3/16/2012

CHOOSING A JOURNAL FOR PUBLICATION

Helena M. VonVille, MLS, MPH Director, UTSPH Library March 16, 2012

Agenda

• Why does it matter where you publish? • Why not just submit to JAMA? • Tools to help you decide • Format your paper • Guidelines • RefWorks • Other considerations • Glossary of terms

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Why does it matter where you publish?

• You want to be published, right? • You want people to read your research, right? • Someday, you may want to apply for a university position or, after getting one, go up for tenure and promotion, right?

• The journals you submit to and ultimately publish in can impact all of the above!

Why not just submit to JAMA?

• Remember– the bigger the name, the higher the rejection rate • JAMA rejection rate is 91% • Nearly 6,000 articles submitted each year • Nature 2011 rejection rate is 92% • APA journal rejection rates range from 31% (Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology) to 88% (Journal of Applied Psychology) • Always have a fallback option (or two)

About JAMA (2012). Retrieved from http://jama.ama-assn.org/site/misc/aboutjama.xhtml For Authors: Getting published in Nature (2012). Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nature/authors/get_published/index.html American Psychological Association. (2011). Summary Report of Journal Operations. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/2010-statistics.pdf

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Tools to help you decide

• UTSPH Library Internet Resources Journal Publication Information • Jane (Journal/Author Name Estimator) • Paste your abstract into the text box • Jane will suggest journals to consider for publication • Article Influence indicator assigned to each journal • Journal Citation Reports (Use the Blackboard link to login) • Provides the Journal Impact Factor– 2000 to current (2010) • SCImago Journal Rank • Calculates the SJR • Limits # of self-citations by journal to 33% • Some journals require authors to have at least one citation to one of their articles! • Scopus Journal Analyzer (Use the Blackboard link to login) • Uses the SJR and SNIP • Ulrich’s Periodical Directory (SPH) • Determine if your journal is peer-reviewed

Tools to help you decide

• Which databases index the journal(s) you are considering • You want at least one major database to index your journal • Why does this matter? • If you rely on Google and your article is on page 10 of 2.35 million hits, do you really think someone is going to scroll through that many pages? • Ulrich’s Periodical Directory (SPH) • Data for each title includes who indexes, circulation, cost, publication status, peer-review status, content type, and language • Find where periodicals are indexed (OCLC– free) • I think it’s a little confusing to look at, but it’s free!

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Tools to help You decide

• If you want to make certain a title is indexed by PubMed/Medline • Information about journals indexed by PubMed • Search the NLM catalog • Hint: Check the box next to Journals currently indexed in MEDLINE, then Search • Are you doing a behavioral sciences paper? • Check the PsycINFO journal coverage list

Format your paper

• Formatting your paper goes beyond in-text citations and bibliographies • Abstract, tables, figures, # of words/pages (before you have to pay to publish!!!!!) • Instructions to Authors of Journals in the Health Sciences

• If your journal isn’t there, use Ulrich’s Periodical Directory to go to the publisher’s Web site • Look for “Instructions for Authors”

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Format your paper

• Use RefWorks for in-text citations and bibliography • Click Continue to this website at the “problem with this website’s security certificate” • Click on Bibliography • Click on Output Style Manager

• Find your journal in the list and add it • If your journal isn’t there, look at instructions to authors • RW will add a style if needed! • Talk to Helena

Other considerations

• Be consistent in how you name yourself • Helena M. VonVille vs. Helena VonVille • Be consistent • Always use your middle initial if you have one • Why does this matter? • In many databases, authors are listed by LastName, FirstInitial (MiddleInitial if present) • Helps distinguish you from others with the same initials • If someone wants to see all of your research and they search a database, it makes it easier for them to find you • In later years when you are going up for tenure/promotion, it’ll be easier to find how often you were cited if you need that data • It will make the librarian who is helping you pull together your CV happy!

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Other considerations

• Was this NIH grant funded? • Speak to the PI • NIH Public Access Policy • Articles resulting from NIH-funded research must be deposited with PubMed Central (PMC) within 12 months of official date of publication • Some publishers do it all for you • Including final approval of manuscript at PMC • Some publishers require you to ask them to submit • But they will approve final manuscript at PMC • Some publishers make you do it all • Including final approval of manuscript at PMC • Some publishers deposit final manuscript • But you have to approve final manuscript at PMC • Anytime you list or cite your articles, you will need to add the NIHMSID or PMCID to your citation

Glossary

• Jane (Journal/Author Name Estimator) • AI: Article Influence • Measures how often articles in the journal are cited within the first 5 years after its publication • Journal influence (EF) affects AI • EF: Eigenfactor score • JIF: Journal Impact Factor (Journal Citation Reports) • 2010 JIF = (# of times items in 2009 and 2008 were cited in 2010) divided by the # of items published in 2009 and 2008 • SJR: SCImago Journal Rank (SCImago & Scopus) • Uses an algorithm based on GoogleRank • Includes all journals found in Scopus • Calculations can be found here • SNIP: Source Normalized Impact per Paper (Scopus) • Corrects for difference in the frequency of citation across research fields • PMCID: PubMed Central ID • Not to be confused with PMID which is PubMed ID, an unique accession number assigned to items as they are added to PubMed • NIHMSID: NIH Manuscript Submission ID

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QUESTIONS?

[email protected] 713-500-9131

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