Journal Selection and Metrics

Some considerations besides Impact Factor

Journal's Scope/Content: Does your topic align with the scope and content of the journal? For example, your manuscript about pediatric care in the ICU may not be an appropriate choice for a journal focusing on the geriatric population. 

Publication Fees: Are there any fees to be aware of? Open Access journals fall under a different publishing model. For more information about Open Access Publishing, click here. 

Look at similar articles: What articles did you cite in our paper?  Where where they published?  

Editorial Board: Does the editorial board have content experts as members? Does the board consist of members from one institution or a variety of institution/organizations?

Intended Audience(s): Is your target audience for practitioners, researchers, administrators, policymakers? 

Article/Publication types: Is your manuscript an original study or review? Please be aware of the types of articles journals place preference on publishing. 

Peer Review/Referred Process: Does the journal have a peer review process/policy? If so, is the process clearly stated or described? The three most common peer review methods are single-blind, double-blind, and open. Understand these processes via this link. 

Journal Publishing Cycle: Editors and peer reviewers are allotted a certain amount of time for manuscript review. In addition, journals publish at different frequencies. For example, JAMA Pediatrics publishes monthly and The New England Journal of Medicine publishes weekly. 

Author Guidelines/Rights: Before your manuscript submission, please review author guidelines provided by the journal. If you do not adhere to guidelines you increase your chances for rejection. Once your manuscript is accepted for publication, please be aware of your rights as an author. Most journals will own the copyright of your work.

Journal Indexing & Abstracting: Is the journal indexed in databases or sources where it can be retrieved by researchers, practitioners, scholars? You want your work to be visible and retrievable. Indexing and abstracting information are available via Ulrich's Periodical Directory