Selecting where to publish

Selecting where to Publish

When you are ready to publish your research, you will want to identify and target the most appropriate and high quality journals in your field. Your supervisor and research colleagues are obvious sources of information on the most appropriate journals to target.  However, your literature review will also have revealed the journals that are publishing related research.

The quality of a journal is dependent upon a number of variants and is often defined by the field you are working in.

• Peer-Review is the most important measure of journal quality. Use Ulrichsweb, a directory of more than 300,000 periodicals, to identify peer-reviewed journals. See also Peer review: a guide for researchers published by the Research Information Network in the UK.

•  The impact factor is a quantitative method of evaluating journals in many fields and you can discover these metrics using the Journal Citation Reports.

• Journal Analyzer on Scopus is another tool that allows you to compare journals using its own journal ranking metrics.

•  Researchers need to be aware of the dangers of predatory publishing highlighted in a recent article in the New York Times (Gina Kolata, ‘Scientific articles accepted (personal checks, too)’, April 7, 2013). The article refers to lists of potential, possible, or probable predatory OA publishers and journals compiled by academic librarian Jeffrey Beall, of University of Colorado Denver, known as Beall’s list

         For help in assessing newly available Open Access journals you may consult:

•  The Directory of Open Access Journals DOAJ

•  The Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association OASPA works to “promote a uniform definition of OA publishing, best practices for maintaining and disseminating OA scholarly communications, and ethical standards.”