Find a suitable publisher
Identify a publisher who best matches the purpose of your submission by:
- asking colleagues or supervisors
- examining bibliographies of relevant books and articles
- finding reputable publishers in your field
- targeting journals you read
- using publisher tools to match content with potential journals:
- checking your content matches the journal's aim and scope
- searching Web of Science and Scimago to find high ranking journals in your field
- confirming a journal is peer reviewed by looking it up in Ulrichs.
Before submitting your article:
- Follow publisher's author instructions, including providing any data availability requirements.
- Check that publishing turnaround times match your priorities
- See specific requirements for HDR candidates.
- Discover the acceptance and rejection rates for submissions
- Check the journal's website, ask colleagues, or contact the editor directly.
- Refer to submission guides on journal's websites
- For example, Making your submission.
- Know your publisher's self-archiving and data access policies for depositing in Griffith Research Online (GRO), Griffith's institutional repository.
Navigate the publishing maze
Learn about the publishing journey including journal selection, article preparation and submission.
Consider open access
What are the benefits?
Publishing open access allows content to be freely available online to anyone.
- Reach a wider audience.
- Meet funder requirements.
- Enable researchers to use, adapt and attribute your work.
- Potentially get a citation advantage.
Open access types
There are various types although the three main ones are:
- Green—published research deposited in an open repository, either subject-based or institutional, such as GRO .
- Hybrid—published openly in a subscription journal which provides some open access articles.
- Gold—publisher provides free access to the article in an OA journal, an Article Processing Charge ( APC ) may be imposed.
While the choice of publisher is an individual decision, Griffith encourages researchers to choose open access if possible.
You can find a high quality open access publisher by:
- searching the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) a list of high quality, peer reviewed, open access journals
- checking the Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) a list of peer reviewed titles published under open access licences
- browsing the Open Access Australasia directory of Australian and New Zealand open access publishers.
Choose high quality, well recognised publishers to profile your research. Check the reputation and credibility of the publisher to avoid predatory and junk publishers.
- Use Think. Check. Submit. to assess the relevance and quality of a publisher or journal.
Be cautious of unsolicited email invitations that ask you to:
- publish your thesis as an open access book
- join editorial boards
- participate in conference or special issues of journals.
These may be from unethical publishers who exploit the open access business model without providing quality publishing services.
Read our advice for identifying predatory and unethical publishing.
Predatory publishers
Predatory publishers can reduce the exposure of your research and do significant reputational damage. They often disguise themselves as credible publishers with quick turnaround times, and they may offer additional incentives.
Junk-type publishers
Avoid junk-type publishers. They are normally credible with a focus on quantity rather than quality. They tend to quickly publish large numbers of papers calling into question their publication practices.
Read and publish agreements
Publish in an open access journal that has an existing agreement with Griffith.
Copyright and licencing
Copyright ownership
Publishing agreements for articles and data often ask you to declare copyright ownership.
- Griffith University—a non-government organisation—owns the copyright of articles and data produced by researchers employed by Griffith.
- Higher Degree Research ( HDR ) candidates own the copyright in their articles and data.
- HDR candidates and the University jointly own the copyright of works produced by HDR candidates and researchers employed by Griffith.
Choose a CC licence
Assign a Creative Commons licence when you publish open research. There are a range of Creative Commons (CC) licences. Under the Griffith Open Research Statement researchers are encouraged to make their research outputs—including data—as open as possible and as closed as necessary.
The CC BY licence is the most open licence allowing for the widest dissemination of your work. Under this licence, anyone may copy, alter, distribute and publish all or part of your work—including for commercial purposes—as long as they give appropriate credit, provide a link to the licence and indicate if any changes were made.
Sign on behalf of the University
A researcher employed by Griffith University—a non-government organisation— may sign a publishing agreement as the University's representative to enable their article and other academic publications under Griffith's Intellectual Property Policy. The researcher may receive minor payments or royalties for a book written as part of their normal academic duties, as outlined in the Definitions section of Griffith's Secondary Employment and Outside Work Policy.
Understand copyright transfer agreements
If your manuscript is accepted to a subscription journal you will normally be asked to complete a Copyright Transfer Agreement.
Read and check the agreement to:
- understand the details
- see what rights you retain
- know what version can be deposited in the University repository, GRO
- this may be a requirement for funded research and may increase your citations.
Consider an author addendum
Add an author addendum to ensure you retain the right to deposit a version in GRO.
Contact the Copyright and Information Policy Officer if required:
Get a publication identifier
Usually your publisher will manage DOI , ISBN or ISSN , and legal deposit on your behalf. We can assist if you need to arrange your own identifiers.
DOI
A digital object identifier ( DOI ) is a persistent, unique identifier assigned by publishers to research outputs. It ensures the original output is findable, unlike a URL which may change when outputs are moved or reorganised.
The format of a DOI is:
10.1186/s12891-017-1831-7
Assign a DOI to:
- provide permanent access to your research output
- allow attribution and tracking of citation metrics
- comply with funder and publisher requirements for data availability.
If you require a DOI for non-traditional outputs, such as, working papers, reports, creative works, or datasets contact the Library.
ISBN
An International Standard Book Number ( ISBN ) is a unique identifier for books, either print or electronic.
To be included in the Excellence in Research for Australia ( ERA ) submission, books and book chapters must have an ISBN and meet the requirements for:
Your publisher will arrange an ISBN for your publication. If Griffith University or an element within Griffith is your publisher and you require an ISBN contact the Library.
ISSN
An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is a unique identifier for serial publications, for example, journals.
The library does not assign an ISSN for serials published by Griffith University.
If you require an ISSN for a new journal or other serial publication submit an application with the Australian ISSN agency.
Ask the library
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