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Journal Publishing Guide

Getting Started

Why Host Your Publication with Us

Launch your own professional, cost-effective journal or transfer your journal to our hosting platform.

  • Establish your own journal, proceedings or series in subject areas that are not well covered by commercial publishers
  • Disseminate your research and scholarship through an open access publishing model, reaching the widest possible audience
  • Utilize our publishing platform, Open Journal Systems, free to members of the Queen's Community.  It is an easy-to-use, web-based system which requires minimal technical expertise or hosting on your own server.

Our Service Model

Queen’s University Library will:

  • Host your journal with the Open Journal Systems (OJS) publishing system, located at: https://ojs.library.queensu.ca.
  • Provide initial support for Journal Managers and Editorial teams to set-up their serial publication or conference proceedings.
  • Support standard OJS configuration templates.
  • Help you explore the requirements for inclusion in subject-specific databases.  
  • Mint Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for articles published in your journal. See our DOIs & Your OJS Journal guide.
  • Provide system generated reports to journal teams when requested.
  • Provide advice on copyright permissions and licensing.
  • Provide advice and support on future preservation and archiving of journal content.
  • Act as the first line of contact for service related questions.
  • Discuss configuration options including the automatic assignment of author identifiers (ORCID) for journal authors.

The publisher (faculty member, student, department or unit represented by the journal manager(s)) will:

  • Manage the administration of the journal including all submissions, review and editing processes and workflows within the Open Journal Systems publishing system.
  • Develop and maintain all policies and guidelines relating to the journal such as Copyright; Peer Review; Privacy Statement; Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement; Permissions and Licensing etc.
  • Be responsible for the production and quality control of journal content.
  • Provide the library with advance notice of changes to the journal’s status (e.g. Journal stops publishing; Need to migrate; Updates to editorial board membership).
  • Undergraduate journals must designate a faculty sponsor, who would agree to maintain contact with the library and your editorial team.
  • Represent the journal editorial team in liaising with the library.
  • Present a plan or demonstrate the intent to set-up a serial publication or conference proceedings.

Set-Up a New Journal

Contact open.scholarship.services@queensu.ca to discuss your new publication. 

Before starting a new journal we ask each journal to submit a proposal. This template from the  University of Alberta may be useful as a model for your proposal. The proposal is a collaborative exercise and is meant to help us evaluate if the journal is ready for publication and identify if they are a good fit with our publishing program. We encourage each journal to contact us while preparing their proposal for a meeting and we can discuss our publishing program and answer any questions. 

These resources will give you a good overall idea of most of the major decisions points and tasks when starting up a new journal. We recommend reviewing at least one of them before starting your proposal.

  • The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) has a free 14-module video-based course “Becoming an Editor” that walks you through the major tasks required of an editor for a scholarly journal and how to analyze and solve common problems that may arise. This is also a good resource if you are a new editor for an existing journal.

  • The Open Access Journal Starter kit is a 20+ page PDF that will walk you through all the steps of starting a new journal and provides easy to read background information on open access publishing more generally. 

Publication Set-Up: Preliminary Steps

Things to consider before you establish your new publication:

  1. Standards in professional publishing: Review the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association), to ensure your planned journal meets professional standards
  2. Aim of the journal: Outline the focus, scope and target audience.
  3. Resources needed (staff, time, and funds): Consider the ongoing staff resource needed: e.g. Editorial Board; Reviewers; Copyeditors; Layout Editors; time commitments and any funds etc.The Library can provide guidance in this area.

Student Journal Advisors  

For new student journals, you are required to have at least one Faculty advisor (Professor) as a member of your team. The advisor role is meant to ensure there is both support and continuity for student journals, but the actual level of day-to-day involvement is something you will determine yourselves. Typical activities could include being available for questions, giving guidance and resources when needed, and potentially attending some editorial meetings. 

New journal checklist

Starting a new scholarly journal can be daunting, as there are many decisions and considerations to make before your first issue is published. Below is a checklist for prospective journal managers to consult when planning their new publication.