Publish Your Research

Publishing your work as an undergraduate or graduate student can help develop your research and writing skills and introduce you to the scholarly publishing process. As a researcher, you have an opportunity to advocate for a topic that is missing from the scholarly conversation and share your own unique findings. Publishing can also help you prepare for applying to a graduate program, fellowship, or job. In this guide you will find information that can help you with various stages of the publishing process. 

Here are a few tips to help you get started with publishing your research. 

1. Find a journal that is a good match.
   • What journals accept student research submissions? 
   • Select a journal that is most aligned with your research interests. Is there a disciplinary focus or is the journal multidisciplinary?
   • Find the journal website and learn as much as you can about its purpose. 
   • Review the journal scope. Look at a few articles that are already published in that journal, do they align with your research interests/topic? Do you like the readability and access of the journal?
      
2. Understand the journal's submission requirements.  
   • Review the journal submission guidelines. Whether you are writing a proposal or a complete work to submit to the editors, make sure your work is formatted according to the journal requirements. 
   • Is there a required citation style?
   • Identify submission deadlines.
   • Do submissions require that you have a faculty mentor? (See more on Finding a Research Mentor page.)
      
3. Contact a librarian for help with the submission process. 
   • ​​​​​​​CSULA has librarians dedicated to each subject area. Contact a librarian with any questions you have about the research and submission process. 
   • Consider submitting your work to ScholarWorks @ Cal State LA, an open-access institutional repository that helps preserve your work and increase its visibility. 

Once you have completed a draft of your manuscript and selected a journal you want to publish in, you now have to go through the publication and review process. If the journal is peer reviewed, and depending on the type of review the journal uses, the publication process can take anywhere from weeks to months. The University of Auckland has some helpful graphics breaking down the publishing process.

Peer Review Process

University of Auckland - How do I publish in a journal?

Publishing Timeline

University of Auckland - How do I publish in a journal?