Journal Publishing Guide

The following provides information on indexing, as well as best practices for dissemination and using social media for your journal. If you are a UAL journal and are interested in exploring indexing your journal in new platforms, please contact library.publishing@ualberta.ca

Social media plays an important role in promoting journals. These days, more and more journals are adopting different social media channels for creating an online community for journals. However, planning is the key to a prosperous online community, and to reach the target audience and make an impact online, it is necessary to have a well-planned social media strategy. This social media guide aims to support journal editors in marketing their journals and use it as a reference as they expand their audience.

This guide covers, social media policies, content plans, platforms, and uses of social media.

Tips for drafting social media posts:

• Engage related accounts whenever possible (e.g. by tagging related journals, institutions, public policy units, colleges, departments, authors, subject groups, or other individuals)
• Always include a live link (not just text DOI)
• Hashtags are handy, but should be used very deliberately (use correct spelling, no overloading, hit main target, not too broad, not too niche)
• Include photo whenever possible
• Consider splitting sentences so there's more negative space in readers' feeds (break up text & link, use multiple short paragraphs)

(J. Mah, UAL Communications Team, October 2023)