Library Orientation for Nursing

What makes a journal? 

Review journal components and your own work to determine appropriateness for journal selection.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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 Rankings/ Scholarly Metrics (i.e. Impact Factor)

Ranking and metrics can provide some useful information to authors when selecting a journal. For an overview of scholarly metrics, click here. For information on which library databases provide metrics, click here. 

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.

You can determine potential journals by conducting a topic search via our library databases, such as PubMed, CINAHL, or Scopus. 

In your search, include the main concepts of your manuscript. From those search results, you can screen journal titles. Apply any limiters or filters if needed to make the number of results manageable. Once you have selected a few titles, we recommend taking a closer look at each journal individually.

Our full list of databases can be viewed here.

The list below contains free online tools to help you identify potential journals for submission. Click on the link, then submit part of your abstract or manuscript to retrieve a list of journal options. Please review the scope/content of each journal option.

These journal assessment tools are self-guided questions for authors to consider when selecting a particular journal for publication. Use your best judgment when selecting a publication.