Peer reviewed journals

What is a peer reviewed journal?

Journal articles are the primary medium for scholarly communication. They account for a large percentage of reported research output from universities. When articles are reviewed and approved by experts in the field they are published in journals defined as peer reviewed. There are different levels of peer review for example some journals use an editorial peer review (editorial board), peer review by experts in the field, and blind peer review by experts in the field.

... the term peer review is used to describe a number of processes, most commonly gathering opinions from external experts, but also review by in-house editors and that it may not always be possible to make a clear distinction between peer review and technical editing (Jefferson, T, Wager E, Davidoff, F 2002, 'Measuring the quality of editorial peer review', Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 287, no 21, pp.2786-2790)

Some definitions of peer reviewed are:

A scholarly or research publication in which the articles submitted for publication are evaluated by individuals who are expert in the subject area. (Keenan, S & Johnston, C 2002, 2nd edn, Concise dictionary of library and information science, Bowker Saur, London)

A process that articles in many journals go through before they are published. Once an article is submitted for publication, it is sent to an editorial board comprised of experts in the field to be evaluated. The submitted article must receive the approval of the editorial board before it is published. The editorial board is usually identified at the beginning of each issue of a journal.   (Glossary of library terms, Amberton University, viewed 10 May 2006, www.amberton.edu/Library/ResearchHelp/LibraryTerms.aspx)

Note that the words “peer reviewed” and “refereed” are often used interchangeably and so for the purpose of this workshop the phrase “peer reviewed” will be used to imply both terms.

Why publish in peer reviewed journals?

If you publish in high quality journals then your research may also be regarded as high quality. Therefore it is good for your reputation and your career. There is nothing wrong with submitting to non peer reviewed publications however why not try peer reviewed titles first. You will receive useful feedback which you can use to refine your article and either resubmit or submit to other sources.

For further information about publishing and peer reviewed journals see these pages from the University of South Australia:

• Research Publications Collection
• Supported Researchers Scheme
• Divisional Research Performance Fund

How to identify and locate a peer reviewed journal

The flowchart shows two possible scenarios:

1. Identify - when you know the name of a journal and want to know if it is peer reviewed - look in a list or a database
2. Locate - when you have research to publish and want to know of peer reviewed journals in your area - use a bibliographic database and limit your search to peer reviewed journals

Identify (Scenario 1)

When you know the name of a journal and want to check if it is peer reviewed or included as part of ERA, you need to find it in a list or database such as:

• ERA 2012 Journal List
• John Lamp's ERA journal rankings
• Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory

  Ulrichsweb advanced search

  • select Advanced Search to find journals on a topic/subject area
  • enter a keyword that describes your area of research and change the drop-down box from Title to Subject
  • choose Active (under Status), then More Limiters and Refereed/Peer Reviewed (under Key Feature:) to narrow your search to currently published peer reviewed journals only
  • select Search

  You will see a list of peer reviewed journals in your subject area. It may be necessary to refine the search if you have too many or too few journals. You can review your search, by entering different keywords or by adding more terms.

• Thomson Reuters Master Journal List (ISI)  
• Publishers’ pages.  If you cannot locate the journal title in a list or database you will need to find the publisher's home page to provide evidence that it is peer reviewed.

Locate (Scenario 2)

If you are not familiar with journal titles in your topic/subject area and want to find peer reviewed journals use these databases:

• Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory 
• EBSCOhost research databases 

  Select a database, eg Academic Search Premier:

  Use this database to find peer reviewed articles on your topic/subject area:

  • enter a keyword that describes your area of research
  • change the drop down box to SU Subject terms (this will narrow your search considerably)
  • check the box Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals under the section Limit your results

  You will see a list of peer reviewed journal articles in your subject area. It may be necessary to refine the search if you have too many or too few journals. You can refine your search, by entering more or different keywords.  All of the articles should be from peer reviewed journals. Click on the article title to see more information.

All journals indexed in the databases below are peer reviewed (i.e. no need to limit). These databases are multidisciplinary:

• ScienceDirect
• Scopus
• Web of Science

For help with searching databases refer to Database searching for your research.  

Or follow these steps:

• Conduct a search in your preferred database
• Assess and select the references relevant to your area. Note the journal titles from these references
• Identify if the journals are peer reviewed.

Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) - 2012

ERA is the Excellence in Research for Australia initiative, developed by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in conjunction with the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. ERA will use a range of indicators to assess research quality.

What's changed from ERA 2010?

