Academic publishing today: what you need to know

A guide to the complex and changing world of academic publishing and how to work with it to get your research out there

The times they are a-changin’ and academic publishing is no exception. The rise of open access has made more research freely available but brings its own set of challenges. Generative artificial intelligence looms large across the sector as both friend and foe, and competition for space and visibility is more cut-throat than ever. Yet, the core academic skills of writing, editing and pitching remain crucial to success, alongside an understanding of what, when and where best to publish. This spotlight guide provides pointers on how to pitch your ideas and get them down on paper but also explores peer review, open access and how to start your own journal.

‘Researchers have a responsibility to publish’

Without publication, advancements in knowledge will be stifled or even halted altogether, writes Walid Saad. Here he explains the many benefits to publishing for established scholars and students alike

Walid Saad

Virginia Tech

Make a start on the road to publication

How to pitch a book to an academic publisher

Key considerations for researchers when choosing an academic publisher and preparing their pitch

Victoria Pittman

University of Bristol

The evolving meaning of ‘corresponding authorship’ in research

How the role of the corresponding author is changing in terms of research team dynamics and the perception of its meaning, and the implications for assuming the role

Rachel Herbert, Alison McIntosh

Elsevier, University of St Andrews

Traffic light sequence from green to red

Trying to decide what, where and when to publish research?

It’s a strategic balancing act, writes Walid Saad. While academic researchers often know why it’s important to publish their work, the timing, location and medium can be less evident. These tips are geared to sharing research for maximum effectiveness

Walid Saad

Virginia Tech

Young Indian woman opens a carton of books

How much should you publish?

For reputation or promotion? Book or peer-reviewed journal? Publishing is a high-stakes issue for academics. Catherine Léglu looks at scholars’ motivations to publish, where and how often

Catherine Léglu

University of Luxembourg

Take the first steps on your academic publishing journey by evaluating your place within the sector. Our resources offer guidance on how to know when your work is ready for publication, establishing where your research fits best, and crafting a proposal that shows why your ideas are worth publishing.

Are you ready to publish? Top tips on how to prepare your manuscript

From explaining the publishing cycle to outlining what makes a strong manuscript, Jing Tang walks ECRs through key steps when preparing to publish for the first time

Jing Tang

Elsevier

Anatomy of an academic book proposal

Pitch your book to publishers with an irresistible proposal. Here are all the elements you’ll need

Richard Baggaley

University of Westminster

Writing advice for academics looking to get published

Books and papers piled around an empty notepad with a pencil poised to write

Making the abstract concrete

Strategies for writing effective abstracts for conference and research papers

Steven Bateman, Yingchun Li

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Time to write is a necessity, not a nice-to-have

How a project for academics to carve out writing time has grown from ‘power hours’ to writing retreats, community, increased well-being and higher-quality papers

Rosie Wadman, Jess Macpherson

University of Southampton

Middle Eastern male millennial researcher

A practical guide to writing a literature review

From organising key search terms to checking citations, this video offers simple, practical tips to crafting a literature review that will lay a sound foundation for your academic paper

Bareq Ali Abdulhadi

Al-Mustaqbal University

Illustration of man at laptop surrounded by graphic elements

Creating an impactful visual abstract with no design experience

The basic principles of design offer guidelines for creating a scientific visual abstract. This guide will take you from blank space to eye-catching, easy-to-understand graphic

Lipsa Panda

Elsevier

Pitching and reviewing is all well and good but will not get you anywhere unless you can first get your words down on paper or, more likely, a screen. Mastering the skill of academic writing takes practice and persistence – find out how to carve out the time you need to write, how to construct a solid abstract, then listen to 10 academics share their top writing tips in a special podcast.

