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This guide provides information, tools, and services to support University of Houston researchers, faculty, and students throughout the scholarly publishing process. University of Houston Libraries provides guidance and resources across the full publishing lifecycle, including:

  • Identifying and evaluating journals—both traditional and open access—for publishing your work
  • Using preprint servers to share manuscripts and increase early visibility
  • Retaining and regaining your rights as an author, including how to navigate publisher agreements
  • Maximizing the reach and impact of your work by making publications openly and freely available

We can also work with you to provide workshops for your class, lab, or department on any of these topics. You may contact designated Librarians or Xiao Zeng, Open Publishing Librarian, for more information.

For related topics and other research services, visit UH Libraries Research Services.

Overview of the Publishing Lifecycle

The scholarly publishing process often follows these stages:

  1. Creation: Developing research questions, designing studies, collecting data, analyzing results, and drafting manuscripts.
  2. Evaluation: Undergoes scrutiny by peers (e.g., peer review) or editors to ensure quality and integrity.
  3. Publication: Copyediting and formatting the manuscripts to meet the journal or publisher guidelines.
  4. Dissemination and Access: Distribute published scholarly outputs in print or online to maximize the reach, visibility, and usability of your work.
  5. Preservation: Ensuring the long-term availability and integrity of your works by archiving copies or versions in trusted digital repositories.
  6. Reuse: Published works become part of future scholarship, teaching, and innovation materials.

Types of Scholarly Publishing

There are several models and formats of scholarly publishing:

  • Traditional publishing: Typically involves access through subscription-based journals or presses, with the publisher holding most rights.
  • Open Access (OA): Makes your research freely available to all readers, increasing discoverability, citation potential, and social impact.
  • Hybrid publishing: Traditional journals offering an OA option for individual articles, typically for an additional fee (APC), while the rest of the journal remains behind a paywall.
  • Self-publishing & Institutional repository (IR): Authors may distribute their work independently using platforms like institutional repositories or academic networks.