Selecting a journal involves balancing fit, impact, quality, grant requirements, access, and cost. Beyond reviewing each journal’s author guidelines, several tools can assist in your decision-making process.
Journal Indexing and Metrics
Resources such as Journal Citation Reports provide Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and discipline‑specific rankings for journals indexed in Web of Science. SCImago offers alternate Scopus‑based quartile rankings. Ulrichsweb details publication frequency, peer‑review status, and indexing while helping to differentiate similar journal titles. The National Library of Medicine Catalog is essential for verifying MEDLINE indexing for journals that appear in PubMed.
Open Access and Article Processing Charge Considerations
WSU authors can explore current open access agreements with publishers such as Wiley, ScienceDirect, ASM, PLoS Medicine, and Cambridge. Publish early to avoid yearly quotas. Jisc Open Policy Finder (formerly Sherpa) helps clarify funder and publisher self-archiving rules. Select a Creative Commons license that aligns with expectations of your publisher, funder and audience.
Journal Suggestion Tools
Journal finders from JANE (hosted by Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics OHDSI), Wiley, Elsevier, and Taylor & Francis can suggest suitable journals based on your title and abstract.