Selecting the right journal for your research

Submitting a paper to an unsuitable journal is a key cause of article rejection. When selecting a Hindawi journal, take the time to review a journal’s aims and scope to confirm that it is suitable for your manuscript. The sections and questions below will help you make the best choice when deciding where to publish your research.

Journal focus

Does the journal cover a wide range of topics or is it more focused? 

For subject-specific journals, only relevant manuscripts will be considered for publication. If your article is cross-disciplinary or covers multiple topics, then a broader-scoped journal will be more suitable for publication of your article. You can easily find the aims and scopes of our journals on their websites and these will provide you will a clear understanding of what kind of research will be considered. 

    Journal content

    What type of content has the journal published previously? 

    As a reader, would you expect to see your article alongside the existing articles? Are they articles that you might have read during the course of your research? It is also worthwhile to check if a journal publishes Special Issues that are relevant to your area of research - these targeted, timely, and insightful collections of articles can give a very good indication of the kinds of content a journal publishes.

      Journal metrics

      How long does it take to receive decisions on a submission to the journal?

      It is important to know the average time it takes a submission to receive a final decision or how long it takes after an article has been accepted to being published. Knowing this information about the publication process means that you will understand when you can expect to hear from a journal editor or when your paper will be published. It is also important to understand what proportion of submissions are accepted by a journal so you can have the best idea of the likelihood or your article being accepted for publication. All of our journals have all of this information clearly displayed so you can make the most informed decision about where to publish.

        Journal impact

        What is the impact of the journal? 

        The Impact Factor of a journal is a consideration for authors, but many journals without Impact Factors are also important. The Impact Factor is generally skewed towards certain disciplines or types of publication and often journals without an Impact Factor are much more relevant to practitioners or very specific readerships. To help you make the best choice you may want to consider alternative statistical metrics, such as the Eigenfactor or Citescore, in your decision making. Readership is also an important indicator of impact, and all of our journals now publish article-level metrics, such as usage statistics to help you better understand an article’s impact.

          Discoverability

          Will the right readers be able to easily find your articles? 

          Consider where a journal is distributed and whether it is indexed in the services that you use to discover articles. Journals indexed in major databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed are likely to receive more downloads and citations as a result of their improved discoverability.

            Journal cost

            What are the costs of publishing? 

            Like many other Open Access publishers, Hindawi charges an article processing charge (APC) to cover the cost of publishing. This allows us to make the articles we publish freely available to all readers. We are committed to a transparent pricing structure, and you will always be able to find the current costs of publishing in our journals before you submit your manuscript. If you meet certain criteria, you may also be eligible for a waiver - making it completely free to publish in one of our journals. See our guide ‘What are article processing charges?’ for more detail on APCs.

            Once you’ve chosen a journal that meets your needs, you’re ready to begin the submission process! See our ‘Ready to submit?‘ page for guidance on submitting your manuscript.

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