When publishing at Charles Sturt it is recommended that you first check that the journal is in:

• The SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) is publicly available and includes journal Quartile ranks developed from the Scopus database.
• The Charles Sturt Publication Ranking Lists (CSU login required)

The CSU Research Productivity Index (CSU login required) allocate points depending on type of publication. 

When considering the quality of appropriate journals in which to publish your research include:

• Is it peer-reviewed? – What is the process and the prestige of the editorial team or contributors?
• Is it indexed in major indexes (Scopus, Web-of-Science, Medline …)?
• What are the journal policies for ethics, data deposits and reporting schemas (clinical trials registrations, data sharing)?
• Is the journal's included in the Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) List of Eligible Journals
• Will the article reach the desired audience?

Tips

• Use CiteScore to help you evaluate journals, book series, conference proceedings, and trade journals.
• Use SCImago Journal and Country Rank to compare journals in most disciplines. SCImago illustrates Journal quality or ranks, often determined through the use of metrics.
• Look at Citations in: 
  • Web-of-Science
  • Scopus

Keep in mind that some research disciplines can be disadvantaged by reliance on metrics alone. For more information on how to evaluate and compare journals and their metrics see Journal Ranking on our Research Metrics, Impact and Engagement Guide.

Is the journal relevant to your research audience?

Consider:

• The relevance of the scope and audience of the journal.
• Is your article adding to a conversation occurring in the journal? Are you citing articles from that journal?
• Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory lists journals in all disciplines. It is useful if your research is cross disciplinary and you are not familiar with potential journals in related areas.
• Ranked Journal Lists by Discipline.
  • Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List.  The list is divided into four categories of quality denoted as A*, A, B, C. It is a journal quality list ranking journals in 15 sub-disciplines in business, economics and law.
  • Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Quality Guide.
  • Australian Political Studies Association (APSA)   Updated preferred journal rankings for the 1606 and 1605 FOR codes by APSA.
  • ERIHPLUS  European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences.
  • Core Rankings Portal Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia publications in Computer Science and Information Technology.
• Using Scopus or Web of Science to find journals with highly cited articles on your topic.
• The CSU Research Outputs Collection (ROC) criteria for journals.

Some Journals charge an Article Processing Charge (APC). You can check the cost before you submit on the Journal's website, but at Charles Sturt you might get help through the:

• Open Access Publishing Scheme
• Read and Publish agreements

See the Open Access Publishing guide for further information.

Check the publishers website for:

• Journal acceptance rates
• Time taken for peer review
• Time taken to publish accepted articles

Discoverability

Is the journal:

• Indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, CABI, ABI/Inform or another reputable database?  Non indexed journals are less visible to the international research community.
• Included in the Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory? The Ulrichs directory will indicate the online availability of Journals in a range of scholarly databases.
• Available in full text online and can the full text content be accessed by the intended audience?

Use Think, Check, Submit. This website can help you to make an informed decision on where to publish.

Tools for Journal Rankings

• Use Scopus to find highly ranked journal articles on a topic - look at where are they published
• The SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) is publicly available and includes Journal Quartile Ranks developed from the Scopus database.
• Use the Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory to find out more about peer reviewed journals in your discipline - it includes links to publishers' websites, refereed status and list of indexing services.

Directories

• The Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) List of Eligible Journals
• Web of Science Master Journal List
• Google Scholar Top Publications
• Elsevier Journal Finder
• Jane  Journal/Author Name Estimator
• CWTS Journal Indicators
• The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Journals in this directory must meet criteria prior to being listed.
• SHERPA/RoMEO is a searchable database of publisher policies on the self-archiving of journal articles on the web and in Open Access repositories.

Manuscript Matchers available for Charles Sturt researchers

• Elsevier Journal Finder
• EndNote Manuscript Matcher Clarivate  
• Wiley Manuscript Matcher
• Jane (PubMed)
• IEEE Publication Recommender
• Scopus Journal Analyser - Instructions on: Using the Journal Analyzer Tool in Scopus
• B!SON - looks for Open Access journals

These tools aren’t perfect. For example, Ulrichsweb includes some journals that publish peer reviewed + non-peer reviewed content; the DOAJ might not include all quality open access journals, and recently de-listed 900+ journals that did not meet its published Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing