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 AU Library Researchers Publishing

Publishing

  • - a guide to the publishing process

Be guided through the entire publishing process, step by step. From the initial preparations to making your research visible.

Find practical advice as well as important resources and tools to help you choose a publishing channel, prepare and submit your manuscript, manage rights, and make your research visible to a wider audience.

Need help?

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact the liaison librarian associated with your field, who will be happy to assist you with your questions.

Alternatively, you are always welcome to contact your local library.  

1. Preparation and Planning

Digital Methods and Tools

Use digital tools to support your research and writing, such as reference management tools, programming (R, Python), transcription software (Whisper and Transcriber), analysis software (NVivo), and screening tools (Covidence).

Data Management

Plan how to collect, store, and publish your data. Some funders require a Data Management Plan that describes how you will handle your data.

Co-authors and Collaboration Agreements

Create a clear, written agreement with your co-authors. In most cases, a formal agreement is not necessary. An email that everyone responds to is often enough to avoid misunderstandings.

  • Clarify, for example, with your co-authors:
    • Are you allowed to use the article in your PhD dissertation?
    • Are you allowed to publish a preprint version, e.g., in Pure?
    • Should you assign the article a specific Creative Commons license?
    • Are you allowed to publish the article or dissertation commercially?
  • Check the journal's guidelines on authorship.
  • Resources

2. Choosing a Publication Channel

Where Should I Publish My Research?

The choice of publication channel (journal, book, conference, etc.) depends on whom you want to reach with your research. Consider from the outset who you want as your target audience - both academically and more broadly.

  • Check channels that publish similar research:
    Which journals, books, or conferences do you and your colleagues read?
  • Ask for advice:
    Talk to your supervisor or colleagues about which channels are best suited for your project.
  • Consider multiple options:
    It makes sense to have several channels in mind so you can adjust if your first choice doesn’t work out.
  • Read more about choosing a publication channel on PhD on Track – Where to Publish.

Impact and journal indicators

There are many different metrics, or journal indicators, for comparing the impact of journals. Often, the metric is based on a calculation of the number of publications in a specific period compared to the number of citations. These methods are often criticized for not always reflecting research quality or credibility and should therefore be used with caution.

Open Access

Publishing Open Access makes your research accessible to everyone and increases visibility. Some funders, such as the EU, require you to publish Open Access. Aarhus University also has its own Open Access policy. There are several pathways to Open Access, depending on where you publish:

  • Gold Open Access: The article is freely available on the journal's website, often for a fee (APC - Article Processing Charge).
  • Hybrid Open Access: You can choose Open Access in a subscription-based journal for a fee (APC).
  • Diamond Open Access: The article is freely available without payment from the author or reader.
  • Green Open Access: You upload the accepted manuscript to an open repository such as Pure (often after an embargo period) and make it available as Open Access this way.
  • Resources:

Avoid Predatory Journals

If you wish to publish in an Open Access journal, you should be aware that there are also questionable (’predatory’) publishers and journals.

3. Manuscript Preparation

The Writing Process

Academic writing requires practice and support. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources that can ease the process.

Your choice of title and keywords, as well as the formulation of your abstract, can significantly affect how visible and searchable your article becomes after publication. Therefore, it is worth considering whether your choice of keywords is optimal for making you searchable within the field you wish to address. It may be a good idea to test the keywords you have chosen in a search to see if the results yield articles similar to yours.

Reference Management

A reference management tool like Mendeley, Endnote, or Zotero can both streamline your writing process and help you ensure that your references are accurate. AU Library offers courses in both Endnote and Zotero and can also assist you with questions regarding the use of these tools.

  • Find a course.
  • Read more about reference management.
  • Always check the journal's guidelines for reference standards and whether there are any deviations you need to consider.
  • Certain journals and fields may have more customized referencing systems than the standard ones like APA and Chicago. Consider contacting your liaison librarian regarding how to best accommodate this.

Textuality and Plagiarism

More and more journals have begun to implement screening software, such as Crossref Similarity Check, which screens articles for textual similarity with other texts, thus identifying potential plagiarism. There may be legitimate reasons for textual similarity to occur in an article, such as paraphrasing, quotes, and references. Therefore, you will often receive a screening report with the opportunity to revise or justify any instances of textual similarity.

Submission and Formatting Requirements

Follow the journal's guidelines for submission and formatting.

  • Find guidelines under headings like “Submission Guidelines,” “Author Guidelines,” or “Writing Instructions” on the journal's website.

