Finding the best vehicle in which to publish your research findings is a perennial challenge. Choosing the wrong journal can result in your publication being delayed with you having to commit considerable resources to handling unnecessary journal rejections and preparing alternative journal submissions. One of the most common reasons for manuscript rejection is poorly considered journal selection. An informed process that targets optimal journal identification will save you time, money and heartache. Our handy guide Ready!, Aim!, Fire! released this week is already one of our most downloaded Insider’s Insights [1].

Choosing which journal to publish in has become more and more complex following the many changes to the publishing landscape. Open access, online only and pay-to-view choices have been added to the more traditional considerations: impact factor, publication lead-time and your target journal’s ambition to be identified as an elite publication. The proliferation of new journals and novel areas of specialisation coupled with the emergence of interdisciplinary topics have only served to further confound the selection process. Key takeaways include:

• Even the best journal selection process will come to nothing if you don’t have a realistic and objective opinion of the true ‘value’ of your work.
• Choosing a journal in the absence of a structured process is like setting out on a journey without a map – you may arrive at your destination but it will take longer than you hoped and success involves a degree of luck.
• Journal rejection is common; most manuscripts submitted to prestigious journals are rejected. One of the most common reasons for manuscript rejection is poorly considered journal selection. An informed process that targets optimal journal identification will save you time, money and heartache.
• It is essential to have a Plan B in the form of a shortlist of journals you will consider if your first choice rejects your manuscript.
• You have the best chance of achieving your publishing goals if you identify your target journal before you start writing your manuscript.
• Gather any information you can about potential candidate journals, the more information you have the better informed the outcome.
• Accept that your research may reach a broader audience and have greater reader engagement if published in a less prestigious journal focused on your field of study.
• Rationalise why you selected the journal in your letter to the editor at the time of submission, giving evidence where appropriate.

If you are still struggling to decide which journal to select we would normally ask ourselves whether the findings of the work shifts any paradigms in the field. If yes, we advise the author to aim for the highest impact, broader scope journal in the list. If the findings are solid and the study complete, but unlikely to be paradigm-changing we would advise an author to go for the specialty journal in the field that is read by most investigators in that area. Our work suggests that little attention has been focused in the scientific literature on the mechanisms that authors use to select a journal for their work. Nevertheless, scientists for the most part seem to have a good sense of where their papers are most likely to be accepted.

References

1. Ready! Aim! Fire! An Insider’s Insight to Targeted Journal Selection, Niche Science & Technology Ltd., 2015.