LibGuides: Where (and Where Not) to Publish Your Work: Finding JOURNALS for Your Articles

Finding Journals for Your Articles

IDENTIFY Journals

You probably want to publish your articles where they will have the greatest impact -- where they will be read and cited. Which journal has the appropriate scope and audience for your research?

Note: One of the benefits of open access publishing is that it is open for all readers, rather than those with a subscription.

See our Open Access guide for more information.

Suggestions:

Look at which journals publish the articles you consult on your research topic
Ask your colleagues; ask your library liaison
Search library databases for your topic, and find out what journals are publishing those articles. Use the Publication limit option (if available) to see a ranked listing of the journals.
ChronosHub Journal Finder lets you browse, search, filter, sort, and compare more than 40,000 journals.
Try using a journal selection tool offered by large publishing companies: Web of Science uses EndNote Online [PDF] (Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley are other publishers who offer journal selection tools for the journals they publish.)

Once you identify possible journals, evaluate those journals:

Use the various databases listed in the next tab (Databases/Lists for Journal Information) to find journal rankings and other data.
Look for journal information on the journal publisher's page (some large publishers are listed on the Databases/Lists tab).
- Look at criteria such as:
  - Journal Affiliation (scholarly? society? commercial?)
  - Aims and Scope (disciplinary/interdisciplinary? is it a fit for your topic?)
  - Audience (specific readership?)
  - Editorial Board
  - Peer Review (double blind? single blind? open?)
  - Acceptance rate
  - Indexing sources (what databases include the journal?)
  - Open Access availability (Article processing charges?)
  - Journal impact factor (see Journal/Publisher Metrics on the Research Impact & Metrics guide)
Use Think Check Submit - A simple checklist researchers can use to assess the credentials of a journal or publisher.

Think. Check. Submit. from Think. Check. Submit. on Vimeo.

DATABASES/LISTS for Journal Information

These are some online databases that can help you choose where to publish your work. It's also a good idea to look at the journal site, where you can often find metrics and other information about the journal.

Ulrichsweb
Current (Restricted to ODU)
Provides detailed, comprehensive, and authoritative information on periodicals published throughout the world.
Cabells
Current (Restricted to ODU)
Journalytics Academic includes a curated list of journals covering 18 disciplines in business, education, health, computer science, psychology and psychiatry, and sciences. Find metrics about where a journal falls within a discipline, acceptance rates, peer review processes, and altmetric attention. Use the Predatory Reports listing to find details about why a particular journal is considered predatory.
Directory of Open Access Journals
Coverage varies by journal (ODU/VIVA/Unrestricted)
Provides free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals, aiming to cover all subjects and languages. There are a growing number of journals in the directory, with many of them searchable on article level.
Journal Citation Reports (JCR)
1997 - Present (Restricted to ODU)
This analysis tool summarizes citations from science and social science journals and proceedings in the Web of Science database. Key features allow you to review journal titles and key performance indicators in specific subject categories, identify journals in which to publish your research, recognize trending journals in various subject categories, and evaluate the performance of journals in which you or your organization has published research.

CiteScore
CiteScore is Scopus's method of measuring the citation impact of journals that are indexed in Scopus (which contains more journals than Web of Science). It calculates the average number of citations received in a calendar year by all items published in that journal in the preceding three years. Note: Because ODU does not have a subscription to Scopus, use of the CiteScore is limited.
SHERPA/RoMEO
Provides easy access to publisher policies on archiving articles on the web and in institutional repositories.

JOURNAL LISTS BY DISCIPLINE:

Academic Journal Guide
The AJG is a guide to the range and quality of journals in which business and management academics publish their research. Its purpose is to give both emerging and established scholars greater clarity as to which journals to aim for, and where the best work in their field tends to be clustered. ....based upon peer review, editorial and expert judgements following from the evaluation of publications, and is informed by statistical information relating to citation.
Journal Guide
JournalGuide is a free tool created by a group of software developers, former researchers, and scholarly publishing veterans at Research Square. "Our goal for JournalGuide is to bring all sources of data together in one place to give authors a simple way to choose the best journal for their research. Our most complete journal data are in the biomedical fields; however, we have created journal-specific pages for journals across all disciplines.
MLA Directory of Periodicals
The MLA Directory of Periodicals provides detailed information on over 6,000 journals and book series that cover literature, literary theory, dramatic arts, folklore, language, linguistics, pedagogy, rhetoric and composition, and the history of printing and publishing. The directory is a valuable resource for scholars seeking outlets to publish their work. The directory also provides statistics on how many articles and book reviews the periodicals publish each year, as well as how many are submitted.

PUBLISHER JOURNAL LISTS:

ASCE Journals
List of journals published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Elsevier Journal List
List of journals published by Elsevier and available through Science Direct.
Sage Journals
List of journals published by Sage.
Springer Journals
List of journals published by Springer.
Taylor & Francis Journals
List of journals published by Taylor & Francis.

OPEN ACCESS Journals

Use our Open Access guide to find Open Access Journals.

As with all publishing, open access journals can have predatory publishers. Be sure to also refer to the AVOID PREDATORY JOURNALS tab.

Organizations

Association of College & Research Libraries: Scholarly Publishing: Includes toolkit of resources, organizations, and other materials relating to scholarly publishing, including a section on Evaluating Journals
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): Promoting integrity in research and its publication. COPE provides leadership in thinking on publication ethics, practical resources to educate and support members, and offers a professional voice in current debates.
OASPA: Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
Scholarly Publishing Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC): SPARC is a global coalition committed to making Open the default for research and education. SPARC empowers people to solve big problems and make new discoveries through the adoption of policies and practices that advance Open Access, Open Data, and Open Education.
Society for Scholarly Publishing