The following are some factors to consider when choosing where to submit your manuscript for publication:

Readership

• Do scholars in your field regularly read this journal? If you're not sure, ask colleagues or look at similar papers to see what journals they're published in.

Scope

• Visit the journal website and read the About the Journal or Information for Authors section to ensure your article fits within the journal's scope and article requirements.

Credibility

Consult a resource such as Think. Check. Submit to help you evaluate whether a journal is trustworthy. See the Predatory Publishers section of this guide for some red flags to avoid.

Peer Review

• Reputable journals are peer reviewed (though peer review is not in itself a guarantee of quality). Consult the journal website to familiarize yourself with the journal's peer review process before submitting.

Open Access / Visibility

• Is open access important to you? Are you required by a funder to make your article open access?
• Open access can contribute to greater research visibility, since the work is not behind a paywall.
• Consult the Directory of Open Access Journals to locate reputable open access journals.

Indexing

• Your article will be more 'findable' if the journal is indexed in relevant databases in your field.
• To find out where a particular journal is indexed, look up the journal in Ulrichsweb or ask a librarian.

Reputation and Rankings

• If journal citation rates and/or prestige are important to you, you may wish to consider various journal metrics.

These tools might help you narrow down your search for a journal to publish in, but they are not a replacement for your own evaluation of whether a particular journal is reputable and meets your specific publishing needs. Note that tools hosted by a particular publisher will only recommend journals from that publisher, so using more than one tool is advisable.

Clarivate Manuscript Matcher
(Clarivate login required. Also available under the Match menu in EndNote Online or via EndNote 20)

IEEE Publication Recommender

Elsevier Journal Finder

JANE (Journal/Author Name Estimator)
for journals in PubMed

Springer Journal Suggester