There are other happy questions that a graduate or undergraduate student may ask a librarian at the Thammasat University Libraries. For example:

What journal should I send my research to?

While this is a complex question, we may immediately suggest:

Your ajarns will know best.

The supervisors for a thesis will be expert in any subject that a thesis deals with. If the research is a paper for an undergraduate class, an ajarn will know if it is original enough to be published in an international journal. Also, the ajarns will be familiar with the publications in their field, and may have published their own articles in them. They will have an idea what journal is most suited for any student paper. If the student wants to learn more independently about the journals available, we should encourage them. If research is published in a journal that is not appropriate, it may be overlooked. We may ask:

Who do you want to be the readers of your research?

Should they be scientists? Social scientists? Every Faculty has different divisions. It is not enough to look at economics journals if the subject of research is in economics. Is the research in Environmental Economics, Developmental Economics, Business Economics, Monetary Economics, Financial economics, Labor economics, Economic history, or International economics? It is worth taking the time to classify the subject of study to know which type of journal will be most interested in it. The next step will also take a little time, but it is worth doing. We may ask the student:

How many journals do you look at in your field of study?

Most students read separate articles online rather than in a printed journal, for convenience. When thinking of publishing, it can be helpful to look carefully at a recent printed journal, before deciding to send an article for consideration. By looking at a printed journal, we can get an idea about it as a publication. We will see what kind of material appears in the journal, how long the articles, and what the subjects deal with. We also see what the abstracts look like and other details. Just spending some time looking at recent issues of journals in the student’s field of study can save a lot of time later. Each journal has on its website a list of Instructions for Contributors.   This explains a lot about what type of research they are after. We may advise the student:

Look at the list of names on the editorial board of the journal. Do you recognize any of them?

If there are well-known researchers in the field, this suggests that the journal is probably a serious one. If the student is not familiar with a publication, and wants to make sure it is a valid one, it is always a good idea to check to make sure that the ajarns listed on the editorial board are aware that their names are listed there. Sometimes what are called predatory journals list the names of famous researchers as members of the editorial board without asking for the approval of the researchers first, who are not aware they are listed. One way to find out would be to write to a member of the editorial board before sending in an article to be considered for publication. Ask if they think this would be appropriate for the publication. Naturally, all of this preparation will take time. It is always helpful to suggest to the student:

Be patient. It takes time to get published.

It may be months before articles or books are thoroughly considered and approved or not. So it is worth taking a few extra steps before sending in materials, just to avoid having to wait for a negative response. If the student is hoping to publish an entire thesis as a book, many of the same approaches are valid. Publishers list the ajarn or editor in charge of a series of publications about any topic. It is best to write to that person to find out whether the subject of the thesis and its contents would be a good fit for the publisher. They should know right away if it is not. If they ask to see more materials, that is an encouraging sign. Avoid any journal or publisher who demands money. Those tend to be predatory publishers who will publish anything if they are paid for it. That means that publication by them is worthless, since there is no effort made to publish only the best material.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)