Hello fellow students.

Hate to introduce myself with asking for something but it's the usual way on the internet.. and I was wonder if I could ask your advice.

One of the requirements of my career change is that I need to be actively publishing. Well, being keen I've spent yesterday and today looking into this and I'm a bit confused.

Firstly I checked the status of journals to see which I should aim at and come up with various definitions of what appears to be the same thing i.e. ISI ranking, ISJ, IS and IF...so still no better off deciding which to apply to....

Secondly, is it better to watch for calls of papers to decide what to write? This is my first attempt at going throught the motions of attempting the whole publishing thing but I need a goal to aim for so know I'm on the right track.

All suggestions appreciated (within reason ,-)

Perhaps it would be worth you thinking about how your own research topic fits into the focus taken by journals primarily used within your discipline/subject area? I assume from your post that you're part of the way through a masters, so presumably you have an idea about how your work or dissertation topic would be located within current journals and research in that field. Look at journals in your area, think about how whatever you're doing would mesh with that academic focus. Who are the people on the editorial boards of the journals you're interested in? Are they people you would like to be peer reviewed by or published alongside? Read the guidelines for submission for journals you're interested in. If there is a call for contributions that fits your topic, that's great if it's going to be part of a themed issue, but if your research is relevant to that publication's remit then you could submit any time.

I have no idea how the criteria for ranking journals relate to my own field although it seems far more common in the sciences than arts related subjects, which is my area. I know which ones to aim for largely because they are the major ones for my subject, contain work from eminent scholars in the field and publish new or innovative research in that area. I know this because I've spent years doing a PhD and immersing myself in the topic, and have also had guidance from my supervisors. I don't think there is a short cut to this, you really have to do the research first so you've got something worth publishing. Good luck!

You could pick out key themes of your thesis, or of particular chapters and turn them into a journal article. I have written a 5,000 article on one of my chapter themes, and will later write this month another (6,000 word) on a particular strand of my thesis.

Both are papers which were responses to a call for papers for a specifc edition of a journal related to my field. I sent in a 1,000 word proposal for one and got a positive response saying it had been selected for the final 15 papers to be included (subject to eventual peer review). The other paper, I submitted and assume it is currently in the review process. Look around perhaps for journals that might be putting together special editions on your field - this might help crowbar you in....

Good luck writing.

Thanks for the replies

The reason why I'm interested in the IF (Impact Factor) of a journal is the higher up the scale it is - the harder it is going to be to get something in. I'm really looking for a journal further down the academic food chain so it won't be rejected immediately and I've a better chance of getting the full publishing experience.

I have now found two journals in my area which are for students so will look into them first.

You're right I'm sure about there being no short cuts RubyW, and we all have to start somewhere. More research needed but I'm more confident I'm going in the right direction.

Chrisrolinski - I like your idea of choosing key themes of a thesis and expanding them for separate papers. Shall definitely keep that in mind when I write my thesis.

Good ideas - thanks

On average there's about a 20% chance your submission will be accepted, and few journals have acceptance rates above 50%. Aiming low to avoid rejection is futile as you're likely to get rejected anyway. Just choose a journal which publishes work similar to your own, submit your article when it's as perfect as you can make it, and hope for the best. Getting rejected is part of the process, and it even happens to professors with excellent publication records.