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Research Guides@Tufts

Scholarly Publishing

How can you identify journals to publish your work in? To start, look at the journals you read, that your colleagues read and publish in, and at who you cite in your work. Is there a pattern to those journals?

There are also additional tools that you can use to identify & evaluate journals you're considering publishing in. Browse this section of the guide to learn more about evaluating a journal; tools to use for finding appropriate journals such as journal directories & article analyzers; tools to measure the impact of a journal; and finding an undergraduate research journal to publish in.

Evaluating journals

When considering a journal as a potential place to publish, here are some things you might ask yourself:

Is the journal the right place for my work?

  • Does the subject matter covered in the journal match your scholarship?
  • Do the types of articles published and article length guidelines match with what you want to submit?
  • Who is the audience of the journal?

Is this a trusted journal?

Look for journals where you can answer yes to many of the following questions:

  • Can you identify the publisher? Are they affiliated with an organization you're familiar with? Is there contact information present? 
  • Do the affiliations & backgrounds of the editorial board and authors publishing in the journal appear to be appropriate for the subject matter of the journal?
  • Are articles peer-reviewed?
  • Does the journal have an ISSN, and do articles have DOIs?
  • Are the journal's copyright policies & any fees to publish clear? If you'd like to publish open access, are there options?
  • Is the journal indexed in a database that you use? Some places to check:
    • Web of Science for journals spanning the humanities, social sciences, and STEM fields (select "Publication Name" from the drop down menu next to the search box)
    • Scopus for journals in the social sciences and STEM fields
    • SciFinder for journals in Chemistry and related fields (select "Journal" under the References bar)
    • PubMed for life sciences, biomedical, clinical, and public/community health journals (choose "Journal" from the drop down menu next to the search box)
    • JSTOR for journals spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences (scroll down and search using the "Publication Title" search box)

You can also look at the Think Check Submit checklist, use a journal evaluation tool [pdf], or talk to the library!

Predatory publishers

"Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices."

Grudniewicz, Agnes, et. al. (2019). Predatory journals: No definition, no defence. Nature (London), 576(7786), 210–212. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03759-y.

Visit the website for the journal and consider the questions in the Evaluating journals section above. Some red flags include:

  • The journal is not listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • It's not listed in Ulrichs (Tufts login required), which is an authoritative source on publisher information, including Open Access titles
  • It's not widely available within major databases
  • You don't recognize previously published authors or members of the editorial board
  • The journal isn't affiliated with a university or scholarly organization you are familiar with
  • You can't easily identify if they have author processing fees and/or how much they cost.
  • The journal doesn't appear professional - look for an impact factor, an ISSN, DOIs for individual articles, and easy to find contact information
  • There isn't clear information about a peer-review process, or the journal promises extremely fast turn-around times to publishing that don't allow enough time for review

Journal directories

Use these resources to browse for an appropriate journal for your work, or to research a title that you're considering publishing in.

Article analyzers & journal suggesters

If you've written an article but aren't sure where to submit it, these tools can help. They use your article's title, keywords, abstract, or full text to find journals that have published similar articles. The description for each resource below notes if it's limited to a specific publisher or discipline.

Undergraduate research journals

Undergraduate research journals aren't indexed in many of the sources we typically use for finding journals, so lists of academic journals focused on publishing undergraduate research compiled by universities and organizations are good starting places for finding a place to publish your work:

Some things to consider while looking for an undergraduate research journal to publish your scholarship in include:

  • Does the subject matter covered in the journal match your scholarship?
  • Can you identify the publisher? Are they affiliated with an organization you're familiar with? Is there contact information present? 
  • Do the types of articles published and article length guidelines match with what you want to submit?
  • Is there a submission deadline?
  • Does the journal appear to be currently publishing?
  • Does the journal have an ISSN, and do articles have DOIs?
  • Are the journal's copyright policies clear?

Tools to measure journal impact

Read more about these tools & measures on Hirsh Library's Measuring Research Impact guide.