There are so many journals out there, and of varying quality, so it's important to choose journals wisely and publish your research in reputable outlets.
Check the following when choosing a journal to publish your research in:
Think. Check. Submit. - use the checklist to assess whether a journal is trusted.
Cabell's Scholarly Analytics - use the Journalytics tab to see trusted scholarly journals in your discipline. The Predatory Reports tab shows some journals identified as predatory, based on Cabell's criteria (Please note: this is not a comprehensive list).
Deceptive Publishers checklist - take a look at this guide from University of Toronto to help identify and avoid unethical publishing practices
Predatory Publishing: A to Z - guide from Australia's Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA)
| Metric | What is it? | When should I use? | Where do I access it? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Journal Impact Factor (JIF) (Web of Science data) |
Shows how often the average article is cited in a given journal, based on two-year window 5-year Impact Factor also available |
When a journal is indexed in Web of Science When you want to see journal quality by Impact Factor and journal category ranking |
InCites Journal Citation Reports Web of Science – in article search results, click on the journal title for pop-up window showing JIF and category ranking |
|
CiteScore (Scopus data) |
Shows how often the average article is cited in a given journal, based on three-year window
|
When a journal is indexed in Scopus Alternative to Journal Impact Factor |
Scopus – in article search results, click on the journal title to access CiteScore, SJR and SNIP for that title. Alternatively, click on ‘Compare Sources’ to compare metrics for up to 10 journals |
|
SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) (Scopus data) |
Uses an algorithm where citations are weighted, based on the prestige of the journal they come from
|
When a journal is indexed in Scopus Journals in disciplines with higher citation frequency (e.g. Life and Health Sciences) tend to have higher SJR values |
Scopus – in article search results, click on the journal title to access CiteScore, SJR and SNIP for that title. Alternatively, click on ‘Compare Sources’ to compare metrics for up to 10 journals Also freely available from SCImago |
|
Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) (Scopus data) |
Normalises for citation differences between fields, using an algorithm that gives a higher value to citations in fields where citations occur less often |
When a journal is indexed in Scopus Journals in engineering, computer science and social sciences tend to have higher SNIP values |
Scopus – in article search results, click on the journal title to access CiteScore, SJR and SNIP for that title. Alternatively, click on ‘Compare Sources’ to compare metrics for up to 10 journals |