Scholarly Communication: Publishing
Now open for submissions and searching
medRxiv, the new preprint server for the Health Sciences from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), Yale University, and BMJ, has launched! Submissions are now being accepted at the medRxiv Submission Page.
Selecting a Journal
NIH Statement on Article Publication Resulting from NIH Funded Research. NIH Notice Number NOT-OD-18-011.
"...authors are encouraged to publish papers arising from NIH-funded research in reputable journals."
Considering where to publish? Use these resources to research journals, publisher agreements, author fees and funder requirements to find the journal that meets your needs for widest dissemination of your research.
General Resources
Journal Finder Tools - automatically find best journal match when you add your abstract
- Elsevier Journal Finder
- HelioBlast
- JANE: Journal/Author Name Estimator
- JournalGuide
- Springer Nature Journal Selector
- Open Access Journal Options Flowchart
- EIGENFACTOR Index of Open Access Fees
Open Access Resources SEE OPEN ACCESS SECTION.
CONSIDER COPYRIGHT BEFORE MAKING FINAL DECISION!
SEE COPYRIGHT for AUTHORS SECTION.
HSLS Classes
The following classes are available through the HSLS Class series. (Sign up here to receive the HSLS Class emails.) Watch for scheduling announcements throughout each semester..
Definition of "Predatory Journal" (2019)
Consensus Statement:
“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.”
Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., … Wicherts, J. M. (2019). Predatory journals: no definition, no defence. Nature, 576(Dec 12), 210–212. https://www.nature.com/magazine-assets/d41586-019-03759-y/d41586-019-03759-y.pdf
Buyer Beware! "Predatory" Journals
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Stop Predatory Journals List
A "small group of scholars and information professionals" anonymously resurrected and extended Beall's original work with lists of dubious metrics and hijacked journals. Contributions are welcome; "Possibly Predatory" criteria are provided. -
Beall's List - NO LONGER OPERATIONAL AS OF Jan.2017
Publisher Quality Criteria: Differentiating 'good' from 'bad'
In spite of efforts to create a "blacklist" of predatory journals, there can never be a perfect list of journals to avoid. The best defense is author awareness of the signs and standards of legitimate scientific journals.
#1: Check to see if the journal is indexed in a well-known database such as MEDLINE, Scopus OR Web of Science. If the journal is not found among these indices, beware!
- MEDLINE journal list (checkmark filter for "currently indexed in MEDLINE").
- Also check the journal lists for Scopus and Web of Science.
- Note that Google Scholar is NOT an indexer. It is a search engine, and predatory journals are included in Google Scholar searches.
#2: Read Should I publish in this journal? HSLS Update, January 2016 issue.
#3: Criteria for high quality journals can be found in this excellent blog post:
Submitting to a journal commits you to it for six weeks to six months (or longer) – so choose your journal carefully. Patrick Dunleavy, The Impact Blog, the London School of Economics and Political Science, November 10, 2016.
The additional resources below will help authors identify high quality, reliable publishers and journals.
PREPRINTS have some of the benefits of Open Access
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Saderi, D; Polka, J (2018): The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) defines a preprint as "a scholarly manuscript posted by the author(s) in an openly accessible platform, usually before or in parallel with the peer review process." |
| NIH Notice Number: NOT-OD-17-050 | Reporting Preprints and Other Interim Research Products for the May 25, 2017 due date and thereafter. This notice clarifies reporting instructions to allow investigators to cite their interim research products and claim them as products of NIH funding. |
When can a traditional publication act more like Open Access? When you post a free version before or after publication!
1. Check your Publisher Preprint Policies at SHERPA/RoMEO. Most, but not all, publishers permit this.
Preprint servers currently available to authors in biomedicine include:
- arXiv (Quantitative Biology)
- BioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Europe PMC Preprints
- F1000Research
- medRxiv
- Nature Precedings
- OSF Preprints (Center for Open Science)
- preprints.org (MDPI)
- Wellcome Open Research (Wellcome Trust)
- The Winnower
Use the HSLS federated preprint search tool, search.bioPreprint, to simultaneously search arXiv, bioRxiv, F1000Research, preprints and Wellcome Open Research.
Other federated search tools:
Prepubmed.org - Indexes preprints from 8 servers: arXiv q-bio(Quantitative Biology), bioRxiv, F1000Research, preprints.org, Wellcome Open Research, The Winnower, and Nature Precedings. Links to the server citation.
Term Frequency Over Time from Prepubmed.org. Click on “Monthly Statistics” and enter your search term in “Term frequency over time.” Click the “Term Plot” button. Search sample: pneumonia.