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Evaluation of journals to publish an article

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A journal is a scholarly publication encompassing articles written by researchers, professors and other experts. Journals focus on a specific discipline or field of study. Unlike newspapers and magazines, journals are intended for an academic or technical audience, not general readers. Journals are published on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, etc.) and are sequentially numbered. Each copy is an issue; a set of issues makes a volume (usually each year is a separate volume). Like newspapers and magazines, journals are also called periodicals or serials.

Research articles are a valuable source of information and help students, faculty, technocrats and researchers learn many things and get access to valuable information. Whereas, journals work as a platform for researchers to publish their works on a public forum and attract the target readers. If one desires to publish an article in a reputed journal, first, one has to check about the journal and second, about the publisher.

Check about the journal

  • Examine the aims and scope: are they appropriate for your research?
  • Review past issues: does the content look topical and credible? Are the authors known to you?
  • Is it registered in:
    • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • Does it appear on a ‘watch list’? E.g. Open Access Journals.
  • Does it have a valid online ISSN / eISSN?
  • Is it a member of CrossRef – the official Digital Object Identifier (DOI) registration agency? Are DOIs assigned to individual articles?
  • Journals are disseminated via academic abstracting and indexing services such as PubMed, Google Scholar. A journal website should say where it is indexed.
    • Is it indexed in the places it says it is?
  • Has it been assigned ranking(s)? E.g.
  • Is it listed on Wikipedia as an academic journal?
  • Are its policies on peer review, open access, copyright publicly available?
    • If it charges publication fees, are they clearly stated and explained?
    • What are the copyright policies? Will you be able to preserve copyright over your work? In many open access journals, authors retain full copyright to their work and give the journal a “non-exclusive” right to publish the work.
  • Check that a journal’s editorial board lists recognized experts with full affiliations. Contact some of board members and ask about their experience with the journal or publisher.

Check about the publisher

  • Where is it located?
  • Website
    • Stable web page
    • Basic contact info: publisher, contact details, editorial team, editorial/advisory board
    • Description: scope and focus, publication frequency, author guidelines
    • Fee policy clearly stated
  • Is there a digital preservation policy in place?
  • Is it registered with the OASPA ?
  • Publishers Open Access Policy available on website?

In addition, choosing a relevant journal makes it more likely that your article will be accepted. Some factors to consider are:

  • The topics the journal publishes.
  • The journal’s audience.
  • The types of articles the journal publishes.
  • The reputation (Impact Factor) of the journal.
  • What are your personal requirements: Does the journal usually publish articles quickly; is the “time to publication” important for you?

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