• The prescriptive A*/A/B and C journal rankings have been removed, and replaced with a new journal indicator
• Improved capability to accommodate interdisciplinary research
• A change in the rules for the attribution of patents, plant breeders’ rights and registered designs to allow them to be submitted when they are granted to eligible researchers

Journal Unit of Evaluation - new for ERA 2012

"The new indicator will display, for each unit of evaluation, a table listing all of the journals in which the articles submitted to that UoE are published. Journals in this table will be ordered by the number of articles, such that the journal containing the greatest number of articles for that university’s UoE will appear at the top of the table, then the second greatest, and so on. The indicator will display the journal titles, the total apportioned articles published in them, the contribution of that number of apportioned articles to the university’s UoE’s total article count (as a percentage) and a cumulative percentage.

The table will be unique to each UoE because of the different publishing patterns of disciplines across different institutions. Building on their own knowledge, RECs will be able to identify the depth and spread of publishing behaviours within a UoE. The table will inform expert judgements regarding the relevance of the journals to the research being published e.g. ‘Is this an appropriate journal for this research?’. ‘Is it a highly regarded journal?’  This will allow RECs to take into account any regional or applied focus of research in a UoE."

This information is taken directly from the ARC website at www.arc.gov.au/era/faq.htm 

Journal and conference lists for ERA 2012

The journal list will still be maintained, along with a designation of up to 3 FoR codes. The conference list will no longer apply for ERA 2012.

Discipline Clusters

The journals are divided into eight discipline clusters.

• Cluster 1: Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences
• Cluster 2: Humanities and Creative Arts
• Cluster 3: Engineering and Environmental Sciences
• Cluster 4: Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences
• Cluster 5: Mathematics, Information and Computing Sciences
• Cluster 6: Biological and Biotechnological Sciences
• Cluster 7: Biomedical and Clinical Research Sciences
• Cluster 8: Public and Allied Health Sciences

Field of Research (FoR) codes

Journals in the list have been assigned up to three Field of Research codes. A FoR may consist of two, four or six digits. The FoR codes are part of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification.

Citation provider for ERA 2012

Scopus have been chosen as the citation provider for ERA. Scopus can be used to obtain bibliometric data and contains a searchable index that allows researchers to uncover the research that influenced an author's work or to discover the impact a published item has had on current research.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

• The ARC has a FAQ section which addresses many questions surrounding ERA 2012.
• More information on research quality is available from the University's web page on ERA
• For any assistance with bibliometrics please contact your Academic Library Services Team.

Selecting journals

Once you have identified a list of potential journals, you should check the aims and scope of each to determine whether your work is appropriate for that journal. Ask yourself questions like:

• Does the journal focus on applied or theoretical research?
• Does it publish qualitative or quantitative research methods?
• Does your article match the interests of the readers?

Tip: You may like to set up a table of contents alert for any journals on your shortlist, to see the range of papers that are published and gain a feel for the writing style and content. Some journals also send out a 'call for papers' if they are doing a special issue on a particular topic. For more information on setting up alerts, refer to the Keeping up to date online workshop.

If your work meets the aims and scope of the journal you have selected you must then submit your manuscript in the appropriate format for the journal. You find this information using instructions to authors.

Instructions to Authors

Instructions to authors (also called 'advice to authors' or 'authors' guide') are the fine details of what is and is not acceptable to a particular publisher. Generally these guidelines include layout, referencing style, how to submit, submitting tables and figures in text, the audience, review process and publication.

You can find instructions to authors:

• in the journal (printed format)
• on the journal home page. For example from The Internet and Higher Education
• via a link from Ulrich’s to the publisher’s page

Ask your Academic Library Services Team if you require assistance in finding instructions to authors.

Journal Citation Reports

Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is a unique database that is used to determine the relative importance of journals within their subject categories.  JCR covers over 7000 journal titles from over 3000 publishers worldwide. It contains 2 databases – JCR Science Edition and JCR Social Sciences Edition.  Each database covers the most recent year of data available for impact factors (e.g. 2010).   JCR lists journal titles and assigns an impact factor to each title. JCR is only updated once each year in June/July.

• Science Edition - 7,300+ journals
• Social Sciences Edition -  2,200+ journals

Note: You cannot search both editions at the same time.  The default is Science Edition and the latest available year.

Comparisons between journals must be for journals in the same field as disciplines vary considerably in their citation methods

JCR is available from the Library’s Databases page.

