4. Contributing - WhereToPublish/WhereToPublish.github.io GitHub Wiki
| Wiki page | Description |
|---|---|
| About the Project | Goals, motivations and journal inclusion criteria |
| Using the Website | Column definitions and how to filter journals |
| The Data | Data sources and processing pipeline |
| Contributing | How to add journals, edit data, report issues, or contribute code |
Where to Publish? is a community-driven project. There are many ways to contribute, from sharing the website to adding data or code.
I. Share the project
Help spread awareness of sustainable publishing alternatives:
- Share the website with colleagues: wheretopublish.github.io
- Mention the project in conversations about where to publish
- Include Where to Publish? in lab meetings or journal clubs discussing publication ethics
- Link to us from your institutional open science resources
II. Add new journals
Know a journal that should be in our database?
📝 Submit a Journal via Google Form
You'll need to provide:
- Journal name
- Main scientific field
- Any additional information you have (publisher, website, etc.)
Scimago rank and quartile will be added automatically during our monthly data update. All submissions are reviewed by maintainers before inclusion.
III. Edit existing data
Found an error or outdated information?
📊 Edit the Database (Suggestion Mode)
- Open the Google Sheet
- Find the journal entry you want to correct
- Make your edit — it will be recorded as a suggestion
- Maintainers will review and approve valid changes
Please include a comment explaining why you're suggesting the change, especially for non-obvious corrections.
IV. Contact us
For questions, suggestions, or collaboration inquiries:
V. Report issues
Found a bug on the website? Have a feature request?
When reporting a bug, please include:
- A clear description of the problem
- Steps to reproduce the issue
- Your browser and operating system
- Screenshots if relevant
VI. Contribute to the code
Where to Publish? is open source. We welcome code contributions!
1. Getting started
- Fork the repository: github.com/WhereToPublish/WhereToPublish.github.io
- Read the developer documentation in the README
- Set up your local environment (see README for instructions)
- Make your changes on a feature branch
- Submit a pull request with a clear description of your changes
2. Areas where help is needed
- Improving mobile responsiveness
- Adding new data visualizations
- Enhancing accessibility
- Documentation improvements
- Bug fixes
Technical stack
- Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- Libraries: DataTables for interactive tables
- Data Processing: Python with Polars
- Hosting: GitHub Pages
See the README for detailed developer documentation.
VII. Decline reviews from for-profit journals
One way to support change in academic publishing is to decline review invitations from journals with unsustainable practices. Here's a template you can use:
"I thank you for your invitation. However, I need to decline it. I have a strict personal policy to check the publishing guidelines of the publishers I receive review invitations from. I consider that your journal has extremely high APCs that do not reflect the true cost of publishing. Money which is mostly public is rendering high profits. I do not agree this should be the case."
Feel free to adapt this text to your own voice and circumstances.