What Are Researchers’ Concerns: Submitting a Manuscript to an Unfamiliar Journal

Abstract

AbstractPublishing academic works can be regarded as an indispensable extension of researchers’ academic career. To find suitable journals for manuscript submission and to avoid the trap of predatory/questionable publishers, researchers need a large amount of information about the facts of publishing and conduct a comprehensive evaluation before submission. All information that the publisher discloses should address any concerns raised by researchers. As the information and level of journal disclosures affect researchers’ decision of submission, this paper takes their information needs on submitting manuscripts to publishers as the starting point, compares and contrasts the third edition of Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and explores the differences between the two. The results can serve as future guidelines for publishing information disclosure by scholarly publishers in the course of a paper’s submission.Keywords Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing Publishing information disclosureResearchers’ information needs