Selecting a research journal

Selecting an outlet for your research articles

A topic in research methodology

Publishing research is very important for an academic. (See: Publishing research.) There is also an ethical imperative to publish research that has been supported by public finds, or has relied on voluntary participation of members of the public as long as the research is robust. (See: Research ethics.)

Some factors to consider:

The figure above represents some of the considerations to be made when selecting a journal.

In particular, it is important to consider:

Journal scope

A journal may have a broad scope ('social sciences', 'education') or may be narrower ('science education', 'chemistry education', 'science teacher education', etc.) Some journals may have a bias towards, or tend to publish certain types of work or work undertaken from particular stances (e.g., experimental research, work related to social equity issues, work in the post-Freudian or Marxist tradition or whatever.)

Most research journals publish research reports – but they differ in whether they publish reviews of literature, theoretical articles, book reviews, etc.

Journals do not publish work out of scope, ¹ so do research available information on websites, and survey the kind of work published in the journal before targetting it.

You should also consider the scope the journal give authors to discuss their work…

Word limits and guides

Most journals set either approximate guides on how long an article should be, or a limit above which submissions are not considered. These limits may vary quite a bit.

For a complex, multi-phase study, or research that requires 'thick description' of context (e.g., case study) reporting with extensive evidence from qualitative data (e.g., when building theory by an immersive approach to data analysis: see approaches to qualitative data analysis) it may be advantageous to select a journal which allows longer submissions.

As examples (as at September 2020):

"A typical paper for this journal should be no more than 8500 words, inclusive of tables, references, figure captions."

International Journal of Science Education 

"A typical paper for this journal should be no more than 20 000 words. This limit does not include tables, references, figure captions, footnotes, endnotes."

Studies in Science Education

"We encourage authors to submit papers to a maximum length of 6000 words including references (shorter contributions are welcome)."

Research in Science Education

"An Article (5000 words) describes a novel educational idea or approach, content for the classroom or laboratory, pedagogical advance… for CER [Chemical Education Research] manuscripts, the recommended word limit for this category of article is 7000."

Journal of Chemical Education

"Major articles should generally be no longer than
4000 words…"

School Science Review (n.b., read 'Research journals and practitioner journals')

Publication model

More people are likely to read your work if it is freely available, rather than behind a paywall. Some research sponsors require publications to be open-access (although this may only mean making an author's manuscript version available in a repository).

However, if the journal is not able to sell you article, they will usually expect you to pay a publication fee. Unless the journal is sponsored it is unlikely to provide free or open access without a charge. (Chemistry Education Research and Practice (Royal Society of Chemistry) has a free publication model because it is sponsored by the Education Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research (Springer) is funded by Beijing Normal University. But these are exceptions.)

It may be that your project has funding built in for your publication, or that the publisher has an existing agreement without your institution that will cover publication costs – otherwise you may have to pay from your own pocket.

A note on contingency

Often a submission is not accepted by the first journal you send a manuscript to (perhaps because the reviewers do not recognise the strengths and importance of your work, or perhaps because you do not fully appreciate its limitations?). If you have selected a journal, and written a paper for it, and it is rejected, then you need to fin another outlet. You will probably have to do some reworking before you can submit to another journal.

If you have written for a journal which had quite unique requirements you may find there is no other suitable quality journal that the manuscript could be readily revised for. For example if you write a 20 000 word review of a topic for Studies in Science Education ('Studies'), and the work is not accepted then the manuscript will be much too long to be considered by the International Journal of Science Education, Science Education, Research in Science Education, the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, etcetera.

[In this particular example, the editors of Studies have been prepared to offer a general indication of whether an outline for a review is likely to be seriously considered for publication.]

Identifying quality journals

The following are indicators of quality journals. No one indicator is definitive, so look across a range of indicators, most of which can be determined form the journal webpages.

• Longevity: how long has the journal been regularly publishing? Of course, even the most well-established journals were new at one time. However, many new journals may not be around for very long.
• Publisher: Is the journal published by a commercial publisher, or a by a learned society or academic institution? If a commercial publisher, is it one with a international reputation for quality publications (Springer Nature, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Elsevier…?)
• Editor: Is the editor / editor in chief in post at a major research university and known for their work in the field of the journal.
• Editorial board: does the editorial board include well-known academics in the field, based at high reputation research-intensive universities across the world?
• Authors: do top researchers in the field commonly publish work in the journal?
• Index: Is the journal included in indexes of research outputs in its field?
• Rejection rate: Most journals receive a good deal of material off scope, and much poor quality material. So a good journal rejects most submissions (as most are simply not suitable for publication). (See: An unpublished Theory of Everything.)
• Citation index (impact factor): Does the journal have an impact factor certified by a major indexing service (e.g., Thomson-Reuters'  Science Citation Index)

Read about Journal impact factors

The following should make you suspicious of a journal, and may suggest a 'predatory journal'. Again, you need to look across indicators.

• Solicitation: You are emailed directly to 'invite' you to submit an article (unless you are already very well known in your field), especially when the journal seems some way from your specialism, or when it cites something you have published which seems unaltered to the journal. (See: The Editorial Board of Medical Imaging Process & Technology; The application of Cronbach's alpha in Mechatronical Engineering.)
• Variety!: Does the journal publish high energy physics, sociology, and literary criticism? Are you invited to submit a paper, but told that if you do not have one, you can send a case report, book review, thought-piece, shopping list (okay, I made up the last item).
• The journal has a name very similar to a well established research journal (e.g. the Journal of Chemistry: Education Research and Practice is NOT the highly regarded journal Chemistry Education Research and Practice.)
• Very quick turn around: The journal offers a decision on a submission within days or a few weeks. (See: Publish at speed, recant at leisure.)
• The journal claims a high citation index – but it seems to have been awarded by an organisation that is not well known. (See: Publish at speed, recant at leisure.)
• Does the article processing charge seem very high?

Read more about 'predatory journals'

Now you have made your choice, read about submitting to a research journal.

Note:

¹ At least, respectable journals do not publish articles out of scope. However predatory journals may not be so selective. See, for example, The mystery of the disappearing authors