Don’t jettison traditional academic writing just yet

Academic writing is transforming – into comics, podcasts, installations – but that doesn’t mean bog-standard peer-reviewed papers are less key to institutional status or individual promotion, writes Pat Thomson

Patricia Thomson

University of Nottingham

THE podcast: pointers on writing and publishing for academics

Academics, authors, publishers and postdocs share their advice on how to improve your academic writing and chances of getting published

Campus contributors

Campus

Understanding the peer review process

An academic edits a research paper with a red pen

The pros and cons of peer reviewing

Weighing up whether to take on the role of peer reviewer? Arina Ziganshina draws on her own experience to outline the upsides and downsides

Arina Ziganshina

Dubai Medical College for Girls

Give your academic paper its best chance of being accepted

Peer review is a key step in the journey to publication in that prestigious journal, but not every paper gets to this stage. Here are key reasons for desk rejection and how to avoid them

Cheong Fan

Macau University of Science and Technology

Peer review is frustrating and flawed – here’s how we can fix it

What would peer review 2.0 look like? Mark Humphries offers ways to optimise the process for better efficiency and research outcomes

Mark Humphries

University of Nottingham

Post-it notes showing smiling and frowning faces

Peer feedback: a burden for students or route to better academic writing?

Asking students to give anonymous feedback on each other’s work can not only result in better writing skills but also offer them opportunities to try new approaches and refine assessment tasks

Alison Daniell

University of Southampton

Artificial intelligence (AI) brings huge opportunities and challenges for academic publishing, with the potential to streamline elements of the writing and review processes, alongside the administrative side of running a journal. Two academics explain how to work with generative AI (GenAI), instead of against it.

And if you are fed up with fighting to get your work in front of journal editors, who may take months to review your submissions, consider alternative routes to getting your work out there, from launching your own journal to using university repositories – as described in the resources below.

We’re living in a world of artificial intelligence – it’s academic publishing that needs to change

Scholars are using generative AI to assist them with writing articles, but should they be punished for it? The academic publishing community may need to change its mindset, writes Benjamin Luke Moorhouse

Benjamin Luke Moorhouse

Hong Kong Baptist University

Not replacing but enhancing: using ChatGPT for academic writing

Generative AI and how it can be used for plagiarism has provoked fear in higher education. However, the technology can also improve and accelerate your writing process if it is applied in a constructive, positive manner

Brooke Szücs

The University of Queensland

Launching a journal and alternative publishing routes

Group of four multiracial young people in a meeting

A DIY guide to starting your own journal

An antidote to frustrations with traditional academic publishing might be to launch a grass-roots open access journal. Here are the steps to consider

Judith Johnson

University of Leeds

Man climbing up-and-down graph-like staircase

How to sustain a journal and beat the academic publishing racket

Starting a journal is hard enough – keeping it going is an ongoing challenge. Here’s how to maintain success in academic publishing

James Williams, Asma Mohseni

University of Derby

Two young people high five over a boardroom table

Eight steps to launch a student-led peer-review journal

To help PhD students gain the skills required for publication and improve research literacy, consider an in-house academic journal

Andrew Drybrough, Philip Montgomery

Nazarbayev University

A pair of surgical scissors are passed from one member of the surgical team to another

Making educational content open access can save lives

RCSI and its partners are making training resources for surgical professions available on an open access platform to address the huge number of preventable deaths each year. Find out how you can do something similar

Eric O'Flynn, Ines Perić

RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

A guide to open access

Librarian helping a student check out a book

Open access: why and how to do it

Here, a librarian and master of information student offer insight into facets of open access publishing and the challenges relating to it

Melissa A. Rothfus, Catherine Gracey

Dalhousie University

Unwrapping discovery: the importance of institutional repositories

Self-archiving in university repositories is an alternative academic publishing route to gold open access that can boost citations and diversify users accessing scholarly content, writes Nicki Clarkson

Nicki Clarkson

University of Southampton

Opening doors to knowledge: making data open access

Making data open access has become a cornerstone of transparent and collaborative research practices. Here, Jon Petters provides a brief guide on how to do it, emphasising accessibility, reproducibility and interoperability

Jonathan Petters

Virginia Tech

Illustration of woman looking at city through keyhole-shaped door

Democratising research through open access journals

The rise of open access publishing has democratised knowledge dissemination, allowing researchers to share their findings with a global audience. Here, Corinne Guimont offers insights on running OA journals at a higher education institution

Corinne Guimont

Virginia Tech

Your work is finally published! This may be cause for celebration but don’t relax just yet. If you want to ensure maximum impact from your published research, it’s time to promote your paper and make sure it stands out against the millions of journal articles published each year. Here are tips how to get the word out to audiences within and beyond academia.