Which is better; to publish papers in open-access journals with fast publication process and to gain the experience by the time by improving the quality of your published articles or to be patient (less publications) and to look for high impact factor journals with high scientific reputation?
Always shoot for the stars when you are choosing a journal to publish your manuscript. You might be pleasantly surprised that the editor and peer reviewers are energized by your manuscript and unanimously recommend your article for publication, pending edits (almost always) and a resubmission. If not, with the speedy online submissions we have nowadays, you won't waste much time if you submit to a top-tier journal. If it's a definite no, you'll hear soon enough. Read it, revise it (as needed), and submit it to your second-choice journal.
As far as tenure and promotion are considered, the basic premise is that all publications count, but some count for less. Without doubt, publishing in journals with a high impact-factor score within one's discipline is the gold standard. Really, you're better off with a bit fewer articles all published in leading journals within your field than a large number of articles in bottom-tier journals. I'm not implying that a journal with a low (or no) impact-factor score will do you no good. Sometimes niche journals are the best place to publish your work because you'll be reaching a smaller number of investigators with similar interests.
Impact-factor scores are not the best way to judge the quality of one's work, but the reality is they do get used, especially when administrators who are unfamiliar with your discipline will have no clue about the nuances between your journals of interest. They rely on impact-factor scores -- citation counts too -- because they don't have many other tools to assess your impact on your field of expertise.
-- JSH
I suggest you stay within the boundaries of the two answers above. Consider what your system desires first. However, have it at the back of your mind that research culture is a life-time adventure. You can always aim higher as you go. It would be very frustrating to stay on the same position for longer than necessary just because you are waiting for high impact journals.
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