Scholarly Publishing

Choosing the right journal can increase the visibility, impact, and success of your research. Consider these key factors early in the creation/writing stage, before you finalize your manuscript. Some of these factors will impact how you format your manuscript, and some will impact where and how you choose to submit it. 

1. Scope & Audience

• Is the journal's topic area aligned with your research?
• Who reads it—specialists, practitioners, interdisciplinary scholars?
• Read a few recent articles to assess fit with your research.

✅ Tip: Look at the journal’s “Aims & Scope” page and recent table of contents.

✅ Tip: Consider the journals you used for your research.

2. Reputation & Quality

• Is the journal peer reviewed, and does it outline a clear peer review process?
• Is it indexed in respected databases (e.g., Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus)?
• Does it belong to COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) or another ethics organization?
• Consider impact factor, h-index, or journal prestige carefully— impact metrics are only one part of the picture.

🚩 Avoid predatory publishers — Use Think. Check. Submit. to help identify legitimate publishers. (See the Deceptive Publishing Practices box to the left.)

✅ Tip: Don’t chase prestige—choose the best match for your goals and audience.

3. Open Access (OA) vs. Subscription

• Does the journal charge Article Processing Charges (APCs)?
• Is it fully OA, hybrid, or subscription-based?
• Is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)?
• Can you retain your copyright or choose a Creative Commons license? Which licenses are offered?

🔍 See our Open Access Guide to learn more.

4. Practical Considerations

• What’s the word count and formatting style?
• Does the journal accept your methodology, disciplinary focus, or collaborative format?
• Check the average time from submission to decision and acceptance to publication. Does the journal's timeline work with yours? (Typically, you can only submit to one journal at a time.)
• Was your research funded? Many funders require or permit OA publication.

✅ Tip: Review the journal’s submission guidelines and "Information for Authors" page. 

5. Ethical Considerations (Learn more: Scholarly Publishing Ethics)

• Simultaneous submission of a manuscript to multiple journals is generally forbidden. (See "Why You Should not Submit Your Work to More than One Journal at a Time" or the Duplicate or redundant publication section in Wiley's Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethiics.)
• Have you used or do you plan to use AI? Check the journal's policies regarding permissible uses of AI and how to acknowledge AI use.
• Consider authorship contributions. The CRediT “Contributor Roles Taxonomy” is an open standard of 14 item terms that allows for a standardized description of each author’s individual contribution to a manuscript.
• Disclose any conflicts of interest.

✅ Tip: Journal policies should include guidelines that specify all of these considerations - and more. Review them carefully.

You can use these journal selection tools to explore matches based on your title/abstract, to verify journal legitimacy, and to learn about publisher/journal copyright policies:

• Journal Citation Reports
• Journal Finder (Elsevier)
• Journal Suggester (Springer)
• Web of Science Master Journal List "Manuscript Matcher" (requires login or free account)
• Think. Check. Submit - to verify journal legitimacy (see video in sidebar for more)
• Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory – to verify journal legitimacy
• Open Policy Finder – for publisher copyright policies