The following describes a typical process for submitting a manuscript:

  • Manuscript completion and formatting
  • Submission via email or online system
  • Indication of material type
  • Peer review and acceptance
  • Contract signing

Acceptance or Rejection

It is completely normal to receive a rejection for an article—even for experienced researchers. When you submit an article to a scientific journal, it is first evaluated by the editorial team. If they determine that the article does not fit the journal, you may receive a quick rejection (a so-called desk rejection). Other times, the article is sent on for peer review, where it can also be rejected based on the review reports.

If you receive a rejection, remember that it is a natural part of the publication process. Have a Plan B (and perhaps C, D, and E) ready so you can quickly submit the manuscript to another journal.
Many journals publish their acceptance rates—i.e., the proportion of submitted articles that are accepted.

4. Peer Review and Rights

Peer Review

When your article is submitted and the editorial team decides to proceed with it, it will be evaluated by peers—a process called peer review. The purpose of peer review is to ensure the quality of the research before it is published.
There are several models for peer review, depending on the field and tradition. The most common are:

  • Double Anonymized Peer Review: Both the author and the reviewer are anonymous to each other. Only the editorial team knows their identities. The purpose is to ensure an objective and fair process.
  • Single Anonymized Peer Review: The reviewer knows the author's identity, but not vice versa. Here, the reviewer can comment anonymously. In rare cases, the roles may be reversed.
  • Open Peer Review: There is no anonymization—both the author and the reviewer know each other's identities, and the review report may, in some cases, be published. The purpose is to create more transparency in the process and to ensure better communication since one cannot 'hide' behind anonymity.

The peer review process can also vary depending on whether it is internal or external, and how many reviewers are involved.

Read more about peer review.

Copyright and Publisher Contracts

As a researcher at a university, you generally retain the copyright to the articles, books, figures, tables, etc., that you produce in connection with your research. However, when you publish your research, you will often be asked to enter into a publishing contract with the publisher. A publishing contract defines the rights to the publication of your work.

  • The so-called moral rights are always retained by you as the author, meaning the right to be recognized and credited as the author.
  • The so-called economic rights, on the other hand, need to be transferred to some extent, as this gives the publisher permission to publish and distribute your article.

On AU Library's page about copyright for researchers, you can read more about:

Read more about copyright for academics at UBVA (in Danish).

5. Visibility of Research

ORCID: Unique Researcher ID

ORCID is a unique, digital researcher ID that ensures your research is always associated with you—even if you change your name, workplace, or publish in different contexts. With an ORCID iD, you can consolidate all your publications and research activities in one place, making it easier for collaborators, journals, and funding agencies to identify you.
Aarhus University recommends that you, as a researcher, create an ORCID iD.

Pure: Registration and Visibility

When you register your publications in Pure, AU’s research database, you make your research visible and searchable for others. By uploading Open Access versions of your articles where possible, you also increase accessibility and meet any requirements from funding agencies.
As an employee at AU, you are required to register your publications in Pure, which is used to collect, maintain, and showcase research from Aarhus University.

Impact and Bibliometrics

There are several ways to measure your academic impact, and bibliometric indicators are often used in this context. These indicators can provide insight into how much your research influences and is used by others, but they should always be interpreted with care.

  • Citations: For publications that are searchable in Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar, it is possible to see how many citations your publications have received, and it is possible to calculate the controversial H-index for you as an author.
  • Altmetrics: Alternative metrics that show how much attention your publications receive on social media, research platforms, and in news media. This can include the number of downloads, likes, shares, or mentions.
  • Read more about bibliometrics.

Bibliometric methods and indicators are often criticized for not always accurately reflecting research quality or impact, especially across different fields. They should therefore be used as a supplement to qualitative assessments and not as the sole metric for impact.

Publishing Data and the FAIR Principles

By publishing your data, you enable other researchers to verify and build upon your results, which strengthens trust in research and promotes scientific development.
Consider publishing data as open as possible:

  • Check the journal's or publisher's guidelines for data sharing and documentation.
  • Be aware of data protection (GDPR), especially if your data includes personal information. Read about data protection at AU.

Try to make your data FAIR:

  • Findable: Data should be easy to find for both humans and machines.
  • Accessible: Data should be accessible to those who need it.
  • Interoperable: Data should be able to be exchanged and combined with other data.
  • Reusable: Data should be well-documented and ready for reuse by others.

Read more about the FAIR principles and data management on AU Library's website about data management.

Revised 13.01.2026
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Jesper Kikkenborg Rossel