LibGuides: Choosing where to publish: Home

Finding journals

Use the tools and websites below to find a good home for your article.

Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)
Put in your article title or abstract, and JANE will find matching journals. Includes journals in PubMed or Directory of Open Access Journals only.
EndNote Manuscript Matcher
If you are an EndNote user, you can employ the Manuscript Matcher funtion to find relevant and impactful journals for your article.

Browzine
With Browzine, you can see a list of journals in subject groupings. Select one, then continue to narrow down in to smaller and smaller groups until you find one appropriate for your manuscript.

SPI-Hub Topic Search
Enter keywords to find journals that match your search.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
DOAJ is an index of Open Access journals from around the world. Only OA journals that are approved by DOAJ are included.

Cabells Journalytics
Cabells Journalytics Medicine
Publishing information, statistics and acceptance rates for major journals. Journalytics covers most fields, while the Medicine edition has a tighter focus. Enter your terms in the search box at the top to locate journals.
MLA Directory of Periodicals
Information on journals. Entries include the following information: editorial addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, publication frequency, periodicals' scopes, circulation figures, submission guidelines, statistics on how many articles and book reviews the periodicals publish each year, and how many are submitted.

Avoiding predatory Open Access journals

There are many criteria ("indicators") to help you determine the reputability of an Open Access journal. Here are some important criteria, as suggested by librarians at Grand Valley State University:

Positive Indicators

Scope of the journal is well-defined and clearly stated
Journal’s primary audience is researchers/practitioners
Editor, editorial board are recognized experts in the field
Journal is affiliated with or sponsored by an established scholarly society or academic institution
Articles are within the scope of the journal and meet the standards of the discipline
Any fees or charges for publishing in the journal are easily found on the journal web site and clearly explained
Articles have DOIs (Digital Object Identifier, e.g., doi:10.1111/j.1742-9544.2011.00054.x)
Journal clearly indicates rights for use and re-use of content at article level (e.g., Creative Commons CC BY license)
Journal has an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number, e.g., 1234-5678)
Publisher is a member of Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
Journal is registered in Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory
Journal is listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal is included in subject databases and/or indexes

Negative Indicators

Journal web site is difficult to locate or identify
Publisher “About” information is absent on the journal’s web site
Publisher direct marketing (i.e., spamming) or other advertising is obtrusive
Instructions to authors information is not available
Information on peer review and copyright is absent or unclear on the journal web site
Journal scope statement is absent or extremely vague
No information is provided about the publisher, or the information provided does not clearly indicate a relationship to a mission to disseminate research content
Repeat lead authors in same issue
Publisher has a negative reputation (e.g., documented examples in Chronicle of Higher Education, email distribution lists, etc.)

Journal-level metrics

Journal-level metrics offer a way to measure the overall impact and sometimes prestige of a journal. Some of the most common metrics are shown below.

It is important to note that any journal with a particular impact factor may contain articles that have varying levels of impact. In other words, it is possible to find articles that have been cited many times but are in low-impact journals, and vice versa.

Impact Factor--Officially the Journal Impact Factor (JIF), it measures how many times the average article in a journal has been cited in the past two years. You can find the Impact Factor in the database InCites Journal Citation Reports, sometimes known as JCR. To get started, go to JCR, and then search for the name of a journal. Or, choose one of the "browse" links inside JCR to see a list of journals or subject categories to peruse.

Journal Citation Reports (JCR)
Journal Citation Reports (JCR) shows the Impact Factor for journals, and provides other citation metrics.

Acceptance Rate--Measures the percentage of article submissions accepted into journal. You can find this information in Cabell's Journalytics. To get started, go to Cabell's Journalytics and search for a journal.

Cabells Journalytics
Publishing information, statistics and acceptance rates for major journals in a variety disciplines. Check the database Predatory Reports for a list of scam or predatory journals to avoid. Coverage dates: Current

SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)--measures how frequently a journal is being cited and also takes into account the prestige of the journals that cite it. Produced by Scimago Lab. To get started, go to the SCImago Journal Rank webpage and search for a journal.