Is your publisher right for you?

Consider the quality of the journal

Academic promotions may hinge on journal quality, difficult though it is to assess; measurement systems include Impact Factor, which can be looked up in Journal Citation Reports, and EigenFactor. Journal Info gives a summary of quality and publishing practices for about 18,000 titles. Alternative publications may not yet have the same prestige as their traditional counterparts, but this can change as scholars support them in maintaining the traditional high standards of peer review.

Consider how widely the work can be read

The more accessible your work, the greater its potential impact. Some journals make their articles freely accessible, possibly after a defined delay period. Considering alternatives to traditional publishing models can increase your audience. Research suggests that Open Access [link to definition?] articles are read and cited at a higher rate (see, for example, Antelman, 2004), which highlights the fact that access barriers or lack of them determine whether research results are distributed as widely as intended.

Consider price

Another factor that can affect the accessibility of your work is price. Journals with high prices or other restrictions can only be read by those at institutions that can afford subscriptions. At one extreme, publishers set low subscription rates so as just to cover their minimized production costs. At the other, some publishers charge exorbitant prices to maximize their profit, forcing your library to buy back your research at high rates. There may be other factors at play, such as the use of subscription fees to support other society activities, but it is useful to check on the annual price or, more tellingly, the price per page to see where a journal fits in this range and if it offers good value for money.

Consider whether the author can share the article

A standard publication agreement may require the author to give all copyrights to the publisher; then the author may not be able to mount any version [link to definition?] of the article on his/her webpage, deposit it in an institutional repository, or give it to students for course reading. Authors can retain some or all of these rights by choosing publishers with more progressive agreements granting only non-exclusive publication rights. See More on Author's Rights.