Nuts and Bolts of Scholarly Publishing

All you need to get started selecting journals for publication and reviewing author's agreements

Guide Contents

This guide is intended for anyone in the university community who is interested in learning more about scholarly publishing. In this guide, you will find information, guidance, and links to resources on:

Evaluating Academic Journals:
- Fit: Determining whether a journal is a good fit for your research;
- Impact: Assessing the impact of a journal, including citation-based impact factors, altmetrics, and the impact of open access journals;
- Quality: Considering how a journal relates to standards in the scholarly community, including avoiding deceptive practices.
Journal Contracts and Copyright:
- Copyright Basics: Understanding copyright and why it is important to scholarly publishing;
- Key Parts of a Publishing Contract: Recognizing the key parts of a journal publishing agreement;
- Deciding to Sign: Considering the implications of a journal publishing contract on author rights;
- Negotiating: Approaching a publisher to propose changes to a journal publishing agreement.

Writing a Scholarly Article

This guide covers the publishing process after you have completed your scholarly article. For tips on how to write a scholarly article, we recommend consulting the following eBook from Iowa State University.

Preparing to Publish
This book offers a wealth of instructional material on the topic of research article writing for publication and thesis or dissertation completion. The text provides graduate student writers with helpful information, strategies, and tips on navigating disciplinary writing in their fields and how to understand, dissect, and ultimately, construct their own research article.

Acknowledgement

The contents of this guide were created by Rochelle Lundy JD and Julia Hon, University of Washington iSchool class of 2018. This guide was adapted from University of Washington Libraries' Nuts and Bolts of Scholarly Publishing Guide. Reused with permission.