Research Guides
GEOG 502: Professional Writing in Geography - Winter 2023: Publishing
Ready to Publish? Preparing to Write for Publication
Resources for Preparing to Write for Publication:
- The Manuscript Review Process and Advice to Prospective Authors
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Addresses how to navigate the manuscript review process, and advises on how to approach questions such as "Is my idea a good one and is it original?" "Will it interest my colleagues?" and "Will it advance the discipline?" - Demystifying Academic Writing: Reflections on Emotions, Know-How and Academic Identity
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Strategies are discussed for attending to the emotions of writing, and developing writing know-how and a stronger sense of identity as a writer. - The 'Write' Skills and More: A Thesis Writing Group for Doctoral Students
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Covers the benefits of writing groups including enhanced motivation, increased confidence and a more positive outlook on the writing process. - How to Write Geography Teaching PaperHow to write a geography paper that finds solutions, encourages exploration, and summarize the scientific procedure and methods used to deal with the problem.
Ready to Publish? Resources for Selecting a Geography Journal
Academic Writing tips:
- Getting Published: Private to Public Writing
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- The Charybdis of Publishing in Academia
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Preparing to Write for Publication:
1) Journals
For some disciplines the journals can be identified comparatively easily and therefore be described or evaluated in books such as Journals in Psychology or Historical journals : a handbook for writers and reviewers. Nothing so concise exists for Geography. There are several resources, however, which you can use in addition to consultations with your advisors and colleagues.
The following journal articles are very selective and writing styles vary from discipline.
Geography Journal Articles
- Support for, and Impacts of Publishing in the Annals of AAG: The Authors and Editors Speak
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- Whether to Publish in Geography Journals
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- Editorial
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Economics Journals
Law Reviews & Journals
The following guide is an invaluable compilation on ranking and evaluating legal journals was compiled by Mary Whisner & Ann Hemmens, Marion Gould Gallagher Law Library, University of Washington School of Law.
Skimming multiple chapters, e.g. Latin American Studies, Urban Studies, may be necessary to get the most out of this source. Reviews from this publication are included in Ulrichsweb which is easily searched for individual titles. It is important to note that Magazines for Libraries is very selective, not comprehensive.
3) ISI Impact Factors & Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and Alternatives in Development
The Institute for Scientific Iinformation (ISI) has produced citation indexes since the 1960s and in the 1970s began publishing in-house statistical analyses as Journal Citation Reports (JCR) (UW Restricted). Careful interpretation of this data will be based on a thorough understanding of the methodologies, and their limits, used to generate these reports. ISI provides extensive literature to support use of the JCR including:
- EigenfactorAn alternative to Thomson's Journal Impact Factor, developed by the Bergstrom Lab, Dept of Biology, University of Washington.
- Show me the data (Rossner et al., 2007)This study questions the reliability of ISI's Journal Impact Factor, based on an inability to reproduce ISI results using ISI's own data. Rossner et al published a further response in 2008: "Irreproducible results: a response to Thomson Scientific."
Journal Impact Factors: Key Resources
- Journal Citation Reports This link opens in a new window
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Reports ISI Thomson Reuters Journal Impact Factors - focus on the sciences
- EigenFACTORAlternative to ISI Thomson Reuters Journal Impact Factors - more comprehensive journal coverage