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Library Guide to Publishing Medical Journal Articles

Library Guide to Publishing Medical Journal Articles

Publishing decisions shape your research impact and visibility.

This guide offers strategies for selecting a journal, evaluating its quality and relevance, navigating open access, and managing your author rights and research profile.

Identifying a Journal for Your Research

Selecting a journal that enhances your research visibility and reaches your intended audience can help maximize its impact.

Consult Colleagues and Professional Societies

Ask peers and mentors about journals they read, cite, and recommend.

Consider journals affiliated with your professional organization to connect with others in your field.

Use Journal Matching Tools

Find journals that publish research similar to yours.

Search Article Databases

Look for articles on your topic to discover journals publishing in your field.

Explore Journal Databases

Evaluate journal impact, rankings, and quality standards.

Evaluating Journal Quality and Relevance

Before submitting your manuscript, ensure the journal aligns with your research and follows ethical publishing practices.

Check Scope and Guidelines

Confirm the journal covers your research topic, study design, and audience. Review author instructions for policies, submission requirements, and publication timelines.

Verify Journal Quality and Ethics

Make sure the journal is credible and follows ethical publishing standards.

Consider Metrics and Discoverability

Assess the journal’s reach and visibility.

Publishing Open Access

Open access (OA) makes research freely available online, removing cost and permission barriers for readers while protecting author rights.

Why Publish Open Access?

OA expands global access to research, allowing anyone to read, share, and reuse findings. It supports UC’s mission to share knowledge widely, fostering innovation and public benefit. OA publications also tend to receive higher readership, downloads, and citations than subscription-based articles (Huang et al., 2024).

Your Open Access Responsibilities

The UC Open Access Policies require UC faculty and employees to make their scholarly articles publicly accessible.

How to comply:

Making Your Article Open Access

UC authors have two main options:

Option 1. Post in an Open Access Repository (No Cost)

  • Deposit your article in eScholarship, UC’s open access repository, using the UC Publication Management System.
  • Submit the Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM) – the final peer-reviewed version without publisher formatting.
  • Some funders require deposits in specific repositories, such as PubMed Central for NIH-funded research.
  • Find more repository options at OpenDOAR.

Option 2. Publish Open Access with a Journal (Fees May Apply)

  • Choose to publish in fully OA journals or subscription journals with OA options for individual articles.
  • Some journals charge Article Processing Charges (APCs) for OA publishing.

UC Support for OA Publishing Fees

UC Libraries have publisher agreements that may reduce or cover APCs. Learn more:

Source Acknowledgment: Content adapted from the UC Office of Scholarly Communication’s resources for authors and researchers.

Enhancing Your Research Profile with ORCID

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor IDentifier) is a unique, persistent ID that distinguishes you from other researchers and ensures accurate attribution of your work. It links your research outputs, affiliations, and professional activities in one place.

After publication, link your article to your ORCID profile to maintain a record of your work and connect it with research systems. ORCID integrates with manuscript submission platforms, funding applications, and institutional repositories, reducing manual data entry and improving author identification.

Sign up for free on the ORCID website.

Find Further Support

For additional publishing support, consult the Library’s Scholarly Communications Services.