Further to my last couple of posts, I've just come across some good advice on selecting which journals to submit articles for publication in an article from Pediatric Radiology (Griscom 1999). The main point of the article is to select realistic journals. The example given is the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. Both have extremely high standards, but also have generalised readerships. They are only likely to publish articles that are broadly applicable or transferable across the whole medical profession.
So, it may be more realistic to publish in journals that are more specific to the field of your research. I guess one question that's worth asking is, are you more likely to be cited by publishing in a journal that has a large generalist readership (where only a small set of those readers are interested in your subject) or in a journal with a smaller readership, but one that is closer to your research?
Griscom suggests authors ask a number of questions about a publication when shortlisting journals to publish in:
"Are there articles like yours in the journal you are considering?
Do you like the articles that you read there?
Are the editors and readers of these journals likely to be interested in your work?
Is this the audience you hope to reach?
If you answer "yes," turn to their instructions
for authors and read them carefully. Can you adapt
your material to fit those instructions (which you must
follow) without too much strain?" (Griscom 1999)
References:
Griscom, N.T., 1999. Your research: How to get it on paper
and in print. Pediatric radiology, 29, 81-86. Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/38cmdxn17l2a5y6e/fulltext.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment