Getting Published: Journal Publishing

The following tips can be handy in choosing the right journal to publish with:

• Read the journal’s aims and scope to make sure it is a match.
• Check whether you can submit an article – some journals are invitation-only.
• Use journal metrics to understand the impact of a journal. e.g.
  • CiteScore metrics – helps to measure journal citation impact. Free, comprehensive, transparent and current metrics calculated using data from Scopus®, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.
  • SJR – or SCImago Journal Rank, is based on the concept of a transfer of prestige between journals via their citation links.
  • SNIP – or Source Normalized Impact per Paper, is a sophisticated metric that accounts for field-specific differences in citation practices.
  • H-index – Although originally conceived as an author-level metric, the H-index has been being applied to higher-order aggregations of research publications, including journals.
• If available, check the journal at Journal Insights for additional info about impact, speed and reach:
  • Impact: Number of times an average paper in this journal is cited.
  • Speed: The average number of weeks it takes for an article to be reviewed. Essentially, the average number of weeks it takes for an article to reach key publication points in the production process.
  • Reach: The number of downloads at the country/regional level over the last five full years available. The number of primary corresponding authors at the country/regional level, over the last five full years available.

Source: https://scientific-publishing.webshop.elsevier.com/research-process/how-to-choose-a-journal-to-submit-an-article/

Predatory publishers are sometimes referred to as deceptive or exploitative publishers. Their main motive is to make money and as such they;

• Ask/request fees from authors in order to publish their works/research.
• Publish articles without thoroughly checking their quality (no/poor editing and peer-review)
• Do not follow acceptable publishing standards.

What to look out for...

 Check if published articles align with the aims and scope of the journal.

Check if the published articles have spelling and grammatical errors or are of poor quality.

Verify the contact information of the journal’s institution.

Check if the journal requests fee before the submission of the manuscript.

Video Credit: Think. Check. Submit.