You can search in two ways:

• journal title
• subject category

Searching for a known journal title

• select Search for a specific journal and select Submit
• type in the journal name or check the Source List, and select Search
• note the information about the journal title:
  • total no. of cites in 2010 and the impact factor
• select the Journal title link
  • journals may be assigned more than one subject category. Use the Scope note to check what is included in a particular subject category
  • select Impact Factor Trend. View the impact factor graph for the last 5 years – check the impact factor pattern for this journal title.  This is a comparison of each year for the journal title but not a comparison of this title with others in the field

To compare this title with other titles in the field:

• select Return to Journal
• select View journal summary list (this is a list of all titles in this area) – note that you could also do this with a General search
  • change Sorted by option to Impact factor then select Sort again
  • note where your journal title is ranked – you may have made a good choice or you may want to revise your choice

Another method to do this is to:

• select Return to Journal
• Under Journal Information, look for Journal Rank in Categories
• click on the Journal ranking button.
• A table displays with: Category Name; Total Journals in Category; Journal Rank in Category; Quartile in Category.

Searching within a subject category

• select View a group of journals by and then select Subject Category
• select Submit
• scroll down the list of categories to find and select the category you are interested in, e.g.: "Education & Educational Research"
• Submit your request
• change Sorted by option to Impact factor then select Sort again. This will produce a list of titles beginning with the title with the highest impact factor for that category.

 Eigenfactor metrics

The Eigenfactor score measures the number of times articles from the journal published in the past five years have been cited in the JCR year.

Scopus Journal Analyzer

Scopus Journal Analyzer is a feature that allows a comparison of the performance of selected journals.  The journals can be compared by looking at a variety of parameters. Up to 10 journals can be selected, from 1996 onwards, and the data is updated every 2 months. Over 18,000 peer reviewed journals from 5,000 publishers are indexed in Scopus.

Scopus is available from the Library's Databases page

Using the Journal Analyzer tool in Scopus

• select Analytics
• enter the name of a journal in the search box, eg. Research in higher education
• specify the journal subject area to restrict your search (optional)
• select Search to retrieve a list of journal titles
• select the title of the journal you want to analyse
• double click on the title or drag the title across to the right hand side of the screen
• add more titles if you want to compare journals. You can add up to 10 journals

Results

The Citations chart shows the number of times documents from the journals were cited in other documents during a specific year

The Documents chart shows the number of documents published in the journals during a specific year

The % Not Cited is the percentage of articles published in that year that have never been cited to date

Other metrics used by Scopus include SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) and Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP). For more information, in the Scopus database see .

• select Table to look at this information in a table format

• the titles of the journals which appear in the chart are listed in the key below the chart

• select Show Info to display the journal publication information 

• select Hide info to collapse journal publication information 

• select Exclude journal self-citations to remove self-citations for a journal from the table. Click Include journal self-citations to add them 

• select X to remove a journal from the chart

SCImago Journal & Country Rank is powered by Scopus and provides journal rank in category information  and quartile performance.

Further information:

Help  (Select Contents from the left hand side menu, then Journal analyzer)

Publishing tips

Here are some tips from Academics and Researchers who have published papers.

• Most instructions to authors should give an indication of the time required for your paper to be reviewed. If this is not the case consult the editor
• If someone has a paper that is ‘out of the box’ for  a particular journal, the author can run the abstract by the editor to see if it is worth submitting
• Looking at well known scholars’ websites in the field can give an idea of where they have been publishing lately
• Look down your reference list. Which journals exist there or appear to feature most strongly? This may be where a paper should be published if it is in the same or similar area and journal editors like to see their own journals cited on a submission
• Use informal networks at conferences to make contact with editors
• Co-author your paper with recognised researchers in the field.
• Talk with published authors, and check to see if there are resources/information provided within your Division, eg Professional Development for researchers 

Tips from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

• Listen to the podcast from the Emerald Insider's guide to getting published seminar, presented by Professor David Lamond, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Management History. Then hear from Mary O'Connor, Academic Librarian, on how the Library can help you find the right journal.

