Whether we are new to librarianship or have many years in journal publishing, there is always something new to learn. We had the opportunity to get more insights about publishing in journals this spring. The ALAO Research and Publications Committee facilitated a panel webinar on May 2, 2024 to discuss scholarly publishing in journals, including best practices to get manuscripts accepted for publication. Five panelists who represented five journals were guided by questions provided by the Sarah Nagle. The journals represented were the Library Hi Tech, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, College & Research Libraries, Journal of Academic Librarianship, and the Journal of Agricultural & Food Information. The open forum was successful, with 41 registrants and 23 attendees. The library publishing experts provided practical advice on preparing, submitting, and publishing our work such as ensuring that librarian authors carefully read the guidelines or policies and the importance of the methodology section. Some noteworthy highlights included:

• Make sure your manuscript is anonymous. This will make it easier for the editors to prepare your manuscript for review.
• Make sure the focus and scope of the journal is aligned with the topic of your work. Explain the context appropriately and its broad implication(s). Try to explain context more generally, especially for international publications.
• Consider including a cover letter with your manuscript. This gives you an opportunity to explain why your work is important and include other details not included in the manuscript. Don’t assume that people see your topic as you do!
• Communicate! When there are questions, contact the editor(s). They love when authors reach out!
• Remember to synthesize the literature review. The literature review should not be just descriptive.
• Several panelists recommended becoming a peer reviewer. This is an excellent way to improve our writing.
• For theoretical work, use “your voice”

Resources shared:
ACRL’s College & Research Libraries Guide for Authors & Reviewers: https://acrl.libguides.com/CRLguide

–Marilia Antúnez, The University of Akron