Academic publishing has always been part of a researcher's life, but with tens of thousands of journals now operating worldwide it can be hard to identify the most suitable publication for their study, and all too easy to target the wrong one.

Submitting to a journal that's not an appropriate venue for a particular study is a key cause of manuscript rejection. On the other hand, getting published in the wrong journal could mean that important research data and ideas don't reach their desired scientific audience, potentially slowing the pace of both scientific and professional advancement.

To help researchers in the health sciences rank and select appropriate journals for article submission, the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI) has partnered with Enago Academy, the knowledge arm of Enago, to provide training for investigators.

The training, which is publicly accessible and available online, introduced researchers to a variety of digital online tools, resources, and techniques for navigating the world of academic publishing. Presenter Duncan Nicholas, Senior Consultant for Enago Academy, provided guidelines to help researchers with the journal selection process, from submission to review and acceptance. Topics he covered included available online tools such as FindMyJournal, Elsevier Journal Finder, and Enago Open Access Journal Finder, which can help researchers find and rank the available journals in their field, and answer questions such as how to determine whether to target broader-interest scientific publications, or those narrowly focused within a particular niche or specialty.

Help in a daunting process

Dr. Anupama Kapadia, Editor-in-Chief at Enago Academy, commented, “Choosing an appropriate journal for publishing research and not falling prey to predatory journals can be a daunting process, especially for early-stage researchers. Through this training session, we aimed to facilitate the learning process of researchers, thereby helping them achieve publication success.”

The training  also covered how open-access publishing and traditional subscription models might affect a researcher's submission strategy, or when publication in a regional journal makes the most sense, such as might apply to a study of an endemic disease.

More than 50 researchers from national and international academic institutions participated in the live webinar. Interested researchers who did not take part can access the training here. 

The webinar is part of the training provided by the Digital Scholar Program at the University of Southern California. Katja Reuter, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Southern California founded and directs the program. “Nowadays, the concept of digital scholarship affects nearly all aspect of doing research. But many researchers lack competencies in the use of digital practices and approaches to achieve their research and career goals. That’s why we created this program.”