Is the Journal Peer-Reviewed?
Peer-reviewed journals are the most credible and respected. For academia, only publications in peer-reviewed journals count for tenure and promotion. Check the journal's website or abstracting and indexing databases, such as the following:
Is the Journal Highly Cited?
Biomedical and nursing journals track the influence of their articles in their respective fields. Publishing your article in a highly cited journal will give your research greater visibility. The following sources of journal metrics include those licensed by UT Southwestern and open access.
InCites JCR Impact Factors This link opens in a new windowJournal Impact Factor (JIF) is defined as all citations to the journal in the current Journal Citation Report (JCR) year to items published in the previous two years, divided by the total number of scholarly items published in the journal in the previous two years. Search the JCR by category (i.e., nursing) or journal title. JCR is not field-normalized and cannot be used to compare across fields. (Note: The impact factor can be found on a journal's website, usually under the “About” or “Journal Information” tab.)
CiteScore (Scopus) This link opens in a new windowCiteScore is the average number of citations received in four calendar years to five peer-reviewed document types published in a journal in the same four years. Search by subject area (i.e., nursing) or journal title. CiteScore is not field-normalized and cannot be used to compare across fields.
SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) This link opens in a new windowAn open access metric weighted by the prestige of a journal. Subject field, quality, and reputation of the journal have a direct effect on the value of a citation. SJR is a field-normalized metric and allows the user to rank their own customized set of sources, regardless of their subject fields. SJR is also retrieved with the CiteScore results.
SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper) This link opens in a new windowAn open access metric, which measures the average citation impact of the publications of a journal. Since SNIP corrects for differences in citation practices between scientific fields, it allows for more accurate between-field comparisons of citation impact. SNIP is also retrieved with the CiteScore results.
Is Open Access (OA) Available?
OA makes scholarly literature available online at no charge, and OA journals often carry less restrictive copyright and licensing barriers than traditionally published works for both the users and the authors. OA journals charge authors a fee to cover the cost of publication.
UT Southwestern has negotiated several agreements that include discounted APCs for authors. The corresponding UT Southwestern author should be aware of available Library benefits when preparing to submit articles for publication.
The OA model has led to the proliferation of "predatory" publishers, which exist only to make money. The following resources offer guidance on identifying these publishers so that users may avoid them.
Will the Journal Be Interested in My Article??
Review the journal’s previous year’s table of contents at the journal's website. Save time by querying your top journals to see if the editor(s) are interested in your topic before submission. See the following link for a sample query letter.
Navigating the Publishing ProcessCitation: Roush, K. (2017). Navigating the publishing process. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 117 (6), 62-67. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000520256.42212.fc.
