Resources for Publishing

Did you know that...

OUWB faculty, students and staff published a total of 658 articles in 2022?

View the complete list at https://medlib.oakland.edu/research/publications.php.

The lists are compiled quarterly and annually.  You can also submit your publication for inclusion.

There are a number of ways to identify appropriate journals to publish your work. Here are just a few:

Once you identify a set of potential journals, check each journal's website for the following:

1.  Does your manuscript fit the scope/focus of the journal?
2.  Do they publish your type of article (ie: original research, case study, case report, systematic review, etc)?
3.  Select one journal that seems to have the best fit
4.  Follow the author guidelines to the letter
5.  Submit!
6.  Wait for a response (& be sure not to submit elsewhere)
7.  Revise or submit to your second target journal

The Open Access (OA) publishing model has paved the way for global scholarly communication in allowing free, unlimited access to research without the barriers of publisher paywalls. However, when selecting journals to publish in, be mindful of sham OA journals that only "exist for the sole purpose of profit, not the dissemination of high-quality research findings and furtherance of knowledge" (Berger & Cirasella, 2015). These are known as predatory publishers and could impact your scholarly reputation, promotion and tenure, and institution.

To protect yourself and your work, just remember to thoroughly check your journal before submitting an article for publication.

Here are a few criteria that indicate it is a good Open Access journal:

Indexed in bibliometric databases, such as PubMed, Web of Science, the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and others. You can cross check where a journal is indexed using Ulrich's Periodical Directory.

Journal website is comprehensive and includes the following information:

• Editorial board information including member affiliations and emails (geographic location should be very distributed)
• Contact information including a mailing address that goes to a legit location; contact is not just a blank web form
• Description of article review process including peer-review
• No promises of instant or rapid publication
• Article processing fee is transparent and only required after acceptance of an article

In addition to predatory journals, predatory conferences have also emerged.  "These are not conferences organized by scholarly societies. Instead, they are conferences organized by revenue-seeking companies that want to exploit researchers' need to build their vitas with conference presentations and papers in the published proceedings or affiliated journals" (Pai & Franco, 2016).

Warning signs of a predatory conference mirror many of the same signs of predatory publishers and include:

• receiving unsolicited emails to present or be a keynote at a conference you have never heard of
• conference location is usually international, often in India, China, or Japan
• conference focus includes many, unrelated disciplines
• rapid promise of abstract acceptance
• no stated peer review
• bundled registration packages that include conference registration, lodging, meals, transportation, and sightseeing

If you ever have any questions regarding a journal or conference, please contact us and we can review and provide a recommendation to you!

References:

• Berger M, Cirasella J. Beyond Beall's List: Better understanding predatory publishers. Coll Res Libr News. 2015;76(3):132-135.
• Pai M, Franco E. Predatory Conferences undermine science and scam academics. The Huffington Post. 2016. Accessed September 27, 2018.

4 A's of Publishing:

1. Aims - What do you want to communicate?
2. Audience - Who are you writing for?  Where do you want to publish?
3. Aware - Contextualize your work into the existing literature
4. Articulate - Think about the structure, the logical development, and length of each section.

Best Bets:

Videos:

Additional Resources:

Determining authorship and author order is a significant step of the publishing process. According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), every author should meet ALL of the following four criteria:

1) Substantial contributions to the conception, design, data collection, or data analysis
2) Drafting or revising the manuscript
3) Approving the final version to submit to a journal
4) Being accountable for the work should any questions or concerns arise

If all criteria are not met, then it is appropriate to acknowledge those individuals in the Acknowledgements section of your manuscript.

There are several resources available to help OUWB authors pay for APCs (article processing charges) in open access journals.

Medical student journals are online, peer-reviewed journals run by medical students for medical student publishing. They are a great option for pilot projects or if you are having difficulty in finding a suitable journal elsewhere.

Writing a case report is very different from a traditional manuscript and does not follow the IMRAD format. There are several resources that can help you get started in structuring and writing a case report for publication.

Best Bet:

Additional Resources for Writing a Case Report:

There are two primary journal types when it comes to publishing case reports:

1)  Those journals that solely publish case reports, and

2)  Journals that publish case reports as one of many article types. You can follow the same principles when identifying journals to publish a case report as described in the 'Publishing Basics' tab of this guide, but here are a few we recommend:

General Case Report Journals:

Specialty Case Report Journals: