This is the page you are looking at https://awandahl.github.io/choosing_journal/

This is a support page and tool box for the “Choosing a Journal” workshop.

Anders Wändahl email: aw@kth.se

Why should you do this?

You will eventually arrive to a well motivated decision of a journal where to send your manuscript and you can - with pride - say something like…

“I have choosen to submit to the “International Journal of Fracture” because it is perfect for my topic, they accept the kind of article I have written, the metrics of the journal seems to be fairly good in comparison to other journals in the same field, the journal is covered by the major databases in my field, there is an Open Access option and the APC will be covered by the KTH library, the turn-around-time and acceptance rate seems fairly decent and my supervisor is also happy about my decison. By checking all aspects of this journal I also know that it isn’t among the shady journals that sometimes are called predatory.”

When submitting, you can also clearly state why your manuscript fits the scope of the journal in the cover letter. _____

0. Follow the publishing tradition at your department or in your research group:

Usually there is a very good reason why many of your colleagues publish in the same journals again and again. The obvious reason for this is that these journals are specialized forums for exactly the topics that you are investigating. Most of the experts in the field may use the same venue, and you or your supervisor may even know the editors personally. These journals are places for relevant scientific conversations. We can call this “publishing in the comfort zone”.

1. Find a candidate based on topic/subject, article type and study type:

The aim is to enter an abstract, and possibly a title and some keywords into a database and get examples of journals that has published in similar topics before.

Read About the Journal (Aims & scope) - Read Instructions for Authors

General non publisher-specific databases:

Publisher specific:

2. Check coverage/indexing in major bibliographic databases (database indexing)

The aim is to check that my journal is covered in as many databases as possible. The reason for this is that you really want to findable and visible by your colleagues. If you know that your colleagues use a specific database when they look for information in your topic, then make sure that your upcoming article will be included in that source. The information about the specific databases that cover a specific journal is called “database indexing” in librarian lingo.

General databases:

Subject specific:

Analytical Abstracts

Art & Architecture Complete

Chemical Abstracts/SciFinder

EconLit

Ei Compendex (find excel-sheet on page)

ERIC

GEOBASE (find excel-sheet on page)

GeoRef

Inspec

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts

MEDLINE/PubMed

Materials Science & Engineering Database

MathSciNet
Click on the journals tab

zbMATH

3a. Check journal ranking in your subject

The aim is to compare different journals in terms of the average number of citations received. This is called the Impact Factor in common language.

CWTS Journal Indicators

Journal Citations Reports

Scimago Journal & Country Rank

Scopus Sources

“Norwegian list”

3b. Check conference ranking in your subject

The aim is to compare different conferences in terms of different “impact” scores.

Scopus Sources

Conference Rank

4. Check the Open Access options

The aim is to check wether the journal you have in mind has any option for Open Access publishing (OA). To publish OA has become the norm and most research funders require that your research results is in the open, for everyone to read.

5. Check the funders’ and journals’ Research Data requirements

The aim is to find out if your research funder has any special research data requirements. Some journals and publishers also have demands when it comes to accompanying data. One very basic requirement is that you at least should have a plan for how you handle your data, a so called Data Management Plan (DMP).

6. Check Acceptance Rate, Turn-Around-Time, Peer Review and editorial policies

The aim is to find the average time it takes from the moment you submit your manuscript to the first decision, possible acceptance and finally real publication. Another number that is of interest is the likeliness that your manuscript is accepted, the so called acceptence rate. The acceptance rate is usually much lower in high ranking journals. It’s also useful to know a little about the peer-review process.

Read About the Journal (Aims & scope) - Read Instructions for Authors

Peer review

Editorial policies

7. Publication ethics

Define the roles! Are all authors really “authors”? There are other ways to contribute to a journal article than being an author:
CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy)

Beware of salami slicing: “If I have several results on one topic, should I put all the results and submit it to a high impact journal, or separate them into several papers and submit it to standard impact journals? Which one is better for both academic impact and future career development?”

8. Other aspects on your choice of journal

Thesis content and article publishing

https://libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/theses-copyright/theses-and-article-publishing/