LibGuides: Writing & Publication: Choosing a Journal

Identifying Relevant Journals

These resources can help you identify journals relevant to your subject and provide further information such as whether the journal is indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed and publisher guidelines.

SPI-Hub: Scholarly Publishing Information Hub This link opens in a new window
Free Public Access
Decision support journal identification & evaluation tool for prospective authors. Identifies journals based on topics, and allows for comparison of impact factors, indexing location, open access and archiving policies and more from the Center for Knowledge Management at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

JANE (Journal/Author Name Estimator)
Have you recently written a paper, but you’re not sure to which journal you should submit it? Or maybe you want to find relevant articles to cite in your paper? Or are you an editor, and do you need to find reviewers for a particular paper? Just enter the title and/or abstract of the paper in the box, and click on ‘Find journals’, ‘Find authors’ or ‘Find Articles’. A keyword search is also available.

Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities This link opens in a new window
UA campus; remote with MyBama login
Cabell’s provides an interactive, searchable database which covers 18 distinct academic disciplines from more than ten thousand international scholarly journals. Includes titles in health administration, community and global health, psychiatry, medical education, nursing, and other related topics, but currently missing many titles in clinical medical sciences.

Ulrichsweb: Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory
Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory provides data on regularly published and irregularly issued serials since 1979. This reference provides purchasing and contact information (conventional and electronic) for publishers in various countries.
Journals Currently Indexed in MEDLINE
Searchable list of journals currently indexed in the MEDLINE, articles published in these journals will be findable in PubMed and other resources that include the MEDLINE index

Journal Ranking Tools

These resources are designed to provide journal rankings within disciplines or to help you evaluate journals.

Assessing a Publication Handout

Journal Citation Reports This link opens in a new window
A database of Thomas Reuters, JCR offers a systematic, objective means to critically evaluate the world's leading journals, with quantifiable, statistical information based on citation data. By compiling articles' cited references, JCR helps to measure research influence and impact at the journal and category levels, and shows the relationship between citing and cited journals. Available in Science and Social Sciences editions.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
Journal metrics available by choosing "Sources" in top of page menu.

SCImago Journal and Country Rank
Rank, analyze, and compare hundreds of journals and countries publishing on Science and Medicine.
Google Scholar Journal Rankings - Health & Medicine

Open Access Publishing Agreements

The University of Alabama has a Read and Publish Agreement with Cambridge University Press that allows UA authors to publish articles under and Open Access license without corresponding open access charges in Cambridge journals.

A partial list of relevant health sciences journals include: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness; Epidemiology & Infection; Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences; Health Economics, Policy and Law; Palliative & Supportive Care; Primary Health Care Research & Development; Psychological Medicine; and Public Health Nutrition.

Avoiding Predatory Publishers

Questions to ask yourself:

Is this journal indexed in a reputable database such as MEDLINE or Web of Science?
Is this journal affiliated with a professional organization, university, or trusted publisher? What are the editorial board members' credentials?
Do their peer review process and timeline seem realistic and valid? What are their acceptance rates?
What do the journals impact metrics look like? (Search the title using one of the tools in the Journal Rankings section.)
If it is an open access journal, is it listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals? Are they members of reputable industry organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics or the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association? If you search online, is it included in lists of predatory publishers?

Resources for Evaluation

Think. Check. Submit
Think. Check. Submit. helps researchers identify trusted journals for their research.
Through a range of tools and practical resources, this international, cross-sector initiative aims to educate researchers, promote integrity, and build trust in credible research and publications.
Journal Evaluation Tool from Loyola Marymont University Librarians
Follow a checklist to assign values to specific features of a journal, then add up the scores to receive a rating

Always feel free to ask your librarians!