Guides @ UF: Writing/Publishing: How and Where to Publish

Impact Factors

Research Metrics: Measuring the Influence and Impact of Research
Explains and links to tools for citaiton counting and other "productivity/impact" measures and trends for authors, journals, etc.
Open Access
Info on policies, finding open access resources, open access publishing, data and educational resources.
Institutional Repository @ UF
Links to Self-submittal tool, collections in UF's Instituional repository, University Archives and Data Curation.
SCImago Journal & Country Rank
Shows number of articles cited, either by 1-4 journals, by subject area or my the journal's country of origin within 1-3 year time frame.
Altmetrics
Several tools of impact beyond publication and citation counts: Mendeley, Twitter, data sets, slides, etc.

ImpactStory aggregates impact data from these various sources in a single, permalinked report.

PaperCritic lets researchers monitor feedback on their scientific work and review the work of others.

ScienceCard automatically collects citations, download counts, altmetrics for a researcher with a unique identifier.

Crowdometer displays tweeting linking to scientific articles in real time.

ReaderMeter visualizing author- and article-level states based on who's reading what.
Author Impact Measures
Google Scholar Metrics
And a detailed analysis of flaws in this system by a research group in Spain, July-August 2012:http://www.elprofesionaldelainformacion.com/contenidos/2012/julio/15_eng.pdf .
Impactstory
Tool (registration required) to discover online impact of your research

Predatory Journals

Potential predatory and legitimate biomedical journals: can you tell the difference? A cross-sectional comparison
BMC Medicine article from 2017

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1. Scope includes non-biomedical topics
2. Website contains spelling and grammar errors
3. Images = distorted/fuzzy, unauthorized
4. Language on homepage targets authors
5. Index Copernicus Value promoted on website
6. No description of manuscript handling process
7. Requests manuscripts be send via email.
8. Promises rapid publication
9. No retraction policy
10. No info on whether/how journal content will be digitally preserved.
11. Very low (e.g. <$150USD) article processing/publication charge
12. Journal claiming to be open access either retains copyright of published research or fails to mention copyright
13. Contact email address is non-professional and non-journal-affiliated (e.g. @gmail or @yahoo.com)

Predatory publishing and cybercrime targeting academics. Umlauf MG, Mochizuki Y. Int J Nurs Pract. 2018 Apr;24 Suppl 1:e12656. doi: 10.1111/ijn.12656. Provides 2 bulleted lists of characteristics of suspected predatory journals and illustrates the differences between legitimate Open Access and predatory OA journals.

Predatory Open Access Journals are Indexed in Reputable Databases: a Revisiting Issue or an Unsolved Problem. Med Arch. 2020 Aug; 74(4): 317-322.

Potential predatory and legitimate biomedical journals: can you tell the difference? A cross-sectional comparison. BMC Med. 2017; 15: 28.

Jourchain: using blockchain to avoid questionable journals. Irish Journal of Medical Science. July 2021. DOI 10.1007/s11845-021-02697-x .

How to Protect the Credibility of Articles Published in Predatory Journals. Journal of Scholarly Publishing. Mar 2021. 9(1): DOI 10.3390/publications9010004

Instructions to Authors

Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences
Neat tool to locate the Instructions to Authors for health sciences journals.
National Institutes of Health Public Access policy information

Miscellaneous Tips for Different Formats

So You Want to Write a Book
October 1, 2012 article in The Scientist advising on writing a textbook, nonfiction book or even a novel (science slant).
Poster Perfect: How to drive home your science with a visually pleasing poster
Sept. 29, 2011 article from The Scientist on effective poster design, formatting, content, including a brief list of things to check before you print the poster.

About Open Access

Help in determining the good from the bad in Open Access journals = written by a librarian at University of South Alabama, July 2013

Citation/Impact issues

Altmetrics = a short report of this tool for determining research/publication impact beyond just journal citations

Selecting Journals to Submit To

Success in Publishing: Selecting an Appropriate Journal and Braving the Peer-review Process
Article in PubMed Central (free full-text) from PostGraduate Medicine from winter 2018 on criteria for selecting journals and common errors/pitfalls that may lead to rejection of a manuscript
Variations in Instructed vs. Published Word Counts in Top Five Medical Journals.
January 2018 Journal of General Internal Medicine article on variation from instructed/published word count in "the top 5 general medical journals" (NEJM. BMJ. Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine): No consensus on optimal word limit for research papers. Journal impact factor and article length predict # of times a medical article was cited. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5756173/

Publications of possible interest

Be positive about negatives–recommendations for the publication of negative (or null) results
Anton Bespalov, Thomas Steckler, Phil Skolnick. European Neuropsychopharmacology 29 (12) : 1312-1320. Describes a set of criteria that can help scientists, reviewers and editors to publish technically sound, scientifically high-impact negative (or null) results originating from rigorously designed and executed studies. Proposed criteria emphasize the importance of collaborative efforts and communication among scientists (also including the authors of original publications with positive results)