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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 characteristics that have been developed over time and, in combination, provide a structure through which knowledge is advanced and built upon. This structure includes:

  • 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.

However, as these steps originated in Europe and have been imported and further developed in the U.S., 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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