Getting Published: Choosing a Journal

Another important rule is never submit to more than one journal at a time. Carefully choose the right journal, submit and be patient - the peer-review and editorial work involved in having your article accepted takes time. If you are unsuccessful in your first submission (which is very common), don't be disheartened and move on to the next most appropriate journal. Note that some journals accept submissions throughout the year and others have specific submission ‘windows’ - good journals will have a ‘submissions’ page (or similar) on their website that will help you understand their submission process.

What is the scope of the journal?

Have a look at the website of the journal to find a description of the scope of the journal.  You could also look at articles in previous issues to see the scope and types of articles published.

Consider:

• does your research topic fit with the stated topic coverage
• is the methodology you used appropriate
• is the type of article accepted (original research, literature review, discussion, case study, etc.)
• what is the required length of the article

Be wary of journals with a scope that is incongruent with the title, combines fields which are disjointed or includes a geographic scope bearing no relationship to the journal or publisher's origin.  Investigate further to make sure the journal is trustworthy.

Will it reach your intended audience?

Investigate whether the journal will reach your target audience.  You may be able to find this information on the journal’s website or by considering the nature of the articles previously published.  Consider whether it is:

• generalist or specific
• aimed at practitioners, professionals, researchers, or the public
• targeted at a specific region, country, or area

How discoverable is the journal?

Your research will reach a wider audience and have more impact if it can found easily.  Check if the major databases in your subject area index the journal. You can find relevant databases using the Library’s subject guides.

To find if a database indexes a journal:

• check the journal’s website, it may provide this information.  However, an untrustworthy journal may falsely claim to be indexed in a database. You should double check whether it is indexed by looking in the database itself.

• some database provides a source list. For example in CINAHL, simply click on the ‘Publications’ link on the top menu bar.

   

What is the journal's peer review process?

You should check that the journal you are choosing undertakes this important quality control process and that you understand the type of peer review that the journal uses.

A journal that promises acceptance cannot be peer reviewing the content and should be avoided.  Peer review is time consuming so also be wary of journals that advertise very fast times from submission to publication. 

A good journal should be able to help you answer all the above questions on their website - look for the ‘author guidelines’ pages.

It may seem obvious but your lecturers and supervisors are probably the most valuable resource available to you. Seek out people who have publishing experience in your discipline and ask for advice.

Your professional body or learned society may also publish journals which could be worth considering.

Articles submitted to scholarly ‘peer reviewed’ journals are checked by other experts in the field before they are published. This means that journals which have a peer review process are generally considered more reliable than other journals. The feedback your receive from the peer-reviewers can help you to improve your work before it is published. There are different types of peer review, check the journal's website to check their peer-review process. 

Professional journals, sometimes called trade magazines, focus on providing up-to-date information on trends, products, and industry news, to people working within a particular profession or trade. Although not usually peer-reviewed, these articles are written by professionals or industry experts who have experience within the relevant field and might be appropriate for your output depending on your intended audience. 

"Think-Check-Submit" is a very useful tool for initial guidance on fundamental issues to consider when publishing, and how to avoid becoming a victim of fraudulent publishers (known as predatory publishers).

Consider the journals that you are familiar with, those that publish articles you have read. One initial strategy is to conduct a search in one of the library's databases or OneSearch using keywords and phrases from your own manuscript. The results of this search could give you an indication of the journals that publish in your research areas. It is also worth looking that the literature that you are citing in your paper - where has previous research on this topic been published?

These days most publishers will provide their journals in digital format online. Some journals are ‘born-digital’, in other words they have always been ‘online-only’ right from their inception. There are some rare cases where certain journals are still only available in print format. The journal's website will provide details of the publishing format.

E-journals are simply journals that are available in an electronic format. They have entirely the same content regardless of the type of journal. E-journals tend to be in PDF form, so they also maintain the same page layout, typography etc. as a printed journal.

Articles published in e-journals have the potential to give your article a wider readership and therefore higher citations. 

Please bear in mind that digital publishing usually involves publishers charging large subscription fees to libraries and pay-wall fees for individual articles to readers online which can pose a barrier to the dissemination of your work.

Digital media has made the Open Access movement possible. This is a movement that seeks to remove financial barriers so that research outputs are freely available globally without pay-walls. Please see the next section below for more details about choosing to make your research output Open Access.

Open Access (OA) makes research available to many more people than a subscription-only journal article does & there is evidence that this can lead to an increase in audience reach and citations. OA also encourages public engagement with research, which is often paid for out of public money. It is also part of a wider ‘open’ movement to encourage free exchange of knowledge and resources in order to widen access and encourage creativity.

Most journals provide information on their web pages about how Open Access can be achieved when publishing with that journal.

Here are the two main routes to Open Access:

• The ‘green’ route to Open Access is via self-archiving of your author accepted manuscript in a repository such as Insight (sometimes with an embargo period), alongside publication in a subscription journal.  

• The ‘gold’ route to Open Access involves making the final version of record immediately Open Access via the publisher’s website.  This usually involves paying a fee called an article processing charge (APC). 

An ORCID identifier or ORCID iD is a 16-character identifier that can be used to clearly identify you, and not another reasearcher by a similar name, as the author of a research output such as a journal article.

It is unlikely that your name is unique, you may wish to change your name at some time, and you may have publications that use different variants of your name first name and initials.

This means that citations to your papers could get lost and you could be credited with citations from the wrong papers. By tying your publications and research outputs to your ORCID iD, they become more discoverable.

By signing up for an ORCID identifier, you have one identifier that will belong only to you and that you can keep throughout your academic career, regardless of the institution at which you work.

How do I get an ORCID iD?

It is very easy to sign up for an ORCID iD. Read about ORCID or go straight to:

• Register for your ORCID Identifier (it only takes a minute)
• Add information about you - employment, education - and import your articles, books, grants, datasets and more
• Use your ORCID iD for your deposits in Insight, on your staff webpage and in your research and scholarly activities