Useful readings

Some journals publish useful tips to help prospective authors. These include:

Business

• Colquitt, JA & Ireland, RD 2009, 'From the editors: taking the mystery out of AMJ's reviewer evaluation form', Academy of Management Journal, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 224-228
  
•  Writing for Emerald: the complete guide for authors, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, viewed 4 May 2011, <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/writing/index.htm>

Education, Arts and Social Sciences

• Bowen, GA 2010, 'From qualitative dissertation to quality articles: seven lessons learned', Qualitative Report, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 864-879
• Nihalani, PK & Mayrath, MC 2008, 'Publishing in educational psychology journals: comments from editors', Educational Psychology Review, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 29-39

Health

• Golub, RM 2008, 'Correspondence course: tips for getting a letter published in JAMA', JAMA, vol. 300, no. 1, pp. 98-99
• Johnson, C & Green, B 2009, 'Submitting manuscripts to biomedical journals: common errors and helpful solutions,' Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1-12
  • Refer to Appendix A for some useful hints and an example of a presubmission checklist
    
•  Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publications   2010, viewed 1 November 2010, <http://www.icmje.org/urm_main.html>
  • Journals that have requested inclusion on the list of publications that follow the ICMJE's Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, 2010 viewed 1 Novermber 2010, <http://www.icmje.org/journals.html>

 Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment

• Valenti, MC 2011, 'How to get published: an inside view of the IEEE peer-review process'  Lane Dept. of CSEE graduate seminar, West Virginia University, Apr. 11, 2011, viewed 23 May 2010, <http://www.csee.wvu.edu/~mvalenti/documents/HowToPublish2011.pdf>

Tips from the Nature Publishing Group (NPG)

At a recent seminar, one of the editors from the Nature Publishing Group provided the following tips - although in some cases they relate directly to their own publications, the information will generally be applicable to most journals.

Nature publishes ~ 7% of all submissions and their rejection rate is 95%. This is one example of rejection rates, the percentage varies according to the individual journal.

Nature only wants the best of the best.

Their tips include:

• Papers must be clearly written
• Avoid jargon and babbling
• The first paragraph of a Letter should be no higher than the level of an introductory undergraduate class
• Bulk of the paper at the level of a first-year graduate course in the field
• Content should cover why the topic is interesting, what big problems are there in the field, what has the author done, how does the work advance us towards a solution of one of the big problems? These are useful hints to keep in mind.

Regarding the section on scope of the journal:

• Every issue contains a broad range of subject areas/disciplines
• Papers are read by scientists outside the field of the author (and also by lay-people)
• No field is excluded
• The journal is independent of scientific societies
• Publishing in Nature gives wide publicity to the author’s work – especially as they have a network of journalists they deal with
• All papers should report a fundamental new physical insight or announce a startling, unexpected or difficult to understand discovery

For more information consult their Authors & referees at NPG (opens in a new window)

Copyright

Information for staff

Intellectual property generated by University staff in the course of or incidental to their employment is automatically owned by the University.

This is in accordance with legal principles governing employer-employee relationships. The position is further clarified in the University's Intellectual Property policy.

Information for students

The university does not automatically own intellectual property developed by students. Students will generally own the intellectual property they develop during the course of their studies.

Copyright Guide for Research Students (QUT)

Author permissions

A publisher requires only your permission to publish your paper, not the wholesale transfer of your rights as author.

Further information

For assistance

Contact your Academic Library Services Team or Ask the library

Other workshops

• Keeping up to date
• Database searching for your research

On campus training

• Calendar of sessions

Further reading

There is a large amount of literature written about publishing, impact factors, and citation analysis of publications. Use one of the following to find literature about your area of interest:

• Thomson Reuters have a number of essays on citation analysis and impact factors.
• ScienceWatch publishes studies undertaken by Thomson Reuters focusing on highly cited research.
• Databases in your subject area. Select a relevant database. Use keywords such as “impact factor”, “journals” and your subject area (e.g. “health”) to retrieve articles about impact factors and sometimes ranked lists of journals.
• Use your favourite search engine to find a list of titles. Enter keywords such as “impact factor” and keywords from the journal title, publisher or subject area
• Writing for publication, volume 3 of the Academic's support kit, by Kenway, Epstein and Boden, provides some useful information about getting published, both in academic journals and books, and also the business of writing and publishing. The Library provides access to this work both electronically and in print.

Acknowledgements

 The workshop was updated and revised in April 2010 by Cathy Mahar, Catherine Nairn, and Lorien Delaney; and in May 2009 by Cathy Mahar, Karen Ayles, Jackie Bowler, Pauline Bradford and Erina Newnham.

Critical friend 2010:

• Peter Howe, Nutritional Physiology Research Centre

 Critical friends 2006:

• Phyllis Tharenou, Dean Research, Division of Business
• Sally Carpenter, Research & Innovation Services
• Stephen Leahy, Learning Connection
• Luke Parkinson, HDR Student, Ian Wