Where to publish: selection criteria
Where to publish a scientific article
The journal must provide instructions for authors, preparation of bibliographical references, abstract (two languages), keywords. It must also provide information on how to send the original manuscript, cover letter justifying the interest of the work.
The journal's website should present the composition of the scientific committee in charge of the review, as well as the peer review process for the quality control of the articles.
To select a journal and apply for publication of a research article, it is advisable:
- Use checklist: To learn how to choose the right journal to publish in
- Perform a keyword search in prestigious multidisciplinary databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and databases specialised in your field.
Locate the most appropriate journal to publish in through resources offered by publishers:
- Springer Nature Journal Suggester: Restricted to Springer's group of journals. Uses semantic technology. By pasting the abstract, or a description of the article, or a sample of the text into the box, it will provide a list of relevant journals. It allows you to refine results by ticking whether you want IF journals and/or open access journals.
- Elsevier Journal Finder: Restricted to the Elsevier group of journals. Uses intelligent search technology and specific vocabularies of the research fields. The title and abstract of the research must be entered. Allows you to refine by specific fields of research and limit if desired to open access journals or journals with open access sections.
- Manuscrit matcher Web of Science: Find journals where your research is most likely to be accepted based on an analysis of tens of millions of citation links in the Web of Science Core Collection.
Beware of predatory journals
They are characterised exclusively by publishing articles without carrying out real processes of selection and evaluation of the works they publish. The aim of these publications is not to promote or disseminate science, they are not committed to the advancement of knowledge, but to exploit pay-per-publication. Main characteristics:
- Dubious editorial process and no peer review.
- Very short publication times.
- Large number of articles per year.
- Payment of fees by the author.
- Often use titles with terms similar to those of prestigious journals.
How to identify them?
- They usually contact authors directly by e-mail.
- The journal's website is often of poor quality: grammar; broken links.
- They mention impact indices or journal repertoires, of which they are part, that do not correspond to those used by evaluation agencies or academics.
- Compass to Publish: test to determine whether a journal has the characteristics of a predatory journal, developed by the University of Liège.
- Check if the journal appears on Beall's List of potential predatory journals.
Where to publish a monograph
In the case of books and book chapters, it will be valued that they are published by prestigious publishers, as well as the collection in which the work appears, and the process of selection of originals.
In order to select a publisher and apply for the publication of a research work, it is advisable to find out about prestigious publishing houses, the best publishers, and the selection process.
There are a number of systems and tools for assessing publishing prestige: