Identifying Journals for Publication

Visit the journal's website to review the following:  

• Journal's aims and scope (are they a good match?)
• Peer review policy
• Copyright & author re-use policy (check to see what rights the author retains after publishing)
• Policy on pre-prints and open access (what options are available for open access publishing, for posting pre-prints and post-prints, is there an embargo, and do these policies comply with funder mandates for public access?) 
• Journal acceptance rate (in addition to the publisher's website, check Journalytics, the APA Journal Statistics and Operations Data, or try contacting the journal's editor
• Average number of days to first decision (in addition to the publisher's website, check Journalytics)
• Look at recent issues of the journal to see if your area of research is represented, which could indicate it's current relevance or interest and/or focus of the journal at that point in time

Utilizing journal metrics and journal rankings can help understand the average attention a journal receives, which can ultimately impact the amount of attention an article may receive. To learn more about journal metrics and rankings, visit the Research Metrics research guide. A few resources that include journal rankings and metrics include: 

Use the following resources to find out where a particular journal is indexed. If the journal is indexed in major databases or directories, then the likelihood of others finding your article, and the chances that your work will be cited, become greater. 

In addition to Sherpa Romeo, always check the journal and publisher's website for information about pre-print policies, copyright, author re-use rights, embargoes, and open access options including green open access, which involves publishing your post-print/final author manuscript to a publicly funded repository like PubMed Central or the Syracuse University institutional repository, SURFACE.