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Where to Publish Your Research

This guide will show you tools to help you identify where to submit your manuscript.

Evaluating Journals

Before you submit an article, try to find the journal's website. Browse other articles in your subject area and evaluate their quality. See who is listed as an editor and search the web to see that the individuals listed mention their editing duties elsewhere (such as university profiles or academic social media).

At a minimum you should check for the following information:

Journal Name

  • Good: Journal name is recognizable and unique.
  • Questionable: Name could be easily confused with a well known journal.
     

Peer Review

  • Good: Peer review process is explained.
  • Questionable: Process is not mentioned, or mentions a "rapid peer review" process.
     

Author Fees

  • Good: Article Processing Charge is clearly displayed.
  • Questionable: Journal's site is unclear about fees.
     

Archives

  • Good: Several articles have already been published and are accessible on the journal's website.
  • Questionable: Previous articles do not exist or are not available on the website.
     

Journal Indexing

  • Good: The journal appears in databases you are familiar with.
  • Questionable: The journal cannot be found in any known databases.

If you find one or more questionable item on the journal's website, it may be from a predatory publisher.

Adapted from: Loyola Marymount University's Journal Evaluation Tool: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/librarian_pubs/40/

Phony vs. Legit Publishers

Phony vs Legit Publishers Infographic

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Evaluating Scholarly Journals Infographic by Allen Press via FrontMatter (CC BY ND NC 3.0)