1. Deciding When and Where to Submit a Paper
Barbara Gastel
INASP Associate

2. Overview Deciding when (or whether) to publish
Basics of identifying a target journal
Factors to consider
Avoiding predatory journals
Impact: more than impact factor
Suggestions:
- Note the topics that the module will address.
- Note the module’s aim. (Feel free, of course, to frame it in the way that the group is likely to find most relevant.)

3. Discussion Question
How do you decide whether a piece of research is ready to publish?
- The suggested approach is to have pairs of participants discuss this question and then have some participants share responses with the full group.
- An alternative is to have only full-group discussion.
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4. Deciding When (or Whether) to Publish
Some factors to consider: quality of the work, extent of the work, interest to others
Suggestions:
Seek guidance in this regard from others in your field who are more experienced in publishing journal articles.
Present your work orally first. Doing so can help in deciding whether the work is publishable and in shaping the paper.
In the section on factors to consider, perhaps also present the factors as questions (for example: “Is the work good enough?” “Have you gathered enough data?” “Would readers be interested in this work?”). Also, if feasible, it can be useful for the facilitator to present one or more examples in such regards from his or her experience, to elicit examples from participants, or both.
With regard to seeking guidance from those who are more experienced: Possible sources of such guidance include senior colleagues in one’s setting, other colleagues in one’s professional network, and AuthorAID mentors (see If time permits, rather than listing such sources oneself, perhaps elicit such a list from the group.
In discussing the suggestion to present the work orally first, perhaps include these points: The presentation may be local (for instance, at a department seminar) or at a conference. It can be a poster presentation rather than a traditional oral presentation. The amount of interest shown can help gauge publication potential. Also, questions asked can aid in deciding, for example, on points to make in the discussion section of the paper.

5. Identifying a Target Journal: Some Basics
If possible, decide early (before drafting the paper). It’s better not to write the paper and then look for a journal. Why?
Look for journals that have published work similar to yours.
Consider journals that have published work you will cite.
Consult the journal’s website and instructions to authors.
Ask the group why it’s advisable to identify a target journal (journal to which to submit a paper) before writing the paper. Points that should emerge include the following: (1) Different journals, even in the same field, have somewhat different audiences; knowing the journal and thus the audience can aid in gearing a paper appropriately. (2) Different journals have different requirements, for example regarding manuscript format; knowing the target journal allows one to prepare one’s paper appropriately from the start and thus saves time.
Note that journals that have published similar work are likely to be interested in considering the current work.
Mention that if several papers that will be cited are from a given journal, that journal might well be a suitable one.
Note that journals’ websites and instructions to authors often include information useful in deciding whether a given journal is suitable for one’s research. For example, sometimes they list topics on which they wish (and do not wish) to publish articles, say whether they publish certain types of articles (such as review articles and case reports), and say what lengths of articles they accept.
The need to stay somewhat flexible should be noted. For example, sometimes as one writes a paper, it becomes clear that a different journal would be more suitable. And sometimes, of course, the first-choice journal does not accept the paper and so one identifies another journal for submission.

