Choosing where to publish

Choosing Where to Publish

Publishing Guidelines for Researchers and Identifying Top Tier Journals

Choosing where to publish your work is hugely important regarding the dissemination of your research and aiming for Domain Leading journals/Publishers/Conferences can significantly enhance its visibility and reach.  

• The University has compiled a domain leading Domain Leading Publishing Outlets based on sources like Open Alex, Web of Science and Scopus. To find a journal/Publisher by discipline, subject or field, use the filter 'Category' column to select or search for a keyword. This list is compiled from Scopus and Web of Science and shows the publisher, open access status, and if an IRel APC deal currently covers the journal. 
• You can search for your discipline or a specific journal in Scopus online here and compare citation scores and percentiles.
• Scopus Compare Journals allows you to compare up to 10 journals in your subject area by CiteScore, SJR, SNIP, citations, documents, percent not cited and percent reviews.
• All the journals in your subject area from Scopus here. Ensure you have the subject area field displayed as shown in step 1 below, then enter the subject area and finally sort by decreasing order of SNIP. This will sort the journals from the highest SNIP. 

How to select the Right Journal

This guide from the library highlights library tools and services available at University of Galway to assist you with publishing your research.

Deciding the right journal to publish your research in is very important to ensure your research is well disseminated and has an impact. Choosing the right journal involves a variety of factors including the fit of the article to the journal, the reputation of the journal, the journal readership, turnaround times and rejection rates. Things to consider include:

• Peer Advice - Discuss where to publish with senior colleagues or mentors - they will be well placed to determine which outlets are considered prestigious in your discipline.
• Reputation / Prestige: Is the journal indexed and peer reviewed (eg included in a large, multidisciplinary database of peer-reviewed literature like Scopus or Web of Science).  Proper indexing of journals adds to their reputation and articles published in peer reviewed journals enjoy great respect due to the stringent publishing process.  Consider also journal citation indicators which can be indicative of the importance or impact of a journal (by calculating the times its articles are cited).
• Discipline fit: Identify a journal suitable for your discipline to help reach your target audience. Research where your peers are publishing and their success and impact using tools like Scopus.
• Avoid predatory or cloned journals - these are typically open access journals with little or no peer review, low academic standards and little credibility. Beall's maintains a list of such journals.
• Other factors to consider include the journals publication Turnaround Times, whether its Open Access, if there is a Cost to publish in the journal (there may be an institutional subscription) and Acceptance Rates.

There are many third party databases and lists that can aid your in your selection:

• Discipline specific lists of top journals and publishers like FT50 or ABS List in Business.
• Directory of Open Access Journals - maintains a list of indexed journals that consider the quality of the paper, the review process, regularity of publications and reputation of the journal.
• Many large publishers have online tools that allows you to enter the title and abstract of your paper to easily find journals that could be best suited for publishing in:

Elsevier
Springer
Taylor and Francis
Wiley