Research & Data Management Services: Publish

Why do you need a unique identifier? 

A unique identifier is necessary as a researcher in order to:

• Link together all of your scholarly production, including (but not limited to) publications, presentations, and grant funding.
• Distinguish you from other researchers with similar names.
• Make it easier for other researchers, funding agencies, potential employers and others to easily discover you and your scholarly work.
• Clearly attribute your research output to you.
• Journal publishers and conference organizers often ask for your ORCID id when you submit your work to them.

The ORCID id is the gold standard in unique identifiers for researchers. 

ORCID is a non-profit organization which maintains a registry of unique and persistent researcher identifiers. ORCID stands for "open researcher and contributer identifier". 

Registering for an ORCID id is free and only takes a few minutes. Go to https://orcid.org/ and click "Sign In/Register" at the top right.

This video explains more about why you might want an ORCID id: What is ORCID?

This link will take you to a set of video tutorials on how to set up an ORCID id: Tutorials

MTSU's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) offers faculty a $500 annual grant to cover the cost of fees associated with making one's publication open access. This financial assistance can be used towards the open access fees of: 

• Journal Articles 
• Monographs
• Edited Volumes
• Book Chapters

To apply for this grant, got to https://mtsu.edu/research/forms.php and under the section for ORSP Forms, click on Peer-Reviewed Journal/Creative Activity Authorization Form. 

Walker Library subscribes to a database called Cabells Journalistics which has the following benefits to researcherss:

• Allows you to search over 11,000 academic journals to find a suitable journal for your manuscript.
• There are several ways to search including by:
  • Discipline,
  • Peer-review type (blind, double-blind, editorial/open),
  • Open access journals.
• Journalytics gives you valuable information about the journal including:
  • Acceptance rate,
  • Time to review,
  • Word length requirements of submissions, and prefered citation format. 

As a researcher, you will need to be informed about the different standards for metrics that exist to evaluate the scholarly impact of your work. Here are several guides:

Elsevier: Quick Reference

Elsevier: Research Metrics Guidebook

Taylor & Francis: Understanding Research Metrics