Peer Reviewed Publication

Submitting a Research Article

There are a wide range of journals in the field of communication. Each one varies in terms of the types of scholarship typically published and in terms of acceptance rate. When deciding where to submit a manuscript, it is important to understand the fit between the manuscript and the journal. Some things to consider include the aims and goals of the journal, the types of articles typically published in the journal, word counts, and the impact factor of the journal.[Page 1209] The information about the aims and scope of an article can be found online at the journal website or in the front of a hard copy journal. For example, the Journal of Applied Communication Research (JACR) focuses on scholarship that blends theory and practice to advance understandings of communication in practical settings. JACR welcomes all theoretical and methodological approaches. If a journal is not open to multiple theoretical or methodological approaches, it will be clearly explained in the aims and scope section of the journal. For instance, Qualitative Research Reports only publishes scholarship that is qualitative or critical in nature. Once a scholar has determined fit, they need to make sure their manuscript adheres to the guidelines provided in the instructions for authors, which can also generally be found online. These instructions include information about the appropriate style with which to format the paper (e.g., APA or MLA) along with page and/or word limits. For JACR, the word limit is 10,000, including tables, references, and other materials. The word limit for Qualitative Research Reports is only 2,500 words.

The impact factor of the journal is the average number of times articles from that journal have been cited over the past 2 years. The higher the impact factor and rejection rate, the more prestigious the journal. It is more difficult to get published in journals with higher impact factors as the rejection rates are typically higher in those journals. However, in the tenure and review process for academics, publishing in more competitive journals is an important step toward achieving tenure.

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