I choose based on the following;

• Is the journal recognized in the scientific community (ignoring predatory journals)
• Is there a publication charge?
• Does the subject of my article match the journal's subject focus?
• Does the journal accept the article type I intend to submit?
• Is the journal regarded as a prestigious one in my field
• What is the average review time for articles submitted to the journal?
• Journals which have most of the references

I choose based on the following;

• Is the journal recognized in the scientific community (ignoring predatory journals)
• Is there a publication charge?
• Does the subject of my article match the journal's subject focus?
• Does the journal accept the article type I intend to submit?
• Is the journal regarded as a prestigious one in my field
• What is the average review time for articles submitted to the journal?
• Journals which have most of the references

Dear Mahfuz,

The first thing to consider is the field and merit of a journal. The second, whether my idea, results and performance are suitable or not for the journal. Generally, I prefer journals with a good history of publishing in the field I work.

Publisher/country?

Dear @Mahfuz, there are many good answers under following thread, link attached!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_your_journal_selection_strategy_in_publishing_papers_that_you_have_written#view=5468b6afd2fd64377a8b4571

I do think that this tool might be good! How to find the journal that's right for you?

http://www.edanzediting.com/journal_selector

It's not an easy task determining which solution of the perfect journal for your article to choose. Here are some criteria to consider and sources for this information: time to publication, subject area(s) covered by the journal, types of articles published, reputation of the journal and audience of journal.

I choose a journal for publishing my scientific research based on the quality of my work; if the work is not qualitative, then I leave it without publication.

Dear All,

My immediate concern is whether members of the editorial board are recognized authorities; next is the scope of the journal and its aim and purposes and I would ensure that it is peer reviewed.

Being a food engineer, I prefer food engineering Journals most relevant to the contents of the article so  that it can be useful to the people working in the same field. Then there are a number of ways to ascertain standard of the Journal in terms of the quality of articles published in it.

Hi All, One of the major criterion for selecting the journal must be its field which must be  as per the field of you research and having good Impact Factor and publishing history. Tools as described by @Ljubomir Jacić may also be used for selecting the journal. Thanks.

Dear Dr. Mahfuz,

I look for journals in my area, no publication fee and small time for evaluation.

Use the bases:

-CrossRef

-JCR

-Scopus

-Scielo

- Capes (Brazil)

I also recommend the question indicated by Dr. Ljubomir.

Thank You for sharing the question.

Best Regards,

Vanessa

First of all choose the acceptable journal within the interest of the subject of paper, a known publisher and It journals recommended by the university to which I belong has.

Looking at Aims and scope of the journal also helps in the selection.

Elsevier© Journal Finder helps you find journals that could be best suited for publishing your scientific article. 

http://journalfinder.elsevier.com/

Dear  Mahfuz As pointed out already by @Ljubomir and  @Vanessa your question was asked in RG already. Yet I  give my point of view here as it  is a popular tread in RG. In recent years, attention to research excellence evaluation has increased. So journal selection can be a headache too!  Here are some very simple rules (criteria) for deciding on journal selection:

• Quality
• Editorial board
• Acceptance rate
• Time to publication
• Journal circulation
• Visibility

According to Tijssen (2003) publishing strategies are meant to improve the impact of good quality research. Using these techniques to upgrade CVs or boosting research performance ratings of research groups is a dangerous tactic. According to Bourne (2005) it is better to publish one paper in a quality journal than multiple papers in lesser journals. Try to publish in journals that have high impact factors; chances are your paper will have high impact, too, if accepted.

Bourne, P.E. (2005). Ten simple rules for getting published. PLoS Comput Biol 1(5): e57.

Tijssen, R.J.W. (2003). Scoreboards of research excellence. Research Evaluation, 12(2): 91-104.

For completeness, full-text of these resources are attached.

I think that the journal must be free of charge, indexed and refereed (JCR, CrossRef, Scopus). Short time of evaluation is very important too.

I agree. Free of charge! and short time of evaluation.

I guess all the factors pointed by the collegues are to considered. But one thing, for sure, makes me run away: invitations to publish that come with $$$$$$$$$ information. Those guys cannot be taken seriously: they just want easy Money.

