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Identify Journals for Publication

This guide outlines common considerations for authors as they identify journal options for article publication.

First Search Steps

Two good first steps to identify journal options are to:

  1. Review the journals on your references list.
  2. Search subject databases that you and others in your discipline commonly use. Try searching for your article's title or keywords to find similar articles, and review the journals where they were published.

Use Journal Matching Tools

Use matching tools to get journal recommendations based on your article's title, abstract, keywords, reference list, and/or full text.

Publisher-Neutral Tools

Publisher-Provided Tools

Find Open Access Journals

Many publisher websites and journal indexes allow you to search or filter for open access journals. Other ways to find open access publishing options include:

Narrow Your Options

Once you have a list of journal options, compare them against your publishing needs. Which most closely align with your criteria?

Another way to narrow your options is to determine which journals have published the most articles about your specific topic or approach and which are currently publishing research similar to yours.

Do a keyword search across all of a journal's issues to see how often they have published on the specific topic of your article, and note how recently they published these articles.