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Spring 2023 Publishing Academy: Finding A Journal

This LibGuide was developed as an additional resource for the Spring 2023 Publishing Academy, which is a collaborative initiative of the Graduate School and University Libraries.

New to publishing?

Just need a refresher? Use the questions below to determine a journal’s potential for publishing your research. Follow the links to helpful resources for identifying and evaluating journals. Suitability: Is your manuscript a good fit with the stated aims and scope of the journal? How often does the journal publish articles related to the topic of your manuscript? Does the journal encourage inquiries to the editor regarding the suitability of manuscript topics? Are you citing articles that have been published in the journal?Logistics: Are you familiar with the journal’s copyright and open access policies? Have you asked a mentor/colleague to review the manuscript prior to submission? Have you prepared the manuscript according to the journal’s submission guidelines? Does the journal provide a timeline for the peer review process and does it work for you?Impact: Where is the journal indexed? How often are articles in the journal cited? What scholars have published in the journal? How important/influential is the journal within the discipline? How often have you read articles from the journal in your research or studies?Helpful resources for identifying journals to publish in: Journal Directories like Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory and MLADirectory of Periodicals can be found in the UofL Databases A-Z List. IEEE Publication Recommender can be found at publication-recommender. ieee.org and compares journal impact factor and submission-to-publication time for journals. Elsevier Journal Findercan be found at journalfinder. elsevier. com and helps find journals for publishing scientific articles. Helpful resources for measuring journal impact and quality: Incites Journal Citation Reports is available through UofL library’s Databases A-Z List. Choose the Browse by Category option and select your field of study to view top journals and their impact factor. Think Check Submit is an online resource to help researchers make informed decisions about where to publish their work. Librarians are available to help with any of your research needs at library. louisville. edu/ask

Finding Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed Research Sources

What Is ThinkIR?

ThinkIR is an open-access digital repository that showcases the scholarship of the University of Louisville community. ThinkIR enables faculty to highlight their scholarly works, professional accomplishments, and successes as researchers, increasing their worldwide visibility.

Sponsored by the University Libraries, ThinkIR preserves scholarship—including student dissertations, theses, and faculty publications—and makes it freely available to a worldwide audience.

To make the process easier for faculty, the University Libraries provides an Open Access and Repository Coordinator, who offers personalized assistance and is available to consult with faculty via phone, email, in a department meeting or one-on-one.

Journal Matching and Selection Resources

What is Peer Review?


As Murray State University Interim Dean of Libraries Christine L. Ferguson explains in her 2020 Balance Point column "Open Peer Review" for Serials Review, the need for peer review grew with the increase in diverse and specialized submissions to journals. Editors sought input and evaluation of articles from knowledgeable reviewers, or peers. Traditional, or classical, peer review is has some degree of anonymity. 

Single-blind review - (most common) - the reviewers are aware of the authors' identities, but the authors are not aware of the reviewers' identities. 

Double-blind review - neither the author nor the reviewers are aware of the others' identities.

There are both benefits and drawbacks to the traditional peer review process and there are calls for greater transparency in the peer review process. Some journals explore and experiment with various open peer review models in an effort to address concerns.

Learn More:

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