Speak to colleagues who have published widely. Where have they published, what was their experience and what advice can they offer? Liaise with the Research Support Librarian who will be able to provide advice on where to publish.
Look through your references. If you have referenced articles from a particular journal you know they publish articles on a topic you are interested in.
Systematically search for journals use your research keywords and save these titles as a journal shortlist. Most good literature databases, including Library Search, will have options to create accounts and save searches - make use of these services to help create a journal shortlist.
Sign up for journal alerts. Alerts are especially useful for tracking special issues and choosing conferences that are linked to journals. A good conference paper can turn into a journal article with little or no revisions.
Record some notes about each journal, for example -
The publisher - who are they? Do they have a good reputation? Ask around.
What Open Access options are available? Green, Gold or Diamond? What licence can be applied to articles to stipulate how they can be used? See Terminology pages for definitions and consider what Open Access policies your research funder may have in place, including Research England. Be mindful that most research funders will require any outputs produced as a result of a funded research project to be published Open Access with a particular (Creative Commons) licence. Non compliance could result in sanctions.
Publication fees - if there are fees to submit or publish with the journal, what exactly do they cover? Make sure the other quality-assurance checks above are met before considering publishing in a journal that charges the author. Beware of predatory journals that masquerade as quality, Open Access journals.
Peer-review - what is their process for peer-review? Single blind / Double blind / Open review / Transparent review - see Terminology pages for definitions and consider the pros and cons of each for your own situation, audience, ethics and career stage.
Recent content - are the named authors and editors people that you recognise / are respected in the field?
The website - how is it presented and is it easy to navigate? Would your article get lost amongst the rest?
Persistent identifiers - are articles given a DOI, making them citable and easily discoverable online?
Who indexes the journal? Are articles indexed by the major journal databases, e.g. Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, all of which have quality assurance protocols to select which titles they include.
Turnaround time - if this is relevant in your discipline, how quick is the journal's turnaround time from submission to publication?
International or UK-based - this could be important depending on who your target audience is.
What Altmetrics and bibliometrics are associated with this journal? These are potential indicators of a journal's reach and impact.
Feeling like it's lot to take in?
Your Academic Librarian will know where to look to find a wide variety of conferences and journals. They can also help with systematic searching and setting up accounts and alerts so key information can come to you. Get in touch with them for help and assistance - you might be surprised!
