Academic Publishing Guide for Faculty and Researchers

Researcher profiles serve many functions, such as providing a list of published works, indicating areas of interest, and increasing the visibility of published work. Many publications will ask for a researcher profile at the time of manuscript submission, and if you are using a platform the publisher is affiliated with or provides citation information to, your profile will update automatically when your material is published. A list of researcher profile options are available below for information on the various researcher profiles that might be of interest to you. 

Sac State Scholars - the University Library is implementing Sac State Scholars as both a researcher profile portal and an online platform to access the research, scholarly, and creative materials created by faculty as Sac State. Please see this guide on Sac State Scholars for more information and to submit the necessary information to start your Sac State Scholars profile. 

Google Scholar - Google Scholar profiles provide excellent coverage for areas that are not well covered by other types of research profiles. Be aware that while this service is provided by Google, it may not be continued indefinitely and you must update and manage your own account. 

ORCID - This is a free researcher profile service that provides a universal, unique, digital ID that is recognized by various publishers around the world. It is encouraged for all researchers at Sacramento State to have an ORCID, please see our guide on ORCID for more information. 

ResearcherID - This is a profile offered by Web of Science, and is accessible via Publons. This allows you to track, add, and manage your citations in Web of Science. 

Scopus Author Profile - This profile is offered by Scopus, an Elseiver database, and can be connected to your ORCID for easy updating. Sacramento State does not subscribe to Scopus, however the author search is a free service and you can create an account and connect your ORCID for free. Your Scopus Author profile will have your H-Index provided. 

Please note, the PubMed Author ID project has been discontinued. 

Here are some things to consider when deciding which journal to submit your manuscript too:

• Is the journal a predatory journal?
  • Here is more information on predatory journals and conferences
• Does the journal's scope statement reflect the work you have described (or will describe) in your manuscript? 
  • Most scope statements can be found on the journal's homepage
• Is there a call for papers that reflects your research? 
• Is this a journal with an impact factor that I am comfortable with? 
  • Impact factors is a measure of the frequency with which the average article in a journal has been cited in a given time frame. There are different types of impact factors, generally decided by who creates the impact factor. 
• Are there requirements for data management plans? 
• Are there any copyright restrictions I should be aware of?