Skip to Main Content
Skip to main content

Stage 7: Writing & Publishing your Review: Step 2: How to Publish your Review

Publishing your Paper

There are several aspects to consider when deciding where to first submit your manuscript for publication. Are you going to aim high at first? Are you most interested in a fast peer-review publish? Is publishing in an Open Access journal required by your funding sources?

The following will help guide you in the right direction when consider how to publish your paper.

Choosing Where to Publish

If you have not yet determined where to submit your paper, refer to the following flowchart (inspired by Deakin Library's):

Most importantly, the final decision for where to submit should be discussed amongst your research team.

Journal Guidelines

As when publishing to all publishing outlets, you must determine what the journal's respective writing and style guidelines are.

This includes:

  • Using the assigned referencing style (e.g., APA, Harvard, etc.)
  • Using the proper spelling (e.g., American vs Commonwealth English)
  • Formatting all figures and tables to the journal's instructions

You may choose to tailor your paper to the journal you are submitting to. For example, after reviewing the aims and scope statements provided on the journal's website, you may choose to highlight aspects in your manuscript that align with their statement.

Open Access

“Open access refers to the practice of making peer-reviewed scholarly research and literature freely available online to anyone interested in reading it.”Open Source

Ensuring that your publication is freely accessible can be achieved through two means:

  1. Uploading your paper in an online archive or repository (see list in Additional Resources)
  2. Publishing in open-access journals (see doaj.org for directory)

There are numerous benefits to making your work open access:

Original graphic by Danny Kingsley and Sarah Brown of Cambridge University.

© University of Saskatchewan
Disclaimer|Privacy