I am in the 2nd year of my Phd in the Humanities and I'm hoping for some advice re: publication strategy

My thesis will be 5 chapters. I'm currently on chapter 3. My aim is to get 4 papers published, or in the process of publication, when I have my VIVA. I have had an adapted version of my first chapter published in a respectable journal so I'm on my way.

My question really is about people's experiences of submitting articles. Did you aim for top level journals and then work your way down your list? Obviously this would be the best strategy but I'm concerned about the time factor in this.

I've had indications that a lower level journal would accept a submission of an adapted version of my 2nd chapter. Would I be a fool to reject this chance in the hope a submission to a higher journal might (and its a big might) be accepted.

Many thanks!!

I've published one piece of work by aiming for top level journals and then using their comments to re-structure and sending it to other top-level journals. 3rd time it got into a top-level one, so that worked :-) My sup hates that method though and would prefer to cling on to a piece of work, re-shaping and re-shaping it for at least a year, and then finally submitting it to the best journal in the field (that being her 1st submission ever of the work), and she usually gets it in.

======= Date Modified 20 Sep 2011 16:27:18 =======
I always believe in aiming high (but not ridiculously so!). There's nothing to lose, unless you're in a big hurry. For my first publication I aimed very high and was amazed when it was accepted (after a revise and resubmit) and for the following three I went for respectable, but not outstanding journals, since the articles were review/theoretical papers that I didn't think would have as big an impact as my empirical papers. I did have a list of 2-3 journals in rank order for these articles but luckily all were accepted in my first choice journal. With my last three papers I've aimed high with the view that they wouldn't be published until I had completed my PhD anyway, so I'm not in a big hurry. One has since been accepted and the other two are under review still. If they're rejected, I'll just send them somewhere else. I think it depends on your aim really. If you are doing a PhD by publication then obviously it's a bit more urgent and perhaps more advisable to play safe. If you want a few things peer-reviewed by the time you do your viva to prove that it's publishable and pre-empt any potential viva questions then I suppose you might still want to play a bit safe. It also depends on how much impact you think your work will have. I can fairly easily list my papers in terms of which is likely to have the most/least impact, and I choose journals based on this as well. Good luck with it, KB

Edit: I think it's definitely best to try to have some accepted for publication by the end of your PhD, if you're aiming for a career in academia. For that reason I would probably play safe with at least a couple to start with.

I agree with KB in some respects, but if you have the time, why not aim high? In my field the highest journals turn around very fast, its the lower impact journals that take months, so its always worth rattling off articles to top flight U.S. journals, because the feedback I've had from reviews from these has been really helpful in shaping my PhD chapters.


I think it also depends on how long it takes to conduct research in your field, in mine, it can take at least a year to produce one paper, so aiming high is a priority. If you're in a discipline where you can produce papers more quickly, then you can afford to get some published in less well known/rated journals.

That is a good point- with the journals that I have submitted to, the top ones (usually US journals) are generally a lot quicker not just to sort reviews out, but to get the proofs to you and get it out in print as well. I would definitely not submit anything else to one of the journals I have published in because the whole process was completely chaotic. It was probably the lowest ranked one of my publications in terms of journal, although still well-known with a reasonable reputation. If you have time on your side, then do aim high. As I said, unless you're under pressure to get something published very quickly, you have nothing to lose.

Best, KB

Hi guys

Great advice thank you! To be honest theres no great pressure to publish ASAP, however, from what I've heard, publications play a big part in possible future lectureship applications. The paper I want to submit next I have presented at one conference and will be presenting it again in November. Perhaps I'll wait to see if I receive any feedback from that conference and look to submit it to some higher ranking journals then.

Thanks for all your help!

P.S. Do you guys know anywhere online I can find the ranking of (humanities) journals?

Arts and Humanities Citation Index (aka Web of Knowledge) is the one I'm aware of; you need a uni sub, available at
www.webofknowledge.com

journals do play a big part in securing a job, but it also depends on when you'll be looking for a job. If you're looking before the REF deadline (around Nov 2013), then unis will be taking people who can provide 2 really good journals for thier REF submission. Apply for jobs after that deadline and publications will still be important, but you'll probably have more chance of getting a job with no/lower quality publications.

The time issue is very important. For applications purposes, it is better a paper published in a lesser rank journal, than one submitted in a top one.

Besides, in terms of future citations of your work, I find other factors (presentation at conferences, collaborations, personal networks, etc.) much more important than just a journal impact factor. Imho as long as a journal has a decent reputation and proper indexing, it is not crucial if they are not top in their category.

That is so true. There is a great new website that allows users o post there experience with turnaround times.

http://reviewajournal.com.

Economics scholars have started using it a lot. There are humanities journals listed but no posts from scholars from Humanities. I'm sure once humanities scholars start posting it will be a valuable resource for you. You might want to look at the site and convince your colleagues to submit their experiences. The more posts the better off everyone will be. I'm an economist and I love it.