1. Scope: check scope of the journal before submitting. If it is a multidisciplinary journal and you are confused about its scope whether it covers your subject area, send an enquiry to check with the journal editor.
2. Impact factor: Among hundreds of journal in your subject area, there are prestigious high impact journals promising you maximum citation as these journals has higher visibility then low impact journals. Thanks to google scholar, the visibility issue does not play much important role now-a-days. However, Publication in high impact journal boosts researchers’ confidence and it helps in getting scholarships, job, research funding as well as reputation as a researcher. So, aim for the highest impact journal where you can get your article accepted for publication.
3. Review lead time: Selecting a first track journal is important for PhD/masters students as they need articles published during their candidature. Some journal takes nearly years to give a decision from reviewers. Journals publishing six (6) or more issue per year will review articles quickly than quarterly journals.
4. Acceptance rate: Do not get upset by low acceptance rate of a journal. There are tonnes of article submitted in reputed journals and they reject 80% of them. But most rejections are based on mismatch of subject area and bad formatting of articles. However, low acceptance rate journals might take longer lead time to review as there is a long queue. So take it as an important selection criterion while choosing a journal.
5. Regional & society Journals: Research topics focused on a regional issues, like geography of Southeast Asia, or Europe should be published in journals published from those regions. Many professional societies publish journals regularly. Some of these societies are highly reputed in their subject area. Young scientists have a tendency to avoid such journals and focus more on renowned publishers only. But interested authors must anticipate tough peer reviewing.
Some important tools for selecting journal:
1. Elsevier Journal Finder: Not a top-notch search engine yet. Still in developing stage.
2. ISI Journal citation report
3. Journalseek
Publication.Easy is offering Journal Finder service. We consider clients need and articles quality to select most suitable journal for quick publication considering all the above mentioned criteria. So, check with us before underestimating or overestimating your article. Treat yourself better!
Happy publishing!