There are journals in known publishers like Elsevier, Wiley, Springer, etc. without impact factor. Is it okay to publish in these journals?
I am a new researcher. Thank you all for your help.
For your information, not all journals have an Impact Factor (IF), mainly because it is based on a 2 (or 3) year citation window. So, any journal which started with publishing in 2018 or 2019 do not have IF, and this does not necessary imply it is not a reputable. Next, borrowing from Dean Whitehead : the better the IF of a journal, the more likely that it is a reputable and established journal.
For your information, not all journals have an Impact Factor (IF), mainly because it is based on a 2 (or 3) year citation window. So, any journal which started with publishing in 2018 or 2019 do not have IF, and this does not necessary imply it is not a reputable. Next, borrowing from Dean Whitehead : the better the IF of a journal, the more likely that it is a reputable and established journal.
Take time to consider what your future goals are. When getting started on a research career, there can be a quite a bit of pressure to seek out the most prestigious and highest impact journals. Some graduate students are looking to publish as part of graduation/committee requirements.
Advise I received later was to identify a list of the top journals related to the field of research, then submit to the highest first, then move down the line if rejected.
I recommend to also consider 'time to first decision' metrics of journals. The faster you can get feedback, the more likely you can improve/edit/submit/publish. Good luck!
Romelyn - good advice from both Anton and Cory. You are correct to be cautious about journals with no impact factor - but then do some 'homework' as to why that might be. If they are published by the global and recognised publishing houses that you mention - they are almost certainly 'safe' from a perdatory journal stance. All journals have to 'start somewhere' and we should support them as best we can. It could also be that the journal covers a 'niche' topic discipline - whereby the citation pool is more limited and specific.
From your personal perspective, you may have to consider what your institution recommends i.e. they may state a minimum IF/Q-ranking.
As a post graduate Master/PhD degree candidate, you do not submit your papers to no/low impact journals or no/low rank conferences. This is because, when you publishing your work in conferences during you degree/training and getting feedback; this means you certifying and confirming the importance of your work through peer reviews (It also make the job of your examiner-reviewers much easier).
In such circumstances, I suggest you only to submit your work-papers, preferably to well reputed high impact journals and conferences. It counts for the grades of your degree and confidence.
Journal selection to publish depends on many factors among which:
- the requirements of your program and university,
- the quality and originality of your research
- your experience, etc. JIF is just one of these criteria.
About JIF: Only journals included in the Web of Science (WOS) (Journal Citation Report) calculate this indicator.
Scimago has a similar indicator - SJR, but only for Scopus (Elsevier) journals.
The number of journals included in WOS is very small and biased towards journals in English. SciMago is more open, but equally quite selective.
In any case you should try to avoid journals which "beg" for contributions, even if they have some (low) impact factor. They are often "fake journals" which charge you a lot of money ("publication fee", "processing charges" etc.). In the worst case, papers published in such journals are useless for your scientific career. Beware of inquiries like the one shown in the attachment. I receive such e-mails almost every day.
Hello Romelyn, I would have to agree with Cory on this. It would be practical to first list down the top 3-5 journals related to your research topic/s and then submit to the one with the highest IF and then move on to the next if rejected.
Frank raised a very good point too. It pays to be aware of such predatory/deceptive journals. Consulting your advisors and more senior colleagues would be a great help on this issue.
Good luck! =)
Thank you for your question. I would say the answer to your question depends on several factors. If you are a PhD student and this work is part of your thesis, you should aim at publishing in journals with good impact factor in the field of your work. Successful publication in these journals may open doors for you for post-doctoral fellowships and finding jobs after completing your PhD.
However, if you are researching while you are an undergraduate student or intern, you may start publishing your work in these journals and aim for journals listed in PubMed or Scopus.
New journals usually do not have IF at the beginning. It would do you good favour to target PubMed indexed journal, even if they do not have IF yet, certainly, in near time they get citations and if indexed in databases such as WoS their Citation Report may give them a shining image.
@ Romelyn Anoya I think it depends on the requirements needed to obtain your degree. In some specialties it is not compulsory to publish in High impact factor journals to obtain your PhD diploma. In the same time, we should not deny that a successful publication in these journals will make the difference in your CV and also in your career.
Publication in high IF is necessary but not compulsory for a PhD degree in some countries and very compulsory in some. In all, the focus should be on career development.
Is it okay to publish in a journal without an impact factor?
Depends upon your program / university /research requirement and field of study.
Also how quick you would like the publication to happen.
University requirements and how much reliable (not fake) lead you to decide the selection of journals
Even if you publish your research in a non-impacted journal, make sure you are not paying a single penny for that. This is what I see first when I look for a journal to submit my new manuscript. Till date I have not paid a single penny for my any published papers.
Secondly I look for the impact factor. The more the better, but you have to see the content of your manuscript too. Whether it is suited for a higher impact factor journal or not. Whether you have performed such studies which match the standards of paper published in the particular journal. It may take time to find the perfect journal for submitting the manuscript, but that would be worth the wait. Later you will regret when rejections come from wrong selections made in a haste. So it is better to select the journal properly. It is you who know your work the best and also its potential for publication in any particular journal.
If your work is just run-of-the-mill or a work which is lagging behind in publication due to some reasons or it's a small review or anything else which you feel can be published in a non-impacted journal also, you can go for it. After-all a published paper is better than just unpublished data which is only accessible to you.
Regards
I prefer that your research be published in specialized and refereed journals, and they have an impact factor.
Sure, I think it is OK. Nowadays sometimes it is often better to publish in open access journals with unrestricted access. Also, it is better to publish somewhere than not to publish at all, especially if you have some valuable ideas that you described in unpublished works (such as Ph.D. thesis).
There is no harm in publishing in a no IF journal especially if you are a new researcher. One has to start somewhere and getting a paper published can help one publish more in the future especially in higher IF journals.
Journals with an IF are preferable for scholars in the sciences, technology, medicine, etc. That being said, there are reputable independent peer reviewed journals in others fields such as theology that do not have an IF. With this in mind, I think that while it is important to consider if the journal has an IF it is also important to consider the target audience and which journal(s) facilitate that connection.
Yes, you can publish in non-IF journals, especially, open access journals which might still be good for publishing your work because of their thorough review processes.
Sadly, most universities nowadays look down on publications and don't take them into account, unless the journal is indexed with Scopus and has an impact factor. Conference papers, most books or book chapters, as well as translation work, count almost nothing when applying for a position or for promotion. However, it is becoming more and more difficult to publish in SCI or SSCI journals because, as there are too many submissions, most of them are rejected. Generally, it takes one year to publish a paper, so it should better be published in a reputable journal. Beware of journals that publish articles too fast, a disturbing number of journals don't even read the articles they receive. Ergo, the incredible number of scandals related to retracted papers.
By the way, I advise to check this famous blog:
https://retractionwatch.com/
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