Q. I want to submit my paper to be published in an academic journal. Any advice?

I suggest that you explore the library database entitled "Journal Citation Reports" that lists the most well-respected journals by subject. Also, look at this Subject Guide: Scholarly Research Impact Metrics and the other Subject Guide recommend at the end of this answer.

Here is a suggested publisher search in Journal Citation Reports for a paper written in the field of International Relations:

From the library's homepage under RESEARCH, click on Databases > J > Journal Citation Reports.  If you are off campus, you will be prompted to log on with your last name and the first 7 digits of your AU ID number.   

You will see:   Select an option:  View Journals by Subject Category  > Submit >

Scroll down and choose:  INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

You will see a list of over 80 top journals in that field.  I selected: Conflict Management and Peace Science as an example.  

I then "Googled" the journal to find out how to submit a manuscript.  I found a tab on the journal's website with all of the details for submission. 

You can also look through the other Subject Categories to find more journals. 

Here is some additional advice:

• Be certain that your paper is as perfect as possible.  No typos, no grammatical errors, no mistakes in the citations (double check all citations to be sure each is complete and correct.)  Please note that some journals have their own, unique citation format.  If the format is very different from the format you used, and you have many footnotes and a long bibliography, consider using the citation software Zotero (free) or EndNote (available to current AU students, faculty and staff.)
• Be sure that your paper complies exactly with the requirements of the journal.  Some of the requirements will seem very picky, but you must comply, or your paper will be automatically rejected.
• Read articles for advice on how to publish.  Make sure the articles are written by academic presses (avoid articles published by .com websites that are not academic publishers. Also look for academic professional organizations.)  Here are some suggestions: 

Publishing your first academic article

How to Get Your Journal Article Published - Sage Publications 
www.sagepub.com/.../63382_how_to_get_published.p... 

How to publish your journal paper 
www.apa.org/monitor/.../publish.asp... 

There is also the "open access" route to publishing.  For more information, take a look at the Scholarly Communication Subject Guide links below.