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Strategic Publishing, Research Impact & Researcher Profiles: Choosing a Journal

This guide covers scholarly publishing strategies, how to choose a journal, discusses Open Access publishing models, how to evaluate research impact, and provides tips around managing researcher profiles

Choosing a journal

 

In 2021 it was estimated that there were over 48 000 scholarly peer-reviewed journals, with new ones entering the market every year. This can make journal selection a very daunting and challenging task.  

There is no definitive way to choose the best journals to suit your purposes. However, as indicated below, you can make the task less daunting by having a clear publishing strategy and utilising various selection methods.

Professional networks

 

The best place to start the journal selection process is through your professional networks. Ask for journal recommendations from faculty members, supervisors and other respected researchers in your research discipline.  

Your peers and colleagues are also invaluable sources of information. There is a good chance that they are going through a similar process and may have recent publishing experience to draw upon.   

Search for journals by topic 

 

Another method to aid the journal selection process is provided by databases that allow you to search for journals by topic. Web of Science and Scopus are two databases available in the UTS library catalogue that can be searched by journal topic. Once appropriate journals are identified, you can check their ranking and bibliometric data. See the links below for instructions on searching by journal topic. 

Journal websites

 

A journal’s website is the best place to find information about its suitability for your research and to assess its quality.  

Here is a list of the things to check:  

  • The stated aims and scope and how well they match the aims and scope of your research  
  • The audience and whether it is a good fit for your target audience  
  • The editorial board composition: are they recognised researchers or experts in the field  
  • The peer review process used and the publishing timeline  
  • Publication frequency 
  • The ethical standards and principles of the journal, e.g., are they members of COPE 
  • The databases that index the journal and whether they are widely used in your discipline  
  • Publication charges 

Journal directories

 

Other useful tools to help the journal discovery process are journal directories. These directories can also provide information about which journals are peer-reviewed and where they are indexed. See the links below for journal directory examples: 

Journal suggester tools

 

Journal suggester tools analyse a paper’s title, abstract, and keywords to determine a list of journals that match your article. These tools are mostly developed and maintained by publishers, so suggested journals are specific to their own databases. Examples of journal suggester tools are provided below. 

Links:

 

Tip: These tools provide a useful place to start, but they have limitations and are not a reflection of a journal’s quality.

Journal lists

 

Universities, professional associations, publishers and various other organisations often compile discipline related journals lists, which can aid the journal selection process. 

Links:

 

Tip: Journal ranking lists have been widely criticised for disincentivising research diversity and representation. Remember that there are many aspects to assessing journal quality.

Journal metrics

 

Journal metrics provide another method to aid journal selection.  

Check the Journal level Metrics section (within the Research Impact & Metrics page) of this guide for more information.