What to think about when deciding where to publish

• Does the journal publish papers similar to yours?
• Will researchers in your field see the journal?
• What open access options are there?
• How much does it cost to publish in the journal (including open access costs, if relevant)
• What is the journal’s acceptance rate?
• What is the journal’s response time?

The choice of where to publish typically comes down to three main factors:
1. Journal prestige and impact factor
2. Relevance to the audience
3. Appropriateness for your research

Journal prestige, impact factor, and open access

Before you think about where to publish your research, it’s a good idea to have some understanding of how academic publishing and peer review work. This video explains some basics: 

You should also think about open access. What routes to open access does the journal offer? Find out more about open access by watching this video: 

If you want to publish your article ‘gold’ open access, we have agreements with several of the major publishers. If your chosen journal is part of these agreements you may not have to pay the cost of publishing open access in that journal. Please see our webpage on transformative agreements for more information about this.

Predatory publishers

Unfortunately, there are ‘publishers’ who prey on authors and charge large fees for publishing in their journals – journals that may not even really exist, or that do not have the credentials the publisher claims they have. Check the list below for tips on spotting predatory publishers:

• Don’t trust unsolicited emails – if a calll for submission does not come from a trusted source, treat it as spam.
• Review several issues of the journal – check for writing and research quality, relevance to discipline and adequate copy editing.
• Review the journal website. It should contain: a clear and appropriate scope, an editorial board with recognised experts and current contact information for them, a description of the peer review process, transparent information about whether article processing charges (APCs) or other fees are charged.
• Check that any research metrics listed by the journal are recognised and reputable.

The above section was taken from a guide produced by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, which can be modified and re-used freely under the CC-BY licence.

Journal finder tools

Think. Check. Submit. helps researchers identify trusted journals and publishers for their research. Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international, cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications.

Some journal publishers provide tools to help researchers decide which of their journals they might want to publish in, for example the Taylor & Francis’s Journal Suggester and the Elsevier Journal Finder.

Another tool you might try is JANE – Journal/Author Name Estimator. This is a tool where you can search for suitable journals by entering your article title or abstract.

Finally, if you want to look for journals in your field, you could use the relevant Subject Guide, written by our librarians. These include a list of relevant journals for each subject, which could be a good starting point for narrowing down the list of journals you might want to publish in.

If you have any questions not covered by this blog post, please get in touch with us, at library.researchsupport@canterbury.ac.uk and we will do our best to advise you.

Featured image by Annie Spratt on Unsplash