Skip to Main Content

Case Reports: Journal Selection

Predatory Publishers

A good rule of thumb is to check if the journal is indexed in PubMed. Type the title of the journal in the search box of NCBI Journal Database.  (As of March 2017, more than 5,600 journals are currently indexed in PubMed (MEDLINE). 

*************************************************************

Another quick way is to see if the journal has been published by a predatory open access publisher in the past. Check out Beall's predatory publisher list.  

*************************************************************

Finally, here is more comprehensive checklist for the quality journal yourself. 

Where to Publish?

 MedBio Worldhttp://www.medbioworld.com/

Not familiar with the journals in your field/specialty or journals publishing the topic of your research interest? Try MedBio World.

From the homepage of this website, choose the "Journal Listings incl. JCR ranking" right below the menu bar. You can choose from 80 topics and you will get a comprehensive list of journals that publish manuscripts on the chosen topic.  

***************************************************************

JANE: Journal Author Name Estimator (jane.biosemantics.org/)

Not sure to which journal you should submit a manuscript? Try JANE.

Just enter the title and abstract of your manuscript in the box and click on "Find Journals". JANE will then compare your abstract to millions of documents in PubMed/MEDLINE to find the best matching journals. Don't forget to check out examples of articles published by the journal. 

***************************************************************

Scopus's Analyze Results tool can help you with which journals are publishing on your topic. 

Search Scopus on your topic. Then click on Analyze Results at the top right of the results list. At the next screen, select the Source tab. Review the list of journals. 

***************************************************************

Create a custom journal filter in your MyNCBI 

Make a filter that has all the potentional journals in your MyNCBI in PubMed. You don't know what I am taking about? Ask me to show you all the cool filters that can save your time. 

Journal Impact Factor

Journal Metrics by Scopus
Check out the journal metrics provided by Scopus.  This is similar to Impact Factor provided by Web of Science. Both are indicator of a journal's impact. 

**************************************

There is a limit in impact factor!
 Kurmis AP 2003 Understanding the limitations of the journal impact factorJournal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 85-A(12): 2449-2454.

Image Map