How to Develop Your Journal

Why are you developing a journal? It’s a seemingly simple question. However, when you sit down and try to write an answer to it, you might find it’s not so simple at all.

‘Why’ should be your first step and your guiding principle throughout your journal development. Identify the goal of the publication and what you actually want to achieve with it.

It’s important for you, your colleagues, and your authors to understand the mission of the journal and what goals you are working towards. Define what success looks like for you and how you are going to measure it. Your goal can be broken down into several smaller goals:

• Journal goal: What is the overall goal for this journal? What do you want to achieve with it? What problem does it solve?
• Annual goals: Together with your journal team, define what you want to achieve each year. This could be the number of issues you want to release, the number of special issues, improving the time to publication, improving citations and usage and so on.
• Issue goals: Every issue can have its own smaller goals as well. Maybe you want to increase the number of articles per issue, or you want to decrease rejection rates, o perhaps you want to attract new authors.

Setting clear goals and tracking them will allow you to work better with your team and offer you insights into what is working well and what areas might need more focus or resources.

Attracting a healthy supply of articles is one of the top priorities for any journal. But you also want to ensure that the articles that are being submitted are of high quality.

Volume alone isn’t a good measure of your journal’s quality. Publishing notable, high-quality research that addresses important and relevant topics is essential if you want your journal to be an authoritative publication in the field.

High-quality content will also attract more readers and can increase citations, which in turn can help you encourage more contributions from other authors.

There are a number of strategies you can employ in order to attract the right authors. Consider the top selection criteria for authors:

• Speed to publication: Authors want their research reviewed quickly and published without any delay.
• Visibility: Authors seek assurance that their research will reach a large global audience.
• High-quality authors: When looking for somewhere to publish, authors want to publish where their peers publish.
• Journal metrics and ranking: Some authors prefer to publish in journals that have a quality metric such as Impact Factor or are included in a ranking list, like SCOPUS, REPEC or PMC.

Commissioning

In addition to encouraging organic submissions, actively target and invite authors to publish in your journal. You may wish to target authors from a particular research institution or region, or authors working on a specific topic that would be of interest to your journal’s readers.

Here are some tips for identifying key authors:

• Explore speaker lists of leading conferences in your subject area as you may find emerging scholars, research topics, and trends.
• Identify highly cited authors in your field.
• Leverage tools like Dimensions to find articles with high Altmetric Attention Scores and their authors.
• Familiarize yourself with the research and authors being published in competing journals. There may be trends you can learn from.
• Your journal contact at De Gruyter Brill can support you in this work by providing supporting data and market insights.

For your journal to be a leading journal in the field, the research you publish must not only be of high quality but also pioneering in new and emerging areas. As the editor, it’s your role to identify key trends and topics and publish leading and groundbreaking research.

You may also at one point consider publishing a special issue dedicated to a new and emerging area, or on a topic that’s been dominating the field recently. Check out our guide on how to create a special issue.

Here are some hints and tips for identifying trends and topics:

• Attend conferences or study conference programs online to identify any themes or groundbreaking research being discussed.
• Subscribe to alerts from similar journals and any conferences or associations within the field. This will keep you informed of new research, discussions, and debates.
• If you work in an interdisciplinary area, reviewing research with cross-over can help with the exchange of ideas.
• Look outside academic research. Some trade publications can provide insights into trends that are seen in practice and offer ideas for new research areas.
• Ask for ideas and feedback from your editorial board.

Discuss your ideas with your journal contact at De Gruyter Brill. They can help by providing data and market insights

As the editor of a journal, it’s part of your role to appoint and manage an editorial board made up of experts in the field. The editorial board is critical for supporting you in building a successful journal.

The role of an editorial board member can vary by journal, so consider exactly what kind of support you need to develop your publication. Do you need help in reviewing papers? Are you looking for someone with good networking and marketing skills who can help grow the reach of your journal?

How your editorial board can assist you

Here are some ways your editorial board can assist you:

• Supporting you in reviewing papers and managing the peer-review process.
• Identifying trends and emerging areas for articles and special issues.
• Utilizing their networks to promote the journal and grow authorship.
• Providing advice on the development of the journal from a regional perspective.
• Representing different subject areas in the case of a multidisciplinary journal.
• Offer a new perspective from a different stakeholder group outside of academia.

Remember, you can always work with your journal contact at De Gruyter Brill to define the role of your editorial board members. When recruiting new members, ensure clear communication about what the role involves.

Diversity for a stronger editorial board

Your editorial board should be a diverse group of people representing the global research community. Consider the following when making your selection:

• Regional coverage
• Subject areas within your field
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion, including gender representation
• Stakeholder groups inside and outside of academia

Other things to consider when creating your editorial board

• Think about the expertise you need to help you achieve your goals for the journal.
• You may want to offer prospective board members a ‘term of service’ where they commit to a specific period, for example, two years. This could be more appealingto those with heavy workloads and time constraints, allowing you to refresh your board periodically. Recognize that more senior people may have limited time available to devote to the role, so consider recruiting people of all career levels. Early career researchers may have time and enthusiasm to be more active in the role and they represent the future leaders in the field.
• Ensure that the board is diverse and represents the global research community.

Once you have your editorial in place, you need to ensure that members are engaged and active in their roles. Here are some tips for managing and motivating this group.

1. Regular Meetings

Meet with your team frequently to discuss the journal. This could be an online meeting or could be in person, potentially at a conference that many are attending.

2. Progress Reports

Provide regular email updates on any progress or requests for activity in a particular area. Your journal contact at De Gruyter Brill can help to prepare these by providing statistics and relevant information.

3. Create an Open Environment

Create an open environment for sharing ideas and driving new initiatives forward. Make sure not only to allocate time for this, but to communicate often that new ideas or impulses are welcome.

4. Give Kudos

Review the contributions of your editorial board annually to inform any decisions you make about your team and to identify anyone who needs recognition and reward for their work. Showing appreciation can help motivate and strengthen your team.