As a new researcher, Academic Publishing can be daunting, and there are no lessons or roadmaps on how to go through the process or how it actually works. On top of this, the academic publishing landscape has changed dramatically over the last 5-10years, and is continuing to evolve. There are pressures, and unknowns when looking to publish for the first time, from 'impact factors' and assessing journals to Open Access publishing. This page aims to give you some guidance to this landscape.
If you are an Early Career Researcher, Postgraduate Researcher or looking for the first time at research publishing, there's some difficulty in choosing which route to use.
Here are a few tips:
And finally, ask us. Whether it's checking what kind of journal you want to submit to, looking at your options email the team: libraryresearchsupport@swansea.ac.uk
For help or advice with any Open Research, Open Access or Repository query contact the Research Support Team by email. Research data queries should be directed to the Research Data Support Team.
But what's wrong with this?
1. It's perfectly possible for a researcher in a university to be unable to read their own work if their library doesn't subscribe to the journal
2. People outside of the university are the taxpayers who fund a lot of the research, are unable to read the outcome of the research they fund.
3. Is the university really a ‘public good’ if the research it produces is not accessible to the vast majority of people?
4. For the researcher, they are giving their intellectual property, and hard work away for free. A tick box is often built into journal submission platforms which gives your copyright to the publisher, which you must tick to proceed with the submission
'Open Access Publishing' is a phrase you will encounter and is increasingly mainstream as a publishing mechanism. Open Access is mandatory for many funding bodies, organisations, and research assessment exercises like the REF.
‘Open access (OA) refers to free, unrestricted online access to research outputs such as journal articles and books. OA content is open to all, with no access fees’
There is evidence that publishing Open Access does increase the rate at which your work is cited. The more people who can access your work, the more people are able to cite it. There are different types of Open Access including Gold, Green, Diamond, which you can read more about here
OA addresses several problems of the traditional model:
1. If an article is open access anyone with an internet connection can read it for free without a encountering a paywall.
2. Gold open access, and some green routes, enable researchers to retain their copyright over their work.
However; There are often costs associated to publishing Open Access which can make it difficult to do as an unfunded researcher, Postgraduate or Early Career Researcher. You can find out how the Library supports researchers by checking the Publisher Open Access Agreements webpage.