Scholarly Communication

Scholarly communication can be defined as the system through which research and other scholarly writings are created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the scholarly community, and preserved for future use. This guide provides resources to help the University of Calgary research community navigate the scholarly communication ecosystem.  

Play the scholarly publishing game! This interactive adventure takes you through a scenario explaining many of the choices authors need to consider when submitting a manuscript for publication.

There are many things to consider when choosing a venue to publish your work: you want to ensure a good fit, a broad reach, and significant impact.  Publishing in Open Access journals can be an effective way to retain rights over your work, comply with funder mandates, and increase the impact of your scholarship.  However, it is the responsibility of individual researchers to carefully evaluate the reputation of a journal and its publisher before submitting an article for publication, or agreeing to provide peer review services.

This page features tools and guides to help you evaluate issues such as fit, impact factor, and reputability of scholarly journals.  Please also consult the predatory publishing page to ensure that you're submitting your work to a legitimate venue.

Did you know that the University of Calgary publishes journals that specifically seek to feature undergraduate authors?

• The University of Calgary Journal of Undergraduate Research and inquiry: connecting the scholarship of UCalgary’s most innovative undergraduate researchers with the world
• Journal of Undergraduate Research in Alberta: publishing and promoting research articles written by undergraduate students with the undergraduate student as the primary author

American University's School of International Service keeps a list of a variety of publications that publish undergraduate research.