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Research LibGuide

Where to publish my research output

This page introduces some useful tips and tools to select a suitable journal to publish your article. 

What to consider and how to find a journal

What to consider when you want to publish a paper:

1. What journal will best meet your goals in sharing your research?  Who is your target audience?

  • Are you aiming to improve patient care by influencing practitioners?
  • Are you sharing cutting edge research with fellow researchers or seeking a broader audience?
  • Do you want to reach a local audience or an international audience?
  • Are you expected to publish in a prestigious high impact journal?

2. What journals would be suitable for your paper?

  • What journals have published on similar topics? Where have papers you have read and referenced been published?
  • What are you publishing? Is it a clinical case study, primary research or a review article?
  • What is the journal's average time period to publish a paper?  
  • Are you aiming to publish in an open access journal?
  • Make sure the journal's aim and scope matches your manuscript research subject 
  • Look at the types of articles that the journal publishes to make sure it matches the article you want to submit 
  • Read the author information thoroughly to ensure your manuscript meets all the requirements. 
  • One piece of research might yield several papers, each focused on a different audience, on different aspects of the topic or stages of the research.  Consider where you are aiming to publish early in the process of designing your research project.

3. Be aware of predatory publishing practices 

  • Being able to recognise common characteristics of predatory publishers can help to avoid them.
  • The Committee on Publication Ethics' (COPE) discussion document introduces issues, and analyses potential solutions around predatory publications.
  • Identifying predatory academic journals and conferences - a UNESCO fact sheet raising awareness of predatory publishing practices. 

 

Journal selection tools

Journal selection tools are listed below.

1. Title and abstract matchers allow authors to upload the title and/or abstract of their paper to find the best matching journals. 

2. Tools that compare the impact and metrics of journals, for example e.g Scimago, Google Scholar Metrics, DOAJ. ERA list of journals  
Compare journal characteristics and metrics (Impact Factor, number of published articles, number of citations ...) 

1. Journals selection tools - title/abstract matchers

2. Journal selection tools - to assess journal quality, ranking and metrics