Good, recognized, high-quality, serious journals don't need that...

I went over the 21 contributions of dear RG colleagues & found them very good. My addition is that some publishing journals are no more than  businesses seeking money. Unfortunately, some academia scholars have paid for them simply because these scholars are "cornered" by persistent demands for publishing. Low quality researches are abundant & these journals are "safe havens" for such researches because the formula is simple: pay money & we shall publish whatever you send.  

Henrique is partly right only. All the open access journal require paying publication cost - but they also have to invite authors to send papers  - especially, if the journals are new.  It does not mean collecting only money, the reviewing quality and other factors will show these journals are real or only money collecting invaluable journals.

Dear Dr. Nizar,

I agree with you that some publishing journals are no more than businesses seeking money. That is a big problem. Some journals, issuing Volume No. 1 or 2 , at the same time, they send e-mails stating that they have a high impact factor.

Dear Behrouz,

Your answer is highly appreciated. The criteria you stated about choosing the good publishing journal is rich and valuable.

good reputation in the specific research community

large readership in the relevant field

good speed of review and high-quality reviews

doe not take too long to get published

1. Compatible with the focus of my research

2. Reasonable impact factor

3. Frequent citations

4. Peer reviewed journal

5. Speed of evaluation process

6. Reasonable publication fee

I believe subject of the article should match the journal's subject focus. How can a researcher holding a PhD in Marketing send her/his article in Marketing to a journal focusing on Agriculture.

Dear Kamal, I always highly appreciate your comments. I agree with you that the journal should be specialized, indexed and refereed.

Dear Dr Mahfuz ,

So far as relevance of Marketing in Agriculture is concerned, Agricultural Marketing is a vital wing of Agriculture.

www.edanzediting.com/content/choose_journal_right_you

www.edanzediting.com/journal_selector

@Behrouz Ahmadi-Nedushan perceptively mentions something related to my chief criterion for selecting a journal: Does the journal accept the article type I intend to submit?

Directlly related to what @Behrouz Ahmadi-Nedushan mentions is the following question:

What articles related to my research have been published in a particular journal in the past?

In addition, one should look for results in published articles (in a particular journal) that directly or indirectly relate to results in an article being prepared for submission.

These two issues are important, since the style required for an article (most journals supply LaTeX templates) and the principal topics of interest are key issues in preparing an article for submission.    From a journal Editor's point of view, the topics in an article that you submit control the choice of reviewers for a submitted article.

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2007_04_06/caredit.a0700046

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/09/nobel-winner-boycott-science-journals

International, indexed, refereed and within my field of study.

Impact factor is not the only criteria for publishing my research work, despite the fact that I have not published a single paper in a non-impact factor journal so far. Apart from IF, the journal standing and reputation in my subject area, its scope, good and competitive editorial board, and a good and efficient peer review system are the other criteria for choosing it for publishing my research.

Preparing a manuscript is a serious job. So, at the time of selecting a journal. I keep in  mind that my work should reach to the appropriate readers. Therefore the journal readership is also a criteria for selecting it for publication of my work.

I agree with Vanessa but also when considering where I should submit my work, the Impact factor can give guidance but should NOT be the sole reason to submit to a journal. The Impact Factor tells us how many times the papers in one journal are cited on AVERAGE but it does NOT give an indication about a single paper.

The impact factor can be influenced by the Editorial policies of journals and the turnover of research in a certain field. For example, more recent citations will be made in a very “fast” subject area like cancer. We also just saw that reviews articles are generally better cited, so journals publishing only review articles tend to have higher impact factors as well. 

I agree with Gamal that IF cannot be the sole criteria for selecting a journal. But this is also true that you compare the IF of journals in your field only. For example, if my expertise is in Maths or say Water Resources, then why should I care about the IF of a 'cancer' journal.

The Journal should be specialized, refereed, and indexed and fast. 

Yes Shafig, you are right because the specialization, peer-reviewed, indexing, and speed are all the necessary criteria for selecting a journal, particularly the speed at which the journal processes the submitted paper is very much important.

