TARGETING A JOURNAL - WHEN & WHERE YOU SHOULD DECIDE TO PUBLISH?



If you do not publish your research you might as well not have conducted it! Research not published equates to research not conducted - a complete waste of time, resources, and money. Choosing a target journal can be a difficult task therefore many researchers are tempted to postpone this task until they complete their works. However,  choosing a journal to target before you begin to prepare your paper is equivalent to setting yourself up for greater success and fewer challenges because of the following reasons: it enables you to tailor your writing to the journal’s audience, to format your paper according to any specific guidelines - which you may find on the journal’s website, and consequently, this saves you a lot of time and effort in the long run including giving you more time to secure funding for the publication costs of the journal. So why publish in journal A and not journal B? Here are some few factors to consider while trying to choose a journal:

Topic: Look to publish where academics working in the same subject discipline as you publish, otherwise you risk your paper not being seen, read and cited - even despite abstract search engines.

Journal's target audience: If you think researchers in other fields will be interested in your study, a journal that covers a broad range of topics may be best. On the other hand, if only researchers in your field are likely to want to read your study, then a field-specific journal would be best.

Journal's reputation/quality/esteem: Aim high and publish in the highest quality journal  (Quality equates to esteem - amongst the attempts to measure the quality are the Impact Factor and Citation Index - both attempt to attribute quality traits - who is reading the paper, who is citing the paper and what influence does it have in the academic field and society? BUT be realistic, make an honest assessment of the piece of research work and target appropriately. We all conduct research some of which we think, "this is good - subject, numbers, results, relevance," whilst other pieces of work are marginal (not enough numbers, subject of marginal interest, results show no significant differences, limited application) - still worth publishing - but in a lower-ranking journal.

Type of paper: For example, if you want to publish a Review Article, find out whether the journal publishes these. If you wish to present a case study or a theorem, ensure that the journal you are targeting actually publishes the type of manuscript you wish to write.

Length restrictions:  Does the journal limit the number of words in the articles it publishes? Can your manuscript meet its requirements? 

Most importantly? just publish! Publish in your institution or university "house" journal if you have to - they will gratefully publish anything although the readership will be very small; amongst people from the same discipline in the same country.

PS: When you have chosen the journal you think is the best fit for your study and your goals, it is usually a good idea to also identify your second- and third-choice journals. That way, if your paper is rejected from your first-choice journal, you can quickly submit to your second-choice journal.






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