you'll find all-new material devoted to the business and promotion of writing. Discover the secrets to ten-minute marketing, how to make money covering live events, and seven steps to doubling your writing income. Plus, you'll learn how to do video effectively, create a business plan for success, and so much more. This edition includes the ever-popular pay-rate chart and book publisher subject index! You also gain access to: Lists of professional writing organizations Sample query letters A free digital download of Writer's Yearbook, featuring the 100 Best Markets: WritersDigest.com/WritersDigest-Yearbook-18 + Includes exclusive access to the webinar "Find More Success With Your Submissions" from Writer's Market Editor Robert Lee Brewer
Writing Style
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Scientific and Medical CommunicationCall Number: Q223 .M5925 2018 (Stacks Upper Level)ISBN: 9781138842540This text will prepare individuals to write and edit scientific manuscripts, conference abstracts, posters, and press releases according to journal and professional standards. Readers will also learn to conduct effective searches of the scientific and medical literature, as well as proper citation practices. -
The Craft of ResearchCall Number: Q180.55 .M4 B66 2008 (Stacks Upper Level)ISBN: 9780226065656The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, “So what?” The authors have revised and fully updated their section on electronic research, emphasizing the need to distinguish between trustworthy sources (such as those found in libraries) and less reliable sources found with a quick Web search.
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Why Academics Stink at Writing
By Steven Pinker The Chronicle of Higher Education
September 26, 2014