Optimizing discoverability and access of  the research is the surest way to enhance its visibility and impact.

There are various strategies for authors to consider as they undertake research.

Repetition, consistency, and an awareness of the intended audience form the basis of publication.

https://becker.wustl.edu/impact-assessment/strategies

The criteria for choosing a good journal may differ from one researcher to another. A researcher may give more priority to speed while another may give priority to who is the publisher.

Sometimes, you can save time if you send your paper to the appropriate journal instead of waiting a long time until you get an approval or rejection from a higher impact journal.

Yes, I fully agree with the views of Mahfuz, that there is no universal criteria or rule to select a journal. But, rather it is very individual specific as rightly pointed out in his post.

Well, while choosing a journal I look for journal which is the best match to my work and impact factor. Speed hardly matters for me as I believe even if sometimes it takes long time (a year or more), at the end of the day you"ll feel proud to be a contributor to the top journal in your research domain. For example, in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, IEEE is considered as the best platform for publishing your work. I am also one of the reviewers for few journals and IEEE transactions. We are usually instructed to submit reviews within 6 weeks. So, if you get a delayed review, it might be the fault of that reviewer only. Still, you prefer IEEE journals and transactions next time as you know the importance of publishing papers there.

Journals differ in the quality of articles they publish, the exposure they provide to an author's work, and their subject matter. Therefore, careful selection of a journal, taking into account both scientific and practical considerations, is essential. Important points to be considered in this regard include, topics covered by the journal, target audience, types of articles, length restrictions, time to publication, reputation of the journal in terms of impact factor, stature of the authors that publish in the journal, and the size of the journal's readership.

I totally agree with Satyabrata that  while choosing a journal I look for journal which is the best match to my work and impact factor. Speed hardly matters for me as I believe even if sometimes it takes long time (a year or more), at the end of the day you"ll feel proud to be a contributor to the top journal in your research domain. For example, in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, IEEE is considered as the best platform for publishing your work. I am also one of the reviewers for few journals and IEEE transactions. We are usually instructed to submit reviews within 6 weeks. So, if you get a delayed review, it might be the fault of that reviewer only. Still, you prefer IEEE journals and transactions next time as you know the importance of publishing papers there.

I agree with @ all..

I prefer mininal processing time along with fees..

and importantly a good indexing..

I wish I would have chosen more :-) That would have meant that I would have been at the time better informed of the impact of the journals and I would have had more often decent material to submit !

Internet and the large availability of indexing systems only appeared recently in science history changing the way people work and make on informed basis their decisions. News on-line journals not so prestigious as some traditional issues have great merit also, as they enable you, when you're not backed by an institution and teams cross-signing at 15 authors various inter-linked papers, to keep working and publishing material.

We can seek the advice of our colleagues as well. Asking these Question also helps us in selecting the appropriate journal:

What is purely scientific in an age of excessive commercialization, dear Kamal?! 

I agree with all the experts. I prefer journals which have high reputation in my selected topic of research, take minimal processing charges, publish fast and user friendly.

Usually by the editorial times, ie the time needed for a decision and by the years that the journal is operating: I don't want a journal that next year will disappear.

Dear Eraldo,

Your comment is highly appreciated. I agree with you that a researcher should try to evaluate whether the journal has too high standards compared to your abilities. 

Your question is not a simple one to answer and, in my opinion, more difficult to give a unique answer. Nevertheless, I will try to make practical comments on my experience in publishing papers in different journals.

The first decision that always made when a paper is ready for publication is to find the best possible journal that can be interested in publishing it, first among those journals that I ready know, but also consulting new journals in the same field that are well known in the specific field of the paper.

I try to avoid paying fees as much as I can, something that not always is possible to achieve. The reason is very simple: it is difficult to accept that your efforts in preparing the paper and the fee that you have to pay in tope of that to publish, it will not be recompensed with some of the income that the paper will generate for the journal.

In the selection of the journal, I always check my previous experience with the different journals with whom I have work with, the fees paid, if any, the quality of the publication, etc. The decision to pay a fee is always associated with the quality of the paper, the recognition that the journal has in the field, the importance of the content of the paper, etc.

