IED- TZ | Selecting the Proper Journals for Publication: Selecting Journal

Selecting a journal for scholarly and professional activities can be a confusing process especially if you are new to the publishing process.  As follows are questions that can help with selection of a journal for publication. 

Which journals are used by you or mentors/colleagues? 

Review the journals you use for your research. Which journals do you use frequently to keep track of new developments in your field? Which journals are used by the main researchers in your area of research? Does the professional organization you belong to publish any journals? Also, check with your mentors and colleagues about journals they use—there may be some journals that are highly recommended for your area of research. Select journals may be more prestigious for tenure and promotion for your academic and research institution.

Who is your desired audience? 

Knowing the scope and aim of the journal can help assess whether your article will reach the intended audience. If the target audience is international, select a journal with an international focus. If the target audience is limited to a select area of research, select a journal with a narrow focus as opposed to one with a multidisciplinary focus. Topic specific journals may disseminate your work more efficiently to your desired audience than a general science journal. More specialized journals, even with a potentially smaller readership, may offer a broader dissemination of your work to your peers in a specific area of research.

Are you required to comply with public access mandates for sharing of publications and/or data? 

Authors whose articles were generated as a result of research funded by organizations such as NIH, Autism Speaks, CDC, among others, are required to comply with public access mandates for sharing of publications and/or data. Check the information for authors section of the journal website or the Copyright Transfer Agreement form to confirm the journal allows authors to comply with public access mandates.        

Do you need to publish in a peer-reviewed journal? 

Publication in peer-reviewed journals is a requirement for tenure and promotion at most academic institutions.  Peer review is defined as an organized procedure carried out by a select committee of professionals in evaluating the performance of other professionals in meeting the standards of their specialty.

What is the quality of the peer review process? 

Does the journal provide clear and transparent information about the peer review process. Is the review process described on the journal website? How are the reviewers selected?  Are they qualified to serve as reviewers? How many reviewers will be assigned to a manuscript? How are revisions handled?

Is an expedited review process desired? 

Do you have ground-breaking research results to report? A journal with a frequent (weekly or monthly) publication schedule may be best suited for your manuscript. The review process for a journal that publishes on a quarterly basis is most likely longer as opposed to one that publishes monthly. Other journals promote a speedy review process for authors and have special publication types for reporting of ground-breaking or time-sensitive research.

Do you have a specific manuscript type in mind? 

Some journals publish specific types of articles and may not be appropriate for your research.

Factors to consider about journals

 What should you actually be evaluating when you consider different journals? There are a number of relevant factors:

Aims and scope: be sure that the journal is publishing research similar to that of your manuscript
 

Readership: be sure that the target audience you are trying to reach make up part of the readership of the journal
 

Indexing: to increase the visibility of your article online, be sure that the journal is indexed in the online databases that your target audience will use to find articles
 

Open access: to increase the accessibility of your article, consider publishing in an open access journal. This will ensure that your target audience will have access to your article worldwide
 

Publishing frequency: if you want to publish your findings quickly, you should choose a journal with a high publication frequency (e.g., weekly rather than quarterly)
 

Impact factor: journals with higher impact factors often have more visibility in the field, which can then increase your article’s visibility as well. Further, funding agencies and university committees often use the impact factor of the journals you publish in as a measure of your success as a researcher in your field. So if you can publish in a higher impact factor journal, it may be more advantageous.