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Scholarly Communications Guide

Scholarly Publishing

What Is The Process of Publishing My Work?

Researchers collect and evaluate data and ideas to distribute to others in the scholarly community. As a researcher, publishing your work includes evaluating journals or publishers, submitting your work, undergoing peer review and editing your work, and then sharing your published work through institutional repositories, social media, or links and DOIs. 

 

On This Page:

The Research Lifecycle

 

The Research Lifecycle is the process of discovering, sharing, and preserving research.

4 Steps of the Research Lifecycle:

1. Plan

Ask questions and develop your research topic. Read, understand, and synthesize the existing literature. Find data, seek funding, and begin organizing your work. Submit plans and materials to the IRB if needed.

2. Develop

Conduct analyses, collect and clean data, and engage in active research.

3. Disseminate

Choose a method for sharing your work. Review your publishing options, such as open access, and your copyright options. Evaluate academic journals and submit your work for publication. 

4. Preserve

Allow your work to be viewed, cited, and shared for the long term through self-archiving in an institutional repository. Discuss your data management options with your team, department, and librarians.

Where to Publish?

Many publishers are members of trade groups or publishing organizations. Some of the best known of these groups are listed below. Use these resources to help you identify where to publish:

UTK Libraries strive to support our researchers and the open access landscape through a number of investments. Visit our Open Publishing Discounts webpage to view the current list of publishers who offer different discounts to UT researchers.

  • Cabells

    • A curated list of scholarly journals with information to help researchers decide where to publish their manuscripts. Includes acceptance rates, submission guidelines, and time to review.

    • UTK Libraries only has access to Cabells Journalytics.

  • Journal Citation Reports 
    • Using data from Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports (JCR) provides measures for ranking, evaluating, and comparing scholarly journals in science, technology, and social sciences. Includes journal impact factors.

    • Please see this FAQ for accessibility workarounds for accessing Journal Citation Reports. 


For further assistance, talk to your subject librarian.  Subject librarians can suggest references that will help you identify and evaluate publishing opportunities, such as The Directory of Small Press & Magazine Editors & Publishers and other publishing directories.

Tools for Literature Reviews

Literature Review Guides

Literature reviews involve collecting and analyzing existing literature on a topic. Review the guides and resources below for help with understanding and creating literature reviews.

Other Literature Review Resources