Other criteria such as the length of the review process, its quality, among others are difficult to be considered in the selection of the journal, because you cannot be sure that the revision of your paper will take a lot of time or not, or the review process will satisfy your expectation or not, or if the paper will be accepted without major amendments or not or will be rejected, etc.

For me the most important thing to care of is the quality of the paper.

Journals in Science Citation Index (SCI) list are favoured by my fellow researchers, and after this top criterion, we also look into other factors like Impact Factor, Citation Index of papers in this journal, Average reviewing time, Publishing queue, Relevance and reputation of this journal in my research area etc.

Scopus-indexed international journals also have good reputation in Universities, Industry and Research Organizations.

Best wishes, Sundar

Publication must give appropriate credit to all authors for their roles in the research. Many professional associations and research journals have specified criteria for authorship. One common standard appearing in many of  these statements is that each author should have participated in formulating the research problem, interpreting the results, and writing the research paper, and should be prepared to defend the publication against criticisms.Departments or other academic units might consider drawing up statements of criteria and procedures for certification of authorship appropriate to their own units. A person whose contribution merits co-authorship should be named even in oral presentations, especially when abstracts or transactions of the proceedings of a conference at which a paper is presented will be published.

http://www.provost.pitt.edu/documents/GUIDELINES%20FOR%20ETHICAL%20PRACTICES%20IN%20RESEARCH-FINALrevised2-March%202011.pdf

Dear All, I am agree with @ Kamal and always look for the comparability with the subject than its pact factor and indexing and also the time being taken in publication. Of course without any charges. Thanks

Time requirement for the processing of submitted papers is more important than any other criteria, including the IF, general scopes etc. because many journals use to reject papers even after holding it for a long-long time, say 10-12 14 months or even more. So, giving more time doesn't give any guarantee of positive review results.

In my field (education), the match between the topic of the piece and the focus of the journal is critical.  After that, I tend to work my way down, trying first at the most challenging journal and responding to concerns or issues.  Have to have a tough skin for that approach, though.

Hello Prof Mahfouz, I will look for classification of the Journal,its impact factor,years since establishment and the focus of the Journal if it matches with my research interest.

Journal's audience, seriousness, editorial board, reviewing process, time of publication, and without any charge (as the paper when published will be a trading value for the journal not for the authors).

Usually, I try to find journals in my research area, and journals have no publication fee.

The following important bases used are:

1. Impact factor

2. Listed on Scopus

3. Google Scholar, Etc.

However, my all papers are not published in journals those have Impact Factor and listed on Scopus.

Dear Mahfuz,

There are several parameters. The most important ones are impact factor, scope of the journal, review time and publication charge.

Dear  Mahfuz,

I agree with excellent answer by Mohammad and Fairouz .

The time taken in review process is one of the most important criteria for choosing a journal for publishing my research.

More questions to answer before choosing the appropriate publication outlet

• Is the journal ranked or rated by your institution?
• What is the journal’s acceptance rate?
• Has the journal published articles using your manuscript’s methodology before?
• Is the typical time from submission to publication sufficiently short for your needs? 

The acceptance rate of a particular journal is an important point for deciding a journal for publishing my work apart from review time and journal's scope etc.

Yes @Ajay, the acceptance rate may be decision criteria! " Locating acceptance rates for individual journals or for specific disciplines can be difficult, yet is necessary information for promotion and tenure activities. Journals with lower article acceptance rates are frequently considered to be more prestigious and more “meritorious”."

http://guides.lib.umich.edu/content.php?pid=98218&sid=814212

Dear Ljubomir, agree with you that locating acceptance rates for individual journals or for specific disciplines can be difficult but many publishers provide such information to authors. For example, Elsevier provides this information for all the journals at the given link:

http://journalfinder.elsevier.com/

As far as journal selection strategy is concerned, researchers across disciplines have some common considerations with respect to journal publishing.

• Is the journal peer-reviewed?

• Are the journal’s editorial staff and reviewers academically respected?

