Introduction to how journals and other research publications work?
what does impact factor mean


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_factor


  how important is this metric 


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4150161/


  who has the right of distributing the
  article considering I want my research to be publicly and freely
  available


The publisher is typically granted sole distribution rights, with exceptions for distribution via personal websites and sites such as arXiv


  what is general process of writing and review


That's been answered elsewhere on this forum.