Selecting a Journal for Publication: Home

The Selecting a Journal for Publication guide contains resources targeted for authors who are considering submitting a manuscript for peer review to a journal or have received an invitation to publish in a journal. Publishing in journals that are not reputable can diminish the credibility of your research, limit your career, and may result in little or no dissemination and uptake.

Questions? Cathy Sarli or Amy Suiter

Reviewing a journal? Recommendations:

Review the journal articles published over the last two years:

• Do the articles follow established principles for reporting of research?
• Do the articles follow established scientific methods used in your field of research?
• How is the scientific rigor of the articles?
• How is the editorial quality of the articles?
• Do you recognize the authors as experts/colleagues in your field of research?

Review the journal website:

• Is there an Instructions for Authors section?
• Is the review process clearly noted?
• Is the journal indexed by established indexing sources?
• Do you recognize the editorial board members as experts/colleagues in your field of research?
• Does the journal follow publication guidelines such as the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) .

If in doubt, ask your mentor or librarian.

NIH Notice (November 3, 2017): Statement on Article Publication Resulting from NIH Funded Research

"The NIH has noted an increase in the numbers of papers reported as products of NIH funding which are published in journals or by publishers that do not follow best practices promoted by professional scholarly publishing organizations."

Recommendations for authors:

• Adhere to the principles of research integrity and publication ethics;
• Identify journals that follow best practices promoted by professional scholarly publishing organizations; and
• Avoid publishing in journals that do not have a clearly stated and rigorous peer review process.

Looking for ideas on how to make your work openly available? Review the list of suggestions from Peter Suber: How to Make Your Own Work Open Access.

Among the suggestions are:

• Publish in an Open Access Journal.
• Deposit your work to a repository.
• Retain rights to your work.

Are you considering disseminating your manuscript as a preprint before the peer review process? Check out the Preprint libguide to learn more about recommendations for authors and selecting a preprint repository.

In December 2016, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) announced revised recommendations for authors: “A growing number of entities are advertising themselves as “medical journals” yet do not function as such (“predatory journals”). Authors have a responsibility to evaluate the integrity, history, practices and reputation of the journals to which they submit manuscripts.”

In December 2017, the ICMJE issued further recommendations for authors: “A growing number of entities are advertising themselves as scholarly medical journals yet do not function as such. These journals (predatory or pseudo-journals) accept and publish almost all submissions and charge article processing (or publication) fees, often informing authors about this after a paper’s acceptance for publication. They often claim to perform peer review but do not and may purposefully use names similar to well established journals." The ICMJE also advised authors to seek the assistance of scientific mentors and senior colleagues with publishing experience.

ICMJE News and Editorial: “Fake,” “Predatory,” and “Pseudo” Journals: Charlatans Threatening Trust in Science

As of December 2019, the ICMJE issued revised guidance for authors--authors should avoid citing articles in predatory or pseudo-journals. To view all new recommendations, see the annotated version of the ICJME guidelines.