• Is the journal ranked or rated by a recognized and reputed rating agency?

• How often is the journal cited in other journals?

• How long from the time an article is submitted until it is published

• What are the readership statistics for the journal?

• Does the journal reach the audience that the author(s) want to target?

• Is the journal read regionally, nationally, or internationally?

• Is the journal available through the Internet or  via electronic indexes?

Yes, dear Yogesh, the common considerations with respect to journal publishing are nicely said.

I agree with Behrouz Ahmadi-Nedushan. It depend also on the subject, on the depth and on the reach of each paper. A hug, claus

Important tips before choosing a journal (From Elsevier):

• Read the aims and scope of the journal
• Read or download Guide for Authors
• Check if the journal is invitation-only as some journals will only accept articles after inviting the author
• If you need to publish open access know that most Elsevier journals have open access options explained on the journal homepage
• Submit your paper to only one journal at the time
• Check the journal performance for the review and publication timelines

Scopus adds Impact per Publication to its growing portfolio of journal metrics.

http://communications.elsevier.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40FljV5ZhOoFuBi83CUuZ%2F6TcbRIu%2BonBNTJfcFtcVbrg%3D&utm_campaign=Scopus%20releases&utm_campaignPK=34197520&utm_term=OP3070&utm_content=52629739&utm_source=71&BID=105286925&utm_medium=email&SIS_ID=0

http://www.journalmetrics.com/ipp.php?utm_campaign=SCdec2014release&utm_source=email&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=93

I totally agree with Behrouz

Is the journal recognized in the scientific community (ignoring predatory journals)

Is there a publication charge?

Does the subject of my article match the journal's subject focus?

Does the journal accept the article type I intend to submit?

Is the journal regarded as a prestigious one in my field

What is the average review time for articles submitted to the journal?

Journals which have most of the references

Dear Behrouz and Nasser,

The sequence of the tips for choosing a journal has a chronological order. Nicely listed.

Before Selecting a journal for my paper I look for

Scope of the Journal (does it match with my area of research or not)

where the journal is indexed

Its impact factor

Review period

A sound publication strategy involves selecting a journal whose scope is aligned with the contribution of your research and whose peer review timeframes match your target timelines for publication. At the same time, there has been a rapid increase in new journals that emphasize short review times and make your papers accessible to a larger readership through open-access options. Selecting right journals keeping in mind the aims and scope of the journal, identifying papers that are similar in quality and scope, determining the journal’s restrictions, considering the impact factor will ensure a smooth path to publication. Researchers can now increase their chances of publication significantly by simply choosing the target journal more carefully, after a close consideration of the journal’s scope, peer review process, and open-access policy.

Hi all, 

I choose journal with high relativity, opt impact factor for the quality of work, nil publication charge..

In my view, Journals should be from well known standard publishers/ society.

Aspects to be considered while selecting journal for publishing articles:

• Whether the article is primarily of interest to a national or international audience
• Whether to publish in a general scientific, disciplinary or addiction specialty journal
• Article's general content areas fitting to the journal's mission statement
• Journal's circulation, abstracting services, and open access
• Chances of acceptance
• Impact factor
• Publisher
• Time to publication and other practical matters

According to the new role of university ranking, now most universities require researchers to be published in limited journals for the purpose of raising the levels of universities.

That is the obligation for the professors/researchers in my country also dear @Fikrat! 

In my view, Journals should be from well known standard publishers/ society..

In my view, critical comments of the reviewer are the most important aspect.  My experience says, papers rejected by Talanta got published in Analyst; papers rejected by Analyst got published in Analytica Chimica Acta ; papers rejected by Analytica Chimca Acta got published in Talanta; paper rejected meant for symposium got published in International- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) journal  and so on........... Of course, after revision of the manuscript as per the comments of the reviewer/ sometime without revision too and beyond doubt, it gives an opportunity to the authors to think ahead. I have a tendency to discuss my papers again and again even after its publication.

In my view, Any publication, should not be for the sake of publication and it should find real applications in our day to day analysis.

