Criteria for Selecting a Journal

  • Open access journal vs subscription: In open access the researcher pays to publish so that the readers do not have to pay to access. In the subscription or traditional publishing model, the author does not pay to publish. In this model the reader pays to access the published content
  • Journals aims and scope
  • Are the articles published similar to yours?
  • Is it indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, Scimago, DOAJ or AJOL?
  • Publication timelines- how many issues a year?
  • Quality of accepted articles
  • Is it in any predatory list eg Beall’s list?
  • Is it in the Library’s subscribed databases such as Emerald, Taylor and Francis, Wiley, Springer, Sage etc? list of Library subscribed resources
  • ThinkCheckSubmit: The link provides a list of criteria a researcher can use to assess a journal
  • When in doubt consult the library: maktaba@ku.ac.ke