Poll: reasons when selecting a journal to submit a paper
April 29, 2013 4 Comments
Choosing the journal where to send our paper is critical for two main reasons:
- Objective factors. The main thing is that it fits in our publication strategy: indexed, with impact factor, peer reviewed, open access, among other criteria.
- Subjective factors. Then, and not the least, we have to find the journal that is looking for the kind of research and manuscript that we have written. This way we could avoid sending our paper to multiple journals, wasting our time and morale.
How to publish in journals 
One main question was not included: authorisation to pre-publishing (www.arxiv.org). That it is the only way to certify the date of our work, otherwise you get in the dependence of your paper be aproved by one journal, a situation that can delay for YEARS. Not to mention the delay in making public your work. That is why sending to multiple journals at the same time is not inmorale. If there is a cost for the journal (Do they pay for reviewers? I do not think they do) the author could pay for the reviewing.
Another question that was left out was about the institutional factors. Often the choice of a journal is based on what is on the institutions journal list and thus counts for tenure and promotion.
I agree with Michael Cuellar, we in Brazil have a list of journals with an associated value determined independently by the Ministry of Education Agency, or the Ministry of Science and Technology. It was made by scientists, but is not appropiated for many branches of physics.
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