Scholarly Communications

The foundation of modern scholarly publishing, mainly the academic journal and the peer review process, commemorated its 350th anniversary in 2015. Scholarly publishing is a vehicle for the global communication of knowledge. Traditional methods of scholarly publishing (i.e. the peer reviewed journal) target a specific and limited audience. However, today's digital age and new methods of scholarly communication provide more opportunities to connect with a broader and more inclusive audience.

The prevalence of inaccurate information online requires a more involved effort from the scientific community to actively advocate for the importance and value of their work to a broader audience, to improve access, and to promote reputable information. As scholars, we need to be proactive and assume ownership of our work to ensure it is communicated accurately.

For these, and many other reasons, scholars are developing new publishing and business models for sharing research.

New Avenues of Scholarly Communication

Technology and online digital platforms present you with opportunities for new models of publishing and communicating scholarly research. In 2008, the Association of Research Libraries released New Models of Digital Scholarly Communication. In 2013, the Association of College and Research Libraries published Intersections of Scholarly Communication and Information Literacy which discusses how an evolving landscape changes the ways researchers create and share scholarship, and how we can help beginning researchers learn to critically engage and evaluate information.

Some of the innovative methods for sharing information which complement conventional models of publishing include:

• Social media
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Open Data sets
• Discussion forums
• Professional websites

When preparing to publish your work, consider the issues related to the publication cycle early in the process. These include complying with research regulations, locating funding, managing your information, selecting a journal or other publication venue, and understanding your rights as an author when signing a publishing agreement.

Publication Cycle (click on image to expand).

Click the image to view an expanded and interactive tool for displaying, organizing, and disseminating research. 

Journal impact measurements assess the prestige, importance, or rank of a journal in a particular field. Knowing the impact or importance of the journal can help you decide where to submit an article. The most commonly used metric is the Journal Impact Factor, issued by Journal Citation Reports. However, there are other methods of evaluating the importance of a particular journal.

While no number can truly measure the value of your work, citation metrics can provide a starting point for measuring a work's impact. There are several tools and methods available to measure various types of impact. Authors and researchers can track the impact of their publications using free online tools. An author's impact can be measured and demonstrated by traditional citation analysis: how many other researchers cite the author's work or by altmetrics: how much the author's work is viewed, saved, and discussed online. For assistance determining citation metrics for your published works, contact Angie Neely-Sardon at asardon@irsc.edu.

Citation Counts/Citation Analysis: an author or article's impact can be assessed by finding out the number of times other authors cite the original author's works.

Free citation analysis tools are listed below.

IRSC/Open Access Databases with limited Citation Counts

Altmetrics: alternative metrics that demonstrate an article or author's impact with qualitative data about storage, links, bookmarks, conversations, and media mentions online.

Some tools to track your altmetrics are listed below.

A prominent online presence helps you share your work through increased visibility, track your impact in the field, and network with others. It also fosters an identifiable personal brand; allowing you to market your achievements. A variety of social networks and other tools help you reach an increasingly varied audience beyond traditional scholarly outlets. 

Remember a social networking site is not a digital repository. Sites like academia.edu and Research Gate are powerful tools for sharing your work. However, online platforms do not properly substitute for a digital repository's stable and reliable long-term accessibility. Here are some suggested services, all with different strengths and weaknesses.

Rather than tell you those that are bad, you can use these websites to find open access journals that have received a mark of approval.

Scholarly communications librarian, Jeffery Beall, maintained a very popular and well-respected "blacklist" of open access journals and publishers suspected of being predatory. That list was recently taken down. You can read more about it in this article from the Association of College and Research Libraries. When searching for a reputable open access journal or publisher, it is recommended to consult the DOAJ and OASPA websites listed above.

The Journal Evaluation Tool from Loyola Marymount University can assist scholarly authors in choosing a journal in which to publish their work.