The purpose of this document to provide University of Canterbury staff looking to publish in academic journals or conference proceedings with concrete steps they can take to ensure that their publications will have the maximum impact in the QS and Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.

Before writing

• Have an ORCID [Extra points for having an ORCID verified by UC through the UC ORCID Hub]
• Make sure you only have one Scopus ID, and that it includes all of your (Scopus indexed) publications
• Talk to your Subject Librarian for assistance with these items
• Consider co-authors (particularly international co-authors as this is part of the scoring for both QS and THE). However, QS has affiliation caps that take papers out of contention. For THE, papers with more than 1000 authors will only count fractionally.

While writing

• In QS rankings, self-citations are excluded, but this is not the case for citing papers authored by other UC academics. In THE rankings, all citations, including self-citations are included
• For THE Impact Rankings, look at the keywords for the SDGs and see if you could use one (or more) in the title, abstract or keywords of your paper

Where to publish

• Only Scopus-indexed journals and conference proceedings count towards the QS and THE rankings
  • You can tell if a journal is indexed by checking the Scopus sources list, or the QS Power BI report
  • See how the journal is ranked e.g. Journal Quartile/CiteScore/SJR/SNIP
• Consider your Open Access options (On average, OA journals are more highly cited than non-OA)
  • Prepaid open access agreements
  • Department funding
  • Library OA Fund
  • Add the pre-print or accepted version of your article (i.e., Green open access) to the UC Research Repository, through Elements

Once your paper submission is accepted

• Let the Communications and Events team know by completing a short “What’s the story” form. With this the Team can identify opportunities to share and promote your new research.
  • Please give as much notice as possible before it is published.

After your article is published

• Consider promoting your research on social media, whether your own, or by sending it to the library and Communications and Events team for promotion on its channels. Remember to leverage UC’s networks by tagging the UC and library profiles on in your social media.

 How to find out if a journal is indexed in Scopus

1. Go to Scopus

2. In the top right hand corner there will be a button that says 'Sources:' 

3. Click that button

4.  Enter the title of the journal in the search bar at the top of the page and click Find Sources (using the Enter key will likely change the title of the journal)

5. If the journal appears in the search results, it's indexed in Scopus!

Demo

You can also search by subject area to discover the top journals in your field that are indexed by Scopus

• By checking where your supervisors and other colleagues in your field publish
• Looking at your thesis bibliography. Which journals are listed there? You could consider publishing in these journals
• If you're publishing in life sciences or biomedical sciences, you can use Jane, a tool which allows you to put in your title or abstract, and then suggests journals that might be relevant
• Do a keyword search for your topic in a database like Scopus, and see what journals the articles that come up are published in
• Check how highly rated the journal is
• Check the process for peer review 
• Check the turnaround time for acceptance. Some articles take many months to publish articles
• Check to see if your journal name is included in Scopus Sources
• Check the instructions for authors from the journal home page For word limits and other requirements such as appropriate content - some journals are highly specific as to what they will publish
• Publication charges - consider publishing in an open access journal
• Consider alternative journals to submit to if the first publisher rejects your submission;

• How to get published in an academic journal: top tips from editors
   
• 7 steps to publishing in a scientific journal
   
• 5 tips for publishing your first academic article
   
• How to get your first academic paper published
   
• Article types that journals publish: A guide for early career researchers
   
• Publishing an article in a social science journal: Introduction
   
• How to get published in high-impact journals: Big research and better writing
   
• From qualitative dissertation to quality articles: Seven lessons learned
   
• Adapting a dissertation or thesis into a journal article (APA Style)