Research and Scholarship

With thousands of journals at our fingertips, finding the right journal might sometimes seem difficult. This short introductory video created by the Think, Check, Submit non-profit organization will help you make things a bit more clear.

Identifying a journal for publication: Questions & Considerations

Review the journal website information for the following: 

• Scope: what subjects are covered; what type of articles are published, etc.
• Acceptance Rate: the percentage of the manuscripts accepted for publication by a particular scholarly journal.
• Impact factor: used to measure the importance or rank of a journal by calculating the times its articles are cited.
• Circulation Count: how often issues are published
• Access/Discoverability: is it indexed in large databases?
• Copyright Policy/Publisher’s policies/Permissions: Will your article be behind a paywall, or is there an Open Access option?
• Peer-review policy: check to see what their policies are, such as single-blind, double-blind; open review, etc.
• See an Author Guide example here.

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Maximizing research impact is important but it is not everything. Focus your search for appropriate journals by answering the following questions:

• What journals are published in your field?
• What journals do you read?
• Who publishes the journals?
• Who are the most important authors that address similar issues to what you write about?
• Where do they publish their work?
• Bibliographies and article reference lists are helpful.
  • Look at the references that you have cited in your paper. Are there several articles from the same journal in your reference list? Since your article builds on work published in that journal, consider contacting that journal to see if they might be interested in your article.
• Search for a topic in the EBSCO or ProQuest. databases. Look on the left side of the page for options such as Publication or Publication Title. Click on those entries and a list of journals that publish in your topic will show. You can examine the journals and if appropriate submit your article to one of those titles.  
• Talk to your colleagues for recommendations or look up Touro Scholar to see where they publish their research.

The resources & tools below can help you identify a journal. These resources cover journals from different disciplines from a wide variety of publishers. Some are traditional journals and some are open access. Hover over the tiny i for more information.

Read this guide to understand your rights before submitting journal articles. Below are additional links pertaining to your rights as an author. 

Predatory Journals are no joke. Look out for the following red flags:

• Overly flattering solicitations to submit articles or guest edit
• Lack of contact information for the journal
• Lack of evidence of the editor's expertise or professional standing
• The promise of unusually short submission-to-publication times (such as a month or less)
• Avoid making Google searches, such as "fast review journal"; "journal fast review process", etc. 
• Journal name that sounds vague (e.g., “The Journal of Care”) or is overly similar to that of a well-known journal
• To find more detailed information on Predatory journals and conferences, go to the Open Access section of this guide
• Check out the resources below for a list to legitimate and predatory journals: 

Below are tips about being published in certain fields or by certain publishers.