Scholarly Communication Support: Planning, Conducting, Disseminating, Promoting, & Assessing Research

Article-First Approach

This approach is generally easier if you are an early career researcher not yet be accustomed to thinking of their work in terms of top-level disciplinary categories and terms. This can also be a beneficial approach if you are a more experienced researcher transitioning into a new area of research.

(1) Start by using the sources in this box to search for articles on similar topics and find out where they are published.

(2) Next, move to the sources in the "Journal-First Approach" box to look up specific journal titles and compare their characteristics to your goals.

Example: Searched for third language acquisition

Journal-First Approach

This approach may be more efficient for more experienced researchers who are more familiar with thinking of their work in top-level disciplinary categories and terms and who may already be more familiar with an array of disciplinary journals.

(1) Start by using the sources in this box to search for journals in a field and compare their characteristics.

(2) Next, use the sources in the "Article-First Approach" box to read articles from recent issues and verify whether a journal is a good fit for your work.

The popular Journal Impact Factor is just one example of a journal-level metric resulting from a ratio that compares the number of items published in a journal to the number of citations those items receive (though each specific metric is calculated differently, some with various weightings factored in).

Note that these citation-based metrics can be useful for specific purposes, but they should not be used as a proxy measure for an individual article or individual researcher, nor do they represent the actual "quality" of a journal.

Each citation-based journal metric is based on a specific set of publication and citation data.

• Impact Factor and Eigenfactor = based on data from the Web of Science database
• CiteScore and SJR = based on data from the Scopus database

This means not every journal has an Impact Factor. Some journals may be indexed in Web of Science and Scopus and thus have both metrics; journals in only one database will have only one, for example, a CiteScore but not an Impact Factor.

Note: In some fields, it is counter-productive to focus on Impact Factor and similar metrics:

• Disciplines not well indexed in Web of Science or Scopus
  • Including disciplines based heavily in non-English language journals
• Disciplines or subject areas where research is often intended to be consumed by non-researchers, such as practitioners

What do citation-based journal metrics like Impact Factor measure?

• Influence of a journal on other scholarly journals in terms of citation.
• Comparison of journals within a field.

What do they NOT measure?

• Citations outside of their specific database.
• Objective quality of a journal.
• Comparison of journals in different fields. 
• Any aspect of an individual article or researcher.
• Influence of a journal on policy, practice, or the public.

Criticisms and Limitations to be Aware of: 

• San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)
• Oregon State Library Committee Statement on Uses and Misuses of the Impact Factor

Tools

You may also want to look for journal rankings created by university departments or professional organizations in your field (tip: try Googling something like journal rankings in [field]). These may be tricky to find or may not exist at all, but they can be useful if your field is not well covered in popular tools, or if you believe these tools do not fairly and accurately represent your field.

Video: Journal Impact Factor (5:00)

Video: Journal Citation Reports Quick Tour (2:08)

This video (4:52) from the University of Houston Libraries covers the basics of searching and navigating Cabell's.

This video (3:49) from the University of Massachusetts Libraries provides a good overview of searching for journals and impact data / metrics in Cabell's. 

This video (26:48) from Clarivate Analytics demonstrates the integrated use of Web of Science and JCR to inform manuscript submissions descisions.

These are options which use natural language matching and artificial intelligence to suggest journals. Try them out, but recognize that they lack human mediation.

 
Publisher-Neutral

Publisher-Specific

Depending on exactly what publisher you work with, and what sort of author contract you sign, you may retain OR give up the rights to do certain things with your article, such as:

• Reprint it in another journal;
• Republish it as a book chapter;
• Archive the pre-print, post-print, and/or published version(s) of the article in an online repository;
• Distribute printed copies of the article;
• Or other types of content reuse or redistribution.

Before you consider taking action with a published article, be sure you find out what rights you have retained or signed over to the publisher. Reading your copyright agreement or publication contract is a good place to start.

The resources on this page will help you identify what actions you can or cannot take with your article after publication.

If you have not published YET, you may want to review the Negotiation resources on this page.

NOTE: Publishers often make distinctions between three primary versions of a manuscript when detailing archive/deposit rights retained by authors:

• Pre-print – Draft submitted to journal before peer review. AKA Submitted version.
• Post-print – Last revised draft submitted to journal after peer review and revisions. AKA Accepted version.
• Publisher's version/PDF – Final, formatted PDF on the publisher's website. AKA Published version.

Each journal is different, and authors need to be aware of what they can do. The copyright transfer agreement is the best place to find this information. Otherwise, consult a resource like the Sherpa Romeo database. The library can assist you in identifying journal policy.

Negotiating Rights Before Publication

Just because a publisher's standard contract may include or exclude certain rights, you have the right to negotiate the contract to maintain additional rights or to increase open access to your work.

The following examples of addendums or amendments to publication agreements may be helpful as models or templates.

Beware of Fine Print

Open-access publishing agreements from some publishers, such as Elsevier and Wiley, may contain "fine print" or loopholes you may easily overlook. Although the article is published with a Creative Common license that provides free online access and broad reuse rights for readers, it may also grant the publisher an exclusive right to earn a profit from the work -- blocking you from commercial uses of your own work. Learn more in the article below from the Authors Alliance.

Regaining Rights After Publication

It may sometimes be possible to regain certain rights to past works that were already transferred to a publisher.