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Scholarly Publishing: Choosing a Journal

Editorial Policies

Selecting a Journal

Factors to consider...

What is the quality of the journal?  Quality is usually measured via the Journal Impact Factor.

Impact Factors: Use and Abuse  (Michael Mabe & Mayur Amin, 2000, Elsevier White paper) 

If you are just starting to publish, you may want to submit to lower tier journals first to build your reputation.

Review the publisher's editorial policies for the following: 

       a. time it takes from submission to publication of an article. 

       b. policies on self-archiving and Open Access.

Serials Directory (in GALILEO)

Log in to GALILEO, then search for "Serials Directory" in the list of databases.

Once the database loads, you may search by keyword (i.e. Business, Biology, Literature, Nursing) and then limit to peer-reviewed and active titles.  The results will provide you with contact info for each journal.  You can then link to the journal and check submission guidelines.  

Journal Rankings

Other databases that have journal information include Ulrichsweb and Cabell's. If you have access to either of these through another institutional affiliation, they may be helpful.

Retractions