Choosing a publication channel
It is important to choose a reliable and suitable publication channel. The publication channel you choose determines how easily your target audience can find and access your publication. It can also influence their assessment of whether your publication is worth reading.
The classic way to identify suitable journals is to pay attention to which publication channels recur in your references. Nowadays, most major publishers also provide tools, often called something like “Journal Finder” or “Manuscript Matcher”, where you can upload your abstract and get tips on which of the publisher's journals best matches the topic of your paper.
It can also be helpful, especially for doctoral students, if their department or research group provides a list of frequently used publication channels. Upon request, the LTH's Fesearch Support group can also assist with such lists, based on the units’ publication history.
How?
To match your manuscript with a journal or conference indexed in Web of Science, use "Manuscript matcher" (Clarivate's website)
If you want to find a suitable open access journal based on title, abstract, or references, go to:
Additional tools for identifying journals where important debates take place are:
When publishing in a scientific journal or conference series, you should check whether the journal/conference series is indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Publications in these databases form the basis for national funding allocation and international rankings. Publications indexed in these databases might also be easier for other researchers to find. In addition, the channels included are quality-controlled by the database, meaning that there is less risk of them being dubious/”predatory”.
For more specialized fields of knowledge and/or fields of knowledge with a more diversified publication landscape, having published in certain journals or conferences outside these databases may also be important, for example when being peer-reviewed during research funding applications. In such cases, it is particularly important that this is made explicit in the research group.
How?
Use the following tools to check whether a journal or conference is indexed in important databases:
Publications in highly ranked publication channels may have an advantage in attracting citations. It is therefore a good idea to consider how different channels are ranked before submitting your manuscript.
Examples of rankings that can be consulted are the Journal Impact Factor (Web of Science), CiteScore (Scopus), and the so-called Norwegian list (which also ranks conference series and book publishers). In some cases, however, the scientific field in question may be so specialized that it is only covered by a few journals; in such cases, knowledge of which of these journals are considered to be highly regarded should be made explicit within the department or research group.
How?
Look up how different publication channels are ranked:
- Journal Checkup (Linköping University website).
- "Norska listan" (Norwegian Directorate for higher Education and skills website)
- Indexed Journals, incl. CiteScore (Scopus website)
- Journal Citation Reports, incl. Journal Impact Factor (Clarivate's website)
You can also look up how your unit's publications and journals are cited and ranked in Kuben, a tool for monitoring and analysis. Log in to the system, then select Ledningsrapporter and then Bibliometridashboard.
LTH researchers should follow LU:s guidelines for open access (OA), which stipulate that LU publications should, to the greatest extent possible, be published freely available. For journal articles, this can be achieved by publishing in fully OA journals, publishing in hybrid journals covered by LU:s publishing agreement, or by uploading a copy of the accepted author manuscript to LU:s LUCRIS database ("self-archiving").
For other types of publications, uploading a copy of the publication to LUCRIS is usually the easiest way to make it openly available. Consult the publisher’s policy on this before submitting your manuscript.
Also remember to check whether there are any conditions set by your funding body. For example, the embargo periods applied by many publishers in the case of self-archiving often exceed the open access time-limits set by funders.
How?
- Find fully OA journals (Open policy finder, Jisc's website)
- Search for journals included in LU:s publishing agreement (Scifree's website) Please note that some publishing agreement will soon be up for re-negotiation: more on re-negotiation of publishing agreements (Lund University library’s website).
- Check the journal's policy on self-archiving in (Open policy's website)
Open access publishing is often financed through article processing charges (APC), whereby the researcher pays for publication instead of the university paying for a subscription. Unfortunately, this change in the financial model has led to dubious actors establishing themselves in the publishing market. These journals and conferences tend to offer rapid publication. In practice, however, this often means that your publication does not undergo proper peer review, will not be findable in the major databases, is not counted for in research evaluations, and runs the risk disappearing from the web entirely if the journal is discontinued.
How?
In fields where development is rapid, the sometimes long turnaround times of journals can be a problem. Some publishers provide turnaround statistics, but if such figures are not available, you may need to consult colleagues who have previously published in the journal about their experiences of the publication process.
Extremely short turnaround times can also be problematic, as they may indicate insufficient peer review. Publishers' Journal Finder-type tools often contain information about turnaround times.
One alternative when the publication process is protracted is to first publish your manuscript on a preprint server. If so, you will need to make sure that the journal you intend to submit accepts manuscripts previously available as preprints. Also, be aware that citations to preprint publications are usually not usually counted as citations to the final publication.