I am happy to say that my work on : The application of differential technique in laser fluorimetry  for the determination of uranium in mineralised rocks is worth to be mentioned;  other related papers on uranium and others.

Article Application of a Differential Technique in Laser-Induced Flu...

Article Analytical applications of a differential technique in laser...

Article Presentation of Differential Laser-induced fluorimetry as a ...

Article Application of a differential technique in inductively coupl...

Article Advances in technologies for the measurement of uranium in d...

Article Uranium Exploration

Article Letter to the Editor: Comments related to the publication ti...

Article Letter to Editor : Query related to publication titled “A co...

Article Letter to Editor : Geochemical modeling of uranium speciatio...

There are 10 amazing life lessons --attached herewith.

In my opinion, they are really worth to be stated here.

I would like to give emphasis on , Any publication, should not be for the sake of publication and it should find real applications in our day to day analysis.

I like the journals and collections , where the editorial board understands me. I'm happy, because all my articles were published.

The careful selection of a journal, taking into account both scientific and practical considerations, is clearly worth the effort. An immediate source of potential target journals can the references cite in the paper itself. Some journals will appear more than once, and these are likely candidates. Another way to identify candidate journals is performing keyword searches in literature databases such as Medline and PubMed. Again, journals that appear repeatedly are potentially suitable. Attached file may be useful.

Journal name: Journal of Radiation Research and Applied Sciences, Author: D P S RATHORE; Manuscript Number: JRRAS-D-15-00045

Title: Letter to the Editor: Comments related to the publication: Bajwa, B. S., et al., Uranium and other

heavy toxic elements distribution in the drinking water samples of SW-Punjab, India, Journal of

Radiation Research and Applied Sciences (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/) j.jrras.2015.01.002, in

press

Manuscript is attached: JRRAS-D-15-00045.pdf

There is a response from them as follows:      "I would like to inform you that JRRAS publish only original research articles and review articles,

Dr. Rathore submit a letter to editor and not an article, this is not accepted for publication, he can see the information to author and ethics. Also he sent comments about a published article in JRRAS, he can send these comment to the author directly and not using the system. This published article was reviewed by specialist and corrected by the author."

It is a matter of serious concern that Elsevier supported journal are promoting scientific misconduct.

Letter to Editor/or comments on published paper is a standard practice for every journal. These are treated as manuscript.

To decline my scientific query by simply stating that the reviewers have advised against publication ( Without any Scientific reason/Reviewer's comments is highly unethical/unscientific practice and it should be strongly discouraged.

It is very clear,that the Editor-in-Chief is not strictly following the ethical guidelines.

The comments raised in my communication are absolutely correct and these should be addressed /responded by authors and needs immediate publication in your journal, as per the standard practice adopted by all international journals, as given below:

"The same fluorescence enhancing reagent should be used for calibration of the instrument

and subsequent measurement of uranium in samples.

Using the above procedure for preconcentration and keeping in view of the characteristic

concentration of these heavy metals using flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, their

determination at μgl-1 concentration levels is practically impossible.These claim by the

authors are absolutely incorrect and highly misleading‘‘—> I (strongly) disagree with their

statement in the manuscript.

The non-reproducibility of measurement results is the basis to reject rest of the conclusions and

discussions in the manuscript".

This is a matter of serious concern and is for your immediate kind attention please.

Regards,

Dr.D.P.S.RATHORE

email: [email protected]

Copies of papers are attached herewith.  I am still following up this matter with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal JRRAS and Elsevier publisher.

For publishing my research paper, I choose Journal on the basis:

1. Whether the Journal is Quality/Standard Journal or not

2. Whether Journal is indexed on SCOPUS

3. Whether the Journal has Impact factor

4. Whether the Journal belong to my field

5. Etc.

Generally, Elsevier journals are considered standard journals but unfortunately, I am still following up this matter with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal JRRAS and Elsevier publisher.There are basic errors/serious mistakes in the manuscript as stated in my Letter to Editor. It is the Editor-in-Chief /Journal manager/ or publisher-Elsevier 's responsibility to correct the mistakes, if noticed or better such papers should be retracted.