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Academic Publishing: How It Works and Where You Fit

An introduction to the industry of academic publishing, how it came to be, and how it works now.

Academic Publishing

Academic (or scholarly) publishing shows the progress of a discipline and the current state of the work in that discipline.

This guide explains how the publishing process works for authors who seek to publish their research.

 

The Record of Research

Scholarly publishing involves a specific set of practices, largely based in Anglo-European scholarly tradition and greatly expanded upon in the research funding boom following World War II. In combination, these steps provide a structure through which knowledge is advanced and built upon:

  • The claiming of a research topic by the author(s) who are working on it;
  • The verification of the research being done through peer review;
  • The distribution and dissemination of the research through the published article; and
  • The preservation of the research for use in future advancement.

 

Note

Given the origination of these practices in the global North, it is important to recognize that the scholarly publishing system in operation today has historically privileged some knowledge and researchers over others.

Academic Publishing: Guides to the Field

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