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This post aims to detail publications that may be interested in pieces from librarians, and their requirements. There are a wide variety of journals and magazines that you might wish to publish in. Each will have differing criteria on scope of topics, length of article, style (e.g. conversational or academic), peer review requirements, referencing format etc. This alphabetical list may not be exhaustive but will hopefully act as a good starting point.
Being rejected by one publication does not mean that your article is no good, just that it doesn’t fit with the style or theme of the particular publication. Try to get feedback on your submission to help you understand whether you need to make any changes to resubmit, or just approach another title.
It is possible that a journal may ask you to pay an Article Publishing Charge to publish in their title, but many of those listed will not. If an APC is required you can choose to go elsewhere, or investigate whether your institution or college/department would be willing to fund the charge to get you published.
With thanks to Liz Osman, Fellow Librarian, Homerton College, Cambridge for compiling this information.
Magazines
Ariadne – http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/
Web magazine for information professionals, covering all subjects likely to be of interest to librarians, curators, archivists etc.
Full submission guidelines – http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/guidelines/
College & Research Libraries News – https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews
Official news magazine and publication of record of the Association of College & Research Libraries, providing articles on the latest trends and practices affecting academic and research libraries.
Full submission guidelines – https://crln.acrl.org/index.php/crlnews/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
Information Professional – https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/magazine CILIP’s professional magazine. Opportunities for 1-3 page features.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/ContributingInformationProfessional
Journals
Aslib Journal of Information Management – https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/2050-3806
Areas of interest include topics such as social media, data protection, search engines, information retrieval, digital libraries, information behaviour, intellectual property and copyright, information industry, digital repositories and information policy and governance.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=AJIM
College & Research Libraries – https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/index
Journal of the Association of College & Research Libraries (part of the ALA). Covers all fields of interest and concern to academic and research libraries.
Full submission guidelines – https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
Communications in Information Literacy – https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit/
Journal devoted to advancing research, theory, and practice in the area of information literacy in higher education.
Full submission guidelines – https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/comminfolit/policies.html
Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice – https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eblip/index.php/EBLIP
EBLIP publishes original research and commentary on the topic of evidence based library and information practice, as well as reviews of previously published research (evidence summaries) on a wide number of topics.
Full submission guidelines – https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/eblip/index.php/EBLIP/guidelines
Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication – https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/acronym/GKMC
Publishes contemporary research and practice which explores the way that people and organisations interact in the digital information environment.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=GKMC
Information and Learning Sciences – https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/acronym/ILS
Publishes inter-disciplinary research that explores scholarly intersections shared within 2 key fields: information science and the learning sciences / education sciences.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=ILS
Insights – https://insights.uksg.org/
The journal of UKSG.
Tips on getting published, from the editors – https://academicwritinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-tips-from-insight-editors-on.html#.XhhUb_ynyUl
Full submission guidelines – https://insights.uksg.org/about/submissions/
Journal of Academic Librarianship – https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship
Publishes articles that focus on problems and issues relevant to college and university libraries.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.elsevier.com/journals/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/0099-1333/guide-for-authors
Journal of Documentation – https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0022-0418
Focusses on theories, concepts, models, frameworks and philosophies related to documents and recorded knowledge.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=JD
Journal of Information Literacy – https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/jil/
Publishes articles which push the boundaries of information literacy thinking in theory, practice and method, and which aim to develop deep and critical understandings of the role, contribution and impact of information literacies in everyday contexts, education and the workplace.
Full submission guidelines – https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JIL/about/submissions
Journal of Librarianship and Information Science (JOLIS) – https://journals.sagepub.com/home/lis
A peer-reviewed international quarterly journal for librarians, information scientists, specialists, managers and educators interested in keeping up to date with the most recent issues and developments in the field.
Full submission guidelines – https://journals.sagepub.com/author-instructions/LIS
Library Management – https://www.emerald.com/insight/publication/issn/0143-5124
Publishes articles of interest to senior library managers and academics.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=LM
Library Philosophy and Practice – https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/
Publishes articles exploring the connection between library practice and the philosophy and theory behind it. These include explorations of current, past, and emerging theories of librarianship and library practice, as well as reports of successful, innovative, or experimental library procedures, methods, or projects in all areas of librarianship, set in the context of applied research.
Full submission guidelines – https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/instructions.html
Advice for authors – https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/advice.html
Library Trends – https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/library-trends
Each issue explores critical trends around a particular theme. See the call for papers to check what the next theme will be – https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/library-trends/calls-papers-1
Full submission guidelines – https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/library-trends/author-instructions
New Review of Academic Librarianship – https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/racl20/current
Publishes reviews, research, critiques and exemplar case studies on substantive topics relevant to those providing library and information services to academic communities.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=racl20
Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education – https://noril.uib.no/
Publishes articles that contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between research-based knowledge and learning processes in Higher Education, and teaching practices within the field of information literacy. Submissions can be in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish.
Full submission guidelines – https://noril.uib.no/about/submissions
Reference & User Services Quarterly (online only) – https://journals.ala.org/index.php/rusq
Official journal of the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association. Its purpose is to disseminate information of interest to reference librarians, information specialists, and other professionals involved in user-oriented library services.
Full submission guidelines – https://journals.ala.org/index.php/rusq/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
SCONUL Focus – https://www.sconul.ac.uk/page/sconul-focus
SCONUL’s practitioner journal, for sharing experience and best practice between institutions. Writing for FOCUS provides an opportunity to raise the profile of interesting projects and to practice writing for publication.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.sconul.ac.uk/page/sconul-focus-guidance-for-authors
The Library Quarterly – https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/lq/current
Publishes contemporary issues impacting libraries and librarianship and the role of libraries in communities and in society.
Full submission guidelines – https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/lq/instruct