Before submitting an article, it is important to understand the journal’s scope, audience, and expectations. Review the journal’s aims, recent issues, and submission guidelines to ensure your work is a good fit. Pay close attention to formatting requirements, peer review procedures, and publication timelines. Authors should also consider the journal’s publishing model which may include open access, subscription-based, or hybrid, and how that model aligns with their funding requirements, and institutional mandates and priorities. Familiarity with the journal’s editorial standards and ethical policies, including expectations around originality and disclosure of conflicts of interest, will help ensure a smooth submission process.
Authors considering submission to a university press journal may wish to ask when corresponding with editorial offices:
- Is this journal a good fit for my research and intended audience?
- How does the journal’s peer review process work, and what is the typical timeline?
- What open-access options or funding support are available?
- What rights will I retain as an author, and how may I share my work?
- How does the journal ensure indexing and discoverability?
- What marketing or promotional support does the press provide?
- What guidance and resources are available to authors during submission, review, and publication?
—AUPresses Faculty Outreach Committee
Of related interest: Members of the 2024-2025 AUPresses Faculty Outreach Committee prepared a slide deck “How to Publish Your Journal Article,” which offers a basic overview of the process; processes will vary by journal.