Getting Published

Below are tools to help you choose a journal suitable for your topic and of sufficient quality. 

Start with this How to Assess a Journal guide. 

There are online tools for matching your title/abstract to a suitable journal 

• Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE) matches to journals in Pubmed
• Master Journal List matches to journals in Web of Science

Citation-based metrics and journal rankings are one way to compare a journal's standing and influence. No single metric is perfect; different platforms give different impact factors for the same journal. However, they are useful for getting an impression of the journal's influence and therefore selecting where to publish. Find journal-level metrics in:

• SCIMAGO Journal Rankings takes into account journal prestige by applying a weighted score, so citations from a prestigious journal score more highly for each citation. Note: Scopus only counts citations in journals which are indexed by Scopus. 
• Google Scholar Metrics ranks journals by their five-year h-index and h-median metrics. 
• Clarivate Analytics Journal Citation Reports is sourced from Web of Science Core Collection. Many universities subscribe to this tool. 

Predatory journals are open access journals which look like legitimate journals but they provide a poor or non-existent peer review service. They sometimes charge submission fees and publication fees to authors. They may also accept most or all papers submitted to them. After publishing in a predatory journal, authors may find it difficult to publish the same paper in a legitimate journal. Note: PubMed contains predatory journals, as publishers self-submit their indexing. 

"Get Me Off Your F***ing Mailing List" is a well-known hoax paper which a predatory journal theoretically peer reviewed and then accepted. They tried to charge a fee to publish it.  

Think, Check, Submit provides checklists to help you identify if your chosen journal/book is trusted. 

You must not submit your manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously. There are ethical and legal ramifications, as well as your own reputational damage. 

See the International Committee of Medical Journal Editor's guidelines on Overlapping Publications

Not many journals accept case reports. Each journal will specify whether they do in their 'author guidelines'. A 2023 project created an up to date and extensive list of 1028 journals that currently accept case reports. The list is available from Open Science Framework public page. 

Read about the project Gotschall, T., Spencer, A., Hoogland, M. A., Cortez, E., & Irish, E. (2023). Journals accepting case reports. J Med Libr Assoc, 111(4), 819-822. https://doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2023.1747 

One option for NSLHD staff is BMJ Case Reports. NSLHD staff can submit case reports to this journal free of charge. 

Quality journals will use peer review to independently assess your research paper. It aims to evaluate the paper’s quality and suitability for publication.

The publisher Taylor and Francis has given a list of the common reason manuscripts are rejected.

Some publishers offer a 'transfer' or 'cascade' service to authors when their paper is rejected. The publisher will suggest submitting your paper to a different one of their journals. This process is designed for papers which aren’t suitable for the journal they were originally submitted to.