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Identifying a Target Journal & Writing Considerations

SPONSORED BY OMICRON DELTA CHAPTER

SIGMA THETA TAU INTERNATIONAL

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Identifying a Target Journal

Company confidential ©2017 Sigma Theta Tau International. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Identifying a Target Journal

  • Finding a home for your work
  • Begin with the end in mind
    • What story/info are you trying to share?
    • Who is your audience?
  • Call for papers
  • Reference list
  • Write first and then pick a journal
  • Pick the journal and formulate the manuscript to the journal

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Impact Factor (IF)

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  • What is it?
  • Does it matter?
  • Indexing in databases

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IF= Citations in 2017 from items published in 2016 & 2015

Number of citable items from 2016 & 2015

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Open Access

  • What is it?
  • Article Processing Charges (APCs)
  • May be optional
  • May require charge for review
  • Most due following acceptance but prior to publication
  • Copyright considerations

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Journal stats

  • Review time
  • Acceptance rates
  • Publication schedule
    • How long from acceptance to print (or Epub ahead of Print)
  • Issues per year

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How to find a journal

  • Search engines
  • Call for papers
  • Current publications
    • Where did articles you read get published?
    • Consider looking at reference lists
    • What journals are well-known/well-regarded in your area?
  • Recommendations from colleagues
  • Inquiries to editors
  • “JANE”-Journal Author Name Estimator

https://jane.biosemantics.org/

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Jane

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Open Researcher and Contributor IDentifier

Provides a digital identifier unique to each author

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Writing Considerations

Company confidential ©2017 Sigma Theta Tau International. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Reminders

  • Authorship
    • Have the conversation early
  • Schedule time to write
  • Iterative Process
    • Many, many drafts
    • May want to outline or bullet
    • Brain dump
    • Get feedback from others
    • Read draft out loud
  • Tell a story-keep the reader in mind

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Thesis Statement

  • What is it?
    • Main point of the manuscript
    • Central argument/theme/key point
    • May be a stance on a topic
    • In research, it could be your hypothesis or what you expected to see in your study
  • What do you want readers to take away from your article?

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IMRAD Approach

  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results &
  • Discussion

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Other sections

  • Conclusion
  • Disclosures
  • Acknowledgements
  • Abstract
  • Key words
  • Figures/Tables