6. Exercise
Consider the following scenario: After following the advice in the previous slide, you have identified 3 journals that seem well suited for the paper that you wish to write. What are some factors to consider in deciding which of the 3 journals will be your first choice?
The instructions for this exercise should be fairly self-explanatory. However, to ensure that all participants are attuned to them, it can be useful to read them aloud (or, perhaps better, have a participant do so) and answer any questions.
Ideally, this exercise would be done in groups of about 2 to 4 participants. If desired, one can then use a pyramid approach, in which each small group shares its ideas with another small group and then the full group develops a master list. Alternatively, one can move directly from small-group to full-group discussion.
In total, about 10 to 15 minutes should be allotted for this part of the module.
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7. Some Factors to Consider
Aims and scope of journal
Audience
Prestige
Impact [to be discussed more later]
Access (open access; general accessibility)
Speed of acceptance and publication; availability of article-based (continuous) publication
?Quality of reproduction of figures?
Publication costs, if any
Likelihood of acceptance
(If desired, each bulleted item on this slide can be shown on a separate slide as it is discussed, or items can be revealed one by one on the slide.)
Perhaps compare this list and what the participants have come up with in the exercise. (This list is not exhaustive but does seem to include most or all of the main considerations.) With regard to the bulleted items on the slide, the following are some points that may be made:
Of course, a paper should be submitted to a journal that has appropriate aims and scope (range of content). As noted, journals’ websites and instructions often indicate aims and scope. Also, looking at some issues of the journal can aid in this regard.
It is important to ask: What audience do you want to inform about your research? The journal should be one that reaches that audience.
Researchers generally strive to publish in prestigious journals. Often, one knows from various discussions which journals in one’s field tend to be considered prestigious. Also, more senior researchers in one’s field can provide guidance in this regard.
It’s good to publish where articles tend to have impact—in other words, where they are noticed and have effects. As will be discussed later, impact is not only a matter of impact factor, which some people mistakenly use as a surrogate for the quality of a journal.
One should also consider access: Are articles in the journal openly accessible? (In other words, are they freely available to all via the Internet, starting at the time of publication?) If not, will they become openly available fairly soon after publication, or are they in a journal that the intended readers regularly receive or can easily obtain?
How fast a journal is likely to accept and publish one’s paper is also a consideration. A journal should publish papers without unnecessary delay. However, publishing papers very quickly may indicate that the journal is not a valid one that provides proper review and editing. Given the time needed for review, editing, and production, it is realistic in many fields to expect somewhere from several months to about a year to elapse between submission and final publication. Some journals publish the dates of submission, acceptance, and publication on papers or indicate typical timeframes in their instructions or elsewhere. Also, experienced colleagues sometimes can say how long some journals typically take to publish papers. It should be noted that some journals post papers online once they are accepted; the papers later appear in issues of the journal.
Traditionally, when journals appeared only in print, quality of printing was a consideration in choosing a journal, especially if an article contained photographs or other figures for which high resolution is important. Now that journals commonly appear online, quality of printing may be less of a consideration.
Authors often worry about publication costs. Because open access journals do not receive payment for subscriptions, they typically must charge authors to cover costs. Some other journals also have publication fees. Many journals reduce or waive fees for authors from developing countries; if it is not clear from a journal’s website whether the journal does so, an author can contact the journal office to ask. Also, it should be noted that some funding sources allow grant funds to be used for publication fees; researchers may want to keep this fact in mind when preparing the budgets for grant proposals.
Finally, authors should consider likelihood of acceptance. For example, it is unrealistic to submit yo Nature or Science a paper reporting findings of interest only in one’s subspecialty. In general, good advice is to aim high but not impossibly high. If one’s paper is not accepted, one can then revise it and submit it to a less competitive journal.
Note: It can be valuable for the facilitator to note factors that he or she has considered in deciding where to submit one or more of his or her papers. It also can be worthwhile to ask participants for their experience in this regard.
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8. To Be Avoided: Predatory Journals
“Journals” that obtain publication fees but are not valid peer-reviewed scholarly publications
Some clues that a journal might be predatory (especially if several such items are present):
Unrealistically broad scope
Unrealistically short stated turnaround times
Flashy but poorly crafted, ungrammatical websites
Fake metrics
Incomplete contact information
Inclusion in Beall’s List
Perhaps ask whether anyone in the group has any familiarity with predatory journals.
Note that such journals often send researchers inviting them to submit papers. Advise participants to evaluate such requests carefully, to determine whether they are from valid journals.
Mention that Beall’s list is a list of journals that are suspected of being predatory.
If Internet access might not be available when this presentation is given, perhaps follow this slide with a slide showing the Beall’s list homepage.
(More information on the topic can be obtained by searching the AuthorAID website, using the search term “predatory journals”. Also of interest might be the website

9. Some Research
Frank E. Authors’ criteria for selecting journals. JAMA 1994;272:
Presents findings from one medical school
Interesting: criteria differed for first and later submissions of paper
Top factors for first submission: prestige, readership, usual content of journal
Top factors for later submissions: likelihood of acceptance, usual content of journal
If desired, the facilitator and other participants may compare these findings with their own experience.

10. Impact
Impact Factor (from Science Citation Index—Journal Citation Reports)
Indicates how much articles in the journal tend to be cited
Does not say how much a given article will be cited
Not valid for comparison from field to field
Changes over time
Other impact—for example, on practice, policy, teaching, and media coverage
A point to emphasize is that although impact factor is correlated somewhat with the prominence of a journal, it is not the only factor to consider.
It may be noted that the impact factor was developed not to indicate quality of journals but rather to show which journals are used most and thus may be most worthwhile for libraries to buy.
If the facilitator is knowledgeable about impact factors and if the audience is interested, the facilitator may elaborate somewhat on the points about impact factor. Also, examples may be given.
It should be emphasized that other types of impact (listed in the last bulleted item) can be important to consider.

11. Moving Beyond Impact Factor: Some Resources
Article-Level Metrics: A SPARC Primer
From SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)
Discusses indicators of the impact of individual articles (for example, views, downloads, citations, social-media mentions, news coverage)
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (“DORA”)
Links to both resources are provided. It can be helpful to show the resources.
Note that article-level metrics can be helpful when, for example, researchers are being considered for promotion.
Note that the DORA provides recommendations for improving how research output is evaluated.

12. In Conclusion Questions and answers Wrap-up
If time permits, include a question-and-answer session before ending.
Perhaps do one or more of the following:
Ask each group member to write down three points that he or she is taking away from the session. Then have people share the points—either with those sitting near them, with the full group, or both.
Have participants meet in small groups to discuss, in light of the workshop content, possible choices of journal for papers they are planning to write. Then have some of the participants share some points with the full group.
Summarize the session.
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13. Wishing you all the best!
- End by expressing the hope that the session will be helpful and by providing additional encouragement.
- If this module is part of a workshop, course, or series, perhaps note what is upcoming.
- Perhaps encourage group members to share points from this session with others.
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