Evaluation of Target Journals

On this page, we provide information on evaluating target journals and related cautions, as well as support tools to help identify appropriate journals based on paper titles and abstracts.

Journal Selection Support Tool

When choosing a journal to submit to, there are tools that suggest candidate journals if you enter your research field, keywords, paper title, abstract, etc. In addition to those provided by publishers, there are also cross-publisher tools. We also introduce sites that are useful for journal evaluation.

When using these tools, please handle information carefully; for example, by summarizing and anonymizing abstracts before inputting unpublished research information or sensitive information.

Publisher-Provided Tools

These are tools provided by publishers that publish academic journals.
Each tool covers journals published by its respective company, so we recommend using multiple tools together.

  • Elsevier Journal Finder (Elsevier)

    • Candidate journals for submission are suggested based on the title/abstract/keywords, and you can check journal metrics, acceptance rates, APCs, and more. You can sort by priority criteria (impact factor, review period, etc.).

  • IEEE Publication Recommender™ (IEEE)

    • Candidates are suggested from over 200 society journals and more than 2,000 conference proceedings. You can also compare impact factors and time to publication.

  • Journal Recommender (SAGE)

    • You can filter by OA or subscription journals and link with Sage Path.

  • SpringerLink Journal Finder (Springer Nature)

    • More than 3,000 Springer Nature journals are suggested as potential submission destinations, and you can check review period and acceptance rates. You can filter by impact and OA model.

  • Taylor & Francis Journal Suggester (Taylor & Francis)

    • By entering an abstract/keywords, you can view candidate Taylor & Francis journals and simple metrics.

  • Wiley Journal Finder (Beta) (Wiley)

    • You can compare key indicators, publication speed, and OA options of multiple journals side by side.

Tools Other Than Publishers'

A cross-publisher tool for discovering candidate journals.

  • Journal Selector (edanz)

    • Suggests candidates based on abstracts from about 28,000 journals and over 12 million abstracts across publishers. You can sort the results and view detailed information. It also states that "the phrases you enter in the search box will not be saved or shared."
    *Currently temporarily closed*

  • Jane (Journal/Author Name Estimator) (The Biosemantics Group)

    • Based on journals indexed in PubMed, it suggests related journals, authors, and articles.
    You can check whether the journals that matched are included in MEDLINE, are PMC indexed journals, or are "high-quality open access journals." You can also check the "similar articles" within each journal.

  • EndNote Online Manuscript Matcher (Clarivate)

    • It applies to journals indexed in the Web of Science.
    Please log in to EndNote Online to use it.
    If you are using it for the first time, please register using the "Register" option.
    Login → Recommend a journal for submission → Match manuscript → Login → Enter information in Title and Abstract → A list of journals will be displayed.


Other Reference Sites

  • Check metrics and rankings (for evaluation assistance)
    • Journal Citation Reports (JCR) (Clarivate)

      • Based mainly on Web of Science data, it provides impact factors (a measure of a journal's influence based on citation data) and journal rankings within fields. It is a neutral information source independent of publishers.

    • SCImago Journal Rank (SJR)

      • It offers the journal metric SJR based on Scopus data and allows comparison by quartiles (Q1-Q4). You can check field-specific rankings and journal profiles.

  • Checking a Journal's Reliability and Open-Access Conditions
    • Think. Check. Submit. (Checklist)

      • An international checklist that helps researchers identify trustworthy publishers/journals. A Japanese version is also available and is useful as a countermeasure against predatory journals.

    • DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals)

      • A directory of peer-reviewed open access journals. It includes a wide range of journals across disciplines and allows cross-searching of journals' OA policies and articles. Useful for verifying the quality of open access journals.

    • Open policy finder (Jisc)

      • Allows you to check, for each journal or publisher, whether self-archiving is permitted, embargoes, and licensing conditions. It is also useful for checking compatibility with research data and OA requirements of funding agencies.

Alert about Predatory Journals and Predatory Conferences

What is a Predatory Journal?

Open access journals are peer-reviewed and produced using APCs (article processing charges) paid by authors, and published articles are available to everyone on the Internet. It has become clear that there are predatory journals (predatory publishers) that abuse this publication model and unfairly exploit APCs without peer-reviewing or editing articles.

If you submit an article to these kinds of journals, you not only risk being charged unfairly high fees, but you may also not be able to retract your article. In addition, it may undermine credibility of you, your co-authors, and your institution.

How to Identify Predatory Journals

It is very difficult to determine whether any given journal, or a journal with certain characteristics, is a predatory journal. Beall's List of Potential Predatory Journals and Publishers (a list created by American librarian Jeffrey Beall that has been since revived by volunteers) presents a list of suspected predatory journals. However, do not assume that a journal on the list must be predatory or a journal not on the list must not be predatory. Predatory journals can repeatedly cease or restart operations, and journal assessments can also change.


When choosing a journal to submit to, it is best to not only refer to a list of predatory journals, but also make a comprehensive judgement based on whether or not the journal has characteristics of a predatory journal. Cabells Predatory Reports, a database to search for information about predatory journals, lists the selection criteria for suspicious journals (Cabells Predatory Reports Criteria). A variety of institutions offer their own checklists, such as Think, Check, Submit, the Kumamoto University URA Promotion Office and the "Beware of Predatory Journals" leaflet from the Kyoto University Library.


Examples of characteristics of journals suspected to be predatory

  • The peer review process and fees are not clear
  • The time it takes for peer review is unusually quick for no clear reason
  • There is no contact information
  • The names and affiliations of editorial board members are not public, or are falsified
  • The journal claims to be indexed in well-known databases, when in reality it is not
    The databases below use certain criteria to select which journals can be searched on those databases.
    • SCOPUS (Elsevier's comprehensive citation database)
    • Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics' comprehensive citation database)
    • DOAJ (a database where open access scientific journals that meet the criteria can be searched)
  • There are grammatical and spelling errors on the journal website
  • The same authors are published numerous times in the same journal, or the editors themselves publish in their own journal

What is a Predatory Conference?

Similar to journals, there are so-called "predatory conferences" that are held for profit from registration fees and similar sources, without proper peer review.

Examples of characteristics of conferences suspected to be predatory

  • The conference fees are higher than those of other conferences while it is presented as a legitimate meeting.
  • The conference is canceled or presentations are withdrawn shortly before it is held.
  • The conference topics are extremely broad and lack focus on any specific discipline.
  • The value of the awards is low; for example, all participants may receive a prize.

The following site provides a checklist for trustworthy conferences and conference-checking tools.
Think, Check, Attend (provided by Knowledge E Co.)

Contact

Electronic Resources Section (Journals), Information Control Division
Nagoya University Library
lib-ers::t.mail.nagoya-u.ac.jp (convert :: to @)