RETIRED - Journal Publication Information

Cabells Journalytics provides a curated list of over 11,000 academic journals spanning 18 disciplines which guides researchers and institutions in getting the most impact out of their research. You’ll find publisher names, audience types, acceptance rates, and links directly to the journal website.

The absence of a journal from Cabell's does not necessarily indicate that the title is poor quality. There are other resources that can help you assess quality and fit below.

Journal Information

Journal Information: Ulrich’s directory can provide basic data, such as subject classification, price, history of title changes, where indexed, and contact (see the link to Ulrich's in Multidisciplinary Periodical Indexes below).

Evaluation Metrics: Impact Factors and Other Journal Ranking Measures

Impact factors and other relative journal ranking measures can be found in Journal Citation Reports, Eigenfactor, Google Journal Metrics, and Scimago. [For more information about metrics, see the Journal Ranking page within this LibGuide.]

Submission Details: Acceptance Rates

Many publishers consider acceptance rates proprietary information and thus do not display such information on their websites. The following are strategies to search for acceptance rates:

1. Make direct contact with the journal editor (contact information available on Ulrich’s or by googling the journal);
2. Contact the learned society and/or publisher (sometimes one in the same):  The American Psychological Association (APA) is exceptionally transparent and provides acceptance rate and other statistics about their journals, handily compiled on their website;
3. Seek reliable crowd-sourced information:
   • JournalReviewer: the brainchild of Malte Elson, Ruhr University Bochum, and James D. Ivory, Virginia Tech, this independent site aggregates the information that users provide about their experience with academic journals' review processes; the site’s goal is to provide users with “detailed information to help them choose the best journal for the specific details of their unique submission situation.”
   • Metrics Toolkit: a collaborative venture with the purpose of helping scholars and evaluators understand and use citations, web metrics, and altmetrics responsibly in the evaluation of research;
   • SciRev.org: SciRev.org website is owned and maintained by the "Stichting SciRev", a nonprofit organization (charity) located in The Netherlands; they aim to “help science by making the peer review process more efficient.”
4. Be cautious about relying upon information that does not reveal anything about the creator’s credentials. Be wary of predatory publishers: consult Think Check Submit [note that Beall’s list is no longer maintained];
5. For more information, contact your subject librarian. 

See the LibGuide of the library at U. of Michigan.

Consider access when scouting for a publishing opportunity.  Affordability is one of the chief factors in determining accessibility. 

Library Journal advises academic libraries to expect a price increase in the 6 to 6.5% range.  In general, for-profit publishers charge more than non-profit publishers.  The search engine of economists Ted Bergstrom and Preston McAfee ranks journals by price per article or citation:  http://www.journalprices.com/.  When seeking publishing opportunities, we urge you to use this search engine to investigate the cost-effectiveness of various journals and to consider publishing in open access journals or other alternatives.

Ulrichsweb is a source of basic information on more than 300,000 periodicals in all subject areas, including academic and scholarly journals, Open Access publications, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, and newsletters.  

Elsevier's Journal Finder helps prospective authors find an Elsevier journal to match their abstract.

Instructions to Authors in the Health & Life Sciences are compiled by University of Toledo’s Mulford Health Science Library in this search engine.  It provides links to Web sites for over 6,000 journals in the health sciences, as well as links to author, journal editor and peer reviewer codes of conduct and standards for particular methodologies.

Jane is the Journal Author Name Estimator hosted by the Biosemantics Group of Erasumus University and Leiden University.  It enables you to search for a Medline-indexed journal in which to publish.  It matches words in your abstract and suggests journals based upon same.

See the Selected Journals on Teaching and Learning, a list compiled by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

APA Journal Statistics and Operations Data  Provides rejection rates, circulation data, publication lag time, and other statistics for over 60 Psychology journals.

The following sources provide listings by subject of scholarly, peer reviewed open access journals:

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - over 10,000 titles from this source are listed in UNC Libraries Journal Title list
• Education Research Global Observatory maintains a Directory of Open Access Scholarly Journals in Education

Traditional publishers are offering open access journals:

• Elsevier Open Access Journals
• Pure Gold Open Access Journals at Sage
• Springer Open
• Taylor & Francis Open and Routledge Open
• Wiley Open Access

A "hybrid" journal is a traditional journal that offers authors two options:  (1) traditional publication of their article, such that it is only accessible to subscribers; or (2) for a fee, the author's article is made openly and freely accessible.  Below are links to the informational pages of several major publishers regarding the fees required to be paid by authors if they choose to make their work openly accessible:

Elsevier Open Access Options

Oxford Open

Sage Choice

Springer Open Choice

Taylor and Francis Open Access

Wiley Online Open

APA journals Call for Papers

Elsevier Business and Management journals Call for Papers

Elsevier Economics and Finance journals Call for Papers

Taylor & Francis Call for Papers across all disciplines