Journal publication is a must-do for PhD students who wish to pursue academic careers. This is because most positions in academia require publication records before hiring. Further, research and publication are needed for academic career progression, such as getting tenure. Usually, academics begin their research career by publishing their dissertation research in scholarly journals or expanding on their dissertation research topics and submitting articles for publication. Selecting the journal to publish your dissertation research can be a critical career choice as it may influence how your work and ultimately you, as a researcher, are seen in the academic community. For instance, if publish in a high-ranked journal for your first submission, the chances are that you will gain respect from your peers and possibly more support and funding to prosecute your research projects. However, you don’t have to worry if your manuscript is rejected by a top journal. There are still plenty of options for you, including revising your journal options and submitting to another one that is more suitable for your paper. So how do you select the right journal for your dissertation research?
How to choose a journal for your paper
First, you need to identify and list potential target journals in your research field. You can start by checking the journals in your reference list to get an idea of the range of suitable options or use journal selectors. You will then analyze the listed journals to learn more details regarding whether your manuscript fits within their scope and their quality. Always consider the following factors in your journal selection;
1. Journal’s scope and audience
You should read through the journal’s aims & scope and author guidelines to establish the main topics the journal publish articles, what types of articles as well as which focus they like the articles to have, and the intended audience. Select the most appropriate journals based on the topics that they publish. For instance, choose education journals if your research is in the education field. If your aim is to reach scientists in related areas, you may choose more generalized topic journals. Otherwise, you should select specialized ones. For instance, if you are selecting journals in the education field, you may choose those that specialize in early education, elementary, or higher education.
2. Journal ranking and impact factors
Also, it is important to look at the journal’s quality or level of prestige to determine what are your chances of getting published and how long it will take. Top journals with less than a 10% acceptance rate are really competitive and very tough to get into. Even if you get a chance and your article is considered in these prestigious journals, you will be asked to rewrite it several times before it is accepted for publication. There are different journal ranking and impact factors that are used to determine a journal’s reputation;
a) Journal impact factor (JIF)
The impact factor indicates how many articles in that particular journal are cited by other researchers and journal articles. Most journals indicate their impact factors on their websites. You may also create an account on the Web of Science and then, you will be able to check the impact factors (under Journal Citation Reports) and so many other features of the indexed journals.
As an early career researcher, a journal impact factor above 1 is decent, 2 or 3 is better, while 4-5 is a pretty good number. You don’t necessarily need to publish in an A+ listed journal or compete with Ivy League professors in getting your research published in these journals. Rather, it is advisable to go to a reputable journal that is less prestigious or not too highly ranking; one that you have a reasonable chance to get published and won’t take you a huge amount of time to get published.
b) Scimago Journal Rank (SJR)
SCImago Journal Rank is an indicator of the scientific influence of journals. It considers the number of citations received by a journal and the importance of the journals from where these citations come. SJR indicates the average number of weighted citations from publications in Scopus during a given year to a journal’s articles published in the three previous years. Next to the SJR value, the quartile for the journal is provided. It tells if the journal is among the top 25% (expressed as Q1) or at the bottom 25% (Q4) of all journals in that field. Q1 journals are of higher quality or impact than Q2, Q3, and Q4 journals.
SJR is used as an alternative to the Journal Impact Factor, especially for those journals not indexed in the Web of Science. Scopus covers more journals that are not indexed in the Web of Science. You can easily find a journal’s information (ranking, SJR, and h-index) on Resurchify. Kindly note that the impact score indicated in this platform is not the Journal Impact Factor provided in the Journal Citation Report. Rather, it is the impact score based on Scopus data is thus a little higher or different compared to the journal impact factor. Always check the Web of Science for the exact journal impact factor.
c) Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)
The indicator is provided by Scopus and measures the average citation score for articles in a journal in a specific field. Unlike, the Journal Impact Factor, SNIP corrects for differences in citation practices between different disciplines. This means that SNIP can be used to compare journals within different subject areas, something which is not suitable with other indicators like Journal Impact Factor.
d) h-index
h-index reflects both the number of articles and the number of citations per article. For instance, a journal with an h-index of 150 means that 150 of the articles published by the journal have received at least 150 citations. You should only compare the h-index of journals within the same field.
e) CiteScore
This is an indicator provided by Scopus that is based on citations count in all document types indexed by Scopus, including articles, reviews, conference papers, book chapters, and data papers over four years. Citescore metrics have not gained prominence in academia yet and are rarely used in evaluating a journal’s impact. Citescores, SJR, and SNIP are freely available at Scopus.
3. Other factors
Also, consider other factors based on your publication needs, including;
- Indexing: Which databases are the journals indexed in? For instance, if you are a researcher within the field of medicine or health science you want your article to be found in databases like PubMed, MEDLINE, and CINAHL. Or you can choose a journal indexed in multidisciplinary databases such as Web of Science (SCI, SCIE, SSCI, or A&HCI), Scopus, EBSCO, or ProQuest.
- Speed: What is the average number of weeks it takes for an article to be reviewed or reach key points in the publication process? For instance, the time to immediate reject (desk rejection), the time from submission to a decision after peer review, and the time from submission to acceptance.
- Reach: Does the journal have a global or regional readership? Is it accessible to a global or regional audience?
Once you find the perfect fit for your dissertation research, note down the journal’s author instructions and submission page link. Find at least three journals so that you have other publication outlets in case your manuscript is rejected by your first-choice journal. If you are a beginner or struggling to find appropriate journals to submit your research, you can use our journal selection service.