Before you start your research and writing, it is worth thinking about where you are going to publish. Contemplating this early means you can look at the requirements of the journal, assess the formatting and referencing styles and understand your responsibilities as an author in terms of protocols and data management. This ensures you will be well-prepared when you start the submission process.

Think about these points when choosing a journal:

• Where do you read?
  • What is the readership and audience?
  • Is it suitable for your research?
• Ask your supervisor for the quality journals in your field.
• Check the aims and scope of the journal:
  • Read the information for authors e.g. MJA instructions for authors 
  • Check the different types of articles, formats and lengths accepted by the journal
  • Check acceptance rates and the time it takes to publish
  • Requirements and copyright – can you make the article available through CRO? See our CRO Guidelines.
• Note that the Australian Research Council (ARC) has an open access policy that requires:
  • All 'research outputs' should be open access within 12 months of publication
  • A repository record with publication details (title, authors, etc.) must be public within 3 months of publication.

See Finding the Right Journal for more details.

By thinking about this early you can avoid realising you need to share your data but didn't ask for participant's permission.

• What ethical approvals do you need? See Charles Sturt's Human Research Ethics.
• Get Data Sharing statements and permissions early. Data Sharing is increasingly part of the Open Research Discussion and there is more information in our Research Data Management guide. 
• Evidence of consent (case studies) - NSW Health Consent Toolkit, WHO's Research Ethics Review Committee or NHMRC Ethics and Resources
• IP forms and permission - Charles Sturt's Intellectual Property Policy will be useful.

Discuss this early in the writing process!

• Authorship guidelines vary for each journal
• First author generally does most of the work
• Last author is often the supervisor
• Corresponding author deals with the publisher and is the author used for Read and Publish agreements
• All authors should have an ORCID

Below are some resources to assist you in choosing a title, writing the abstract and using the best keywords.

• How to pick the best keywords for a journal article - think about what keywords/phrases your audience might search for. You can use tools such as Scopus and Web of Science to perform your own test searches to see what articles are selected based on your proposed article title. Then use the keywords and phrases in the title, and repeatedly in the abstract. It will help to make the paper more discoverable by search engines. 
• Tips on writing a research paper title - includes resources for further reading
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for research articles - a guide to choosing a good title and keywords for your paper and promoting your article from Taylor and Francis
• Top tips to make your article visible - a guide from Elsevier that explains how choosing a title and keywords carefully can make your article more discoverable.
• SEO optimization for research articles - a guide to choosing effective titles and keywords for your article from Wiley.
• Fundamentals of manuscript preparation - An online module from the Elsevier Research Academy which provides an introduction to the publishing process including how to structure an article and tips on writing an abstract.