Researchers
School of Nursing Librarian
How to Choose a Journal
There are steps you can take to ensure you select a high-quality journal that aligns with your scholarly goals.
Basic Questions
Consider these questions to help compare journals you are considering:
- Readership: What is the intended audience of the journal?
- Scope: What is the focus and scope of the journal?
- Peer Review: Is the journal peer-reviewed?
- Relevance: Does the journal publish the kind of publication you intend to write? (i.e. journal article, book review, review, letter etc.)
- Reputation:
- Consult Journal Citation Reports to find out the impact factor and where the journal is ranked in its category.
- Examine the list of editors for names you recognize in your field
- Avoid "predatory" journals by consulting our Guide on How to Avoid Predatory Journals.
- Citation: Examine the journals that publish the articles you are using as a background information. Is the journal being cited by other researchers in the field?
- Timeliness: Consider the amount of time it takes from submission to publication.
- Indexing: Is the journal indexed in PubMed/Ovid MEDLINE, Web of Science, CINAHL or other reputable literature database?
- Cost: Does the journal charge for publishing, e.g. an Article Processing Fee for choosing to make your article open access?
- Open Access:
- Is the journal content open access? If so, how, through a fee?
- Does the journal facilitate compliance with the NIH Open Access Policy by depositing your manuscript into PubMedCentral?
- NEW! Is there funding support for UVA authors, including discounts and coverage for open access fees? See below to learn more:
Publisher Description Learn More ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) Open access article processing charges for all ACM journals, magazines, and proceedings are covered by VIVA (Virginia's academic library consortium) through December 31, 2024. This arrangement does not include books or book chapters.
Read more BMJ Case
ReportsSee Instructions for Authors for a user guide and help on how to submit cases. For access problems or questions, Contact BMJ. To submit your article, connect to the submission page while on a UVA computer network and reference the UVA Fellowship Code, found here. Cambridge Includes coverage of publishing fees for open access articles published in certain fully open access journals or subscription journals with an open access option (hybrid journals) through December 31, 2024.
CUP’s Open Access waiver web site includes a list of eligible journal titles.
Use the tool on this page to learn about eligibility and what journals are covered. Rockefeller University Press Article processing charges for articles published in Rockefeller University Press (RUP) hybrid journals are covered by VIVA (Virginia's academic library consortium) until December 31, 2023. Journal titles: Journal of Cell Biology (JCB), Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), and Journal of General Physiology (JGP). To qualify, the article must be accepted for publication by December 31, 2023.
Read more Wiley Article processing charges for Wiley fully gold open access journals and subscription journals with an open access option (Wiley's hybrid journals) may be covered by VIVA (Virginia’s academic library consortium) until December 31, 2024.
Read the VIVA Wiley FAQ and the workflow to request funding.
Journal Selection Tools
Even after considering the above characteristics, choosing a journal can be difficult. Below are some tools that can help. Most allow you to copy and paste keywords or your entire abstract and then suggest journals with similar publications:
- Clarivate Manuscript Match
- Journal/Author Name Estimator (JANE)
- Anne O'Tate (perform your search and then click Journals from the left menu)
- Edantz Journal Selector (works best with a sentence or full abstract; must register for more features)
- Elsevier Journal Finder (specific to Elsevier journals)
- Springer Journal Suggestor (specific to Springer journals)
It may also be helpful to do a PubMed search on your keywords, then sort your results by Journal (click on Display options then Sort by Journal). You may want to limit your results by Year as well (from the menu on the left) to see what journals have been publishing lately on your topic.
Copy of Library Resources for the UVA School of Nursing
*** Evidence Based Practice Tools ***
1. DATABASES
| PubMed (Primary/Secondary) | PsycINFO (Primary/Secondary) |
| CINAHL (Primary/Secondary) | Cochrane Library (Secondary/Primary(TRIALS Tab)) |
| Web of Science (Primary/Secondary) | ClinicalTrials.gov (Primary) |
Search Tutorials
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CINAHL Search TutorialShort video tutorial on how to do an Advanced Search in CINAHL. Video will download to your computer when you click on the link.
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CINAHL Export to Zotero TutorialVideo tutorial on the best way to export citations from CINAHL to Zotero.
2. CITATION MANAGER (ZOTERO)
Download Zotero client and web connector and then customize your Zotero client using document linked below.
3. PROCESS DOCUMENTATION (PRISMA FLOW DIAGRAM TEMPLATE AND GENERATOR)
Click this link for instructions on how to document your research process using Zotero and the PRISMA Flow Diagram Template.
4. CRITICAL APPRAISAL
CASP and JOANNA BRIGGS (Use to appraise evidence in articles you are using in your research)
To critically appraise evidence, select relevant templates from CASP and Joanna Briggs. Sometimes you may need to use both tools if your research combines quantitative and qualitative research.
The tools above are complex and require a steep learning curve. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me for guidance.
Grey Literature Search (Google search limiting results to .gov, .org, and .edu sites)
Guidelines
Finding clinical practice guidelines can be tricky. Start with these resources, and reach out to a librarian if you get stuck.
The levels of evidence pyramid provides a way to visualize both the quality of evidence and the amount of evidence available. Evidence is broken down into three categories: Critical Appraisal (filtered), Experimental & Observational Studies (unfiltered), and Background Information. As you go down the pyramid, the amount of evidence increases as the quality of the evidence decreases.
Miscellaneous
- Inclusion/Exclusion Guide - Guide for developing inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Prospero - Registry of systematic reviews.
- Review Types (Research) - A list of common literature review methods
- Sample Literature Review Tables
Clinical Tools
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ClinicalKey This link opens in a new windowClick on the "Practice Guidelines" menu in the top toolbar to search for guidelines. Search by authoring organization, specialty, or topic.
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ClinicalTrials.gov This link opens in a new windowThe U.S. National Library of Medicine's registry and results database of publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants conducted around the world.
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Essential Evidence Plus (Formerly InfoRetriever) This link opens in a new windowConsists of 8 separate databases that provide new research information, basic drug information, evidence-based clinical guidelines, and clinical decision-making tools.
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UpToDate This link opens in a new windowA physician authored clinical decision support resource with synthesized evidence ideal for point-of-care decisions. Compiles the most recent information to support its evidence-based recommendations.
CMHSL Research Team (Advanced Research Support)
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