Publishing Support

New Services Annoucement!

  • Help Choosing a Journal Publisher - Contact your subject librarian with details about the research you are planning to publish, and they will send you a list of reputable peer-reviewed journals for your consideration.

  • Research Impact Reports - If you are working on a grant application or dossier, send your subject librarian a list of citations for your published peer-reviewed articles and they will compile a report for you detailing how many times your works have been cited according to popular citation databases including Scopus and Web of Science to help you demonstrate the impact of your work.

  • Author Profiles in RO@M - Have Library staff build you an author profile in Research Online at MacEwan (RO@M), the University's institutional repository. Email citations for your published works to roam@macewan.ca along with any files you wish to contribute that are not already available online (e.g., conference papers, digital copies of creative works). Staff will investigate copyright permissions and upload works on your behalf. In cases where published works cannot be shared openly, we will link to the Library's copy for MacEwan users to access.

Find the Best Journal for Your Work

Find Reputable Publishers

  • Ulrichsweb (MacEwan login required) - Provides information on over 300,000 periodicals of all types: academic journals, magazines, and more.
  • Directory of Open Access Journals - Indexes scholarly peer-reviewed open access journals covering all subjects.
  • SCImago Journal & Country Rank - Provides citation and publication metrics on academic journals' relative scientific influence (also known as impact factor). Note: Citation practices vary by discipline, and not all journals are accounted for in journal ranking tools. Therefore, impact factor is not always a reliable measure of a journal's overall quality and worth.

Publishers to Avoid

When considering a publisher, ask yourself the following questions.

  • Indexing: Is the journal indexed in reputable databases (e.g., Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, Sociology Abstracts, Directory of Open Access Journals)?
  • Fees: Is the journal up front about any article processing charges?
  • Members: Does the journal list a managing editor and editorial board members along with legitimate academic affiliations and contact information?
  • Frequency: Does the journal publish regularly?
  • Policies and procedures: Does the journal provide detailed information about author submission guidelines, peer-review processes, digital preservation, copyright, etc.?
  • Overall quality: Does the journal website content have typos or broken links? Are articles professionally copyedited? Is this somewhere you are proud to have your work featured?

Still have questions?
Contact your Subject Librarian.

Make Your Work Open Access

Making published works open access (OA) can increase research impact and visibility since anyone can freely access these works online.

Publish in an Open Access Journal

To explore peer-reviewed OA journals covering all subjects, visit the Directory of Open Access Journals.

To enable OA, some publishers charge a fee. The following options are available to MacEwan University faculty to help cover these fees:

  • MacEwan University Publishing Support Grants - Six $1500 awards are available annually to help faculty cover publishing fees and expenses.
  • SAGE - Upon paper acceptance, email the journal's production editor to express interest in the Sage Choice Open Access option and self-identify as affiliated with a Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) institution to receive 40% off the OA fee per article (valid until December 2017).
  • NRC Research Press (Canadian Science Publishing) - Following acceptance, self-identify as affiliated with a CRKN institution to receive a reduced OA publishing fee of $1500 per article (valid until December 2017).

Self-Archive Works in an Online Repository

Most academic journal publishers that are not open access still allow authors to post the final peer-reviewed draft of their work (also known as an author accepted manuscript or post-print) to an online repository.  Look up self-archiving policies on journal publisher websites, or by using a site called SHERPA RoMEO. You can also ask MacEwan's institutional repository staff to investigate policies for you by emailing citations for works to roam@macewan.ca.

When permitted by publishers, authors can self-archive their works in one of two ways:

Find an Open Access Book Publisher

Academic presses are increasingly embracing open access publishing models. To explore existing options, visit Publishers of OA Books.

Still have questions?
Contact your Subject Librarian.

Measure Your Research Impact

Citation Metrics

The following resources provide article citation counts and author citation reports to help assess and articulate research impact.

  • Scopus (MacEwan login required) -  Select the Author Search tab, perform author search, and select author’s name to view profile and metrics.
  • Web of Science (MacEwan login required) - Change Basic Search to Author Search, perform author search, then select “Create a Citation Report” to view metrics.
  • Google Scholar - You will need an account. Learn more.

Altmetrics

Altmetrics are non-traditional metrics that illustrate online research impact. Explore how many times your work has been viewed, downloaded, shared on Twitter, etc.

  • Altmetric Bookmarklet - Find article-level metrics for how many times online works have been viewed, downloaded, and shared on various social media sites.
  • Impact Story - Create an author profile that lists your works and provides detailed metrics on how your work is being read, downloaded, tweeted, bookmarked, and more.

MacEwan Open Journals Hosting Service

MacEwan Open Journals is a platform for hosting academic open access journals and conference proceedings managed by members of the MacEwan University community. This no-fee hosting service uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) software and is administered by MacEwan University Library.

If you are interested in setting up a journal, please review the Memorandum of Understanding for this service, and contact Robyn Hall, Scholarly Communications Librarian, to discuss your needs. Additional information about setting up and maintaining a site on this platform is available here. 

Author Rights and Copyright

Before signing publishing agreements, know your rights! The following websites can help.

  • SHERPA/RoMEO - Searchable index of journal publisher copyright policies, including which publishers allow authors to archive published works in an institutional repository like Research Online at MacEwan.
  • SPARC Canadian Author's Addendum to Publication Agreement - Negotiate your rights. This agreement can be appended to a standard publisher agreement. It specifies that self-archiving privileges and copyright are retained by the author.
  • Creative Commons Licenses - These licenses are frequently included with publishing agreements, or may be selected optionally. Depending on the license, authors can retain some or full copyright to their works.

Still have questions?
Contact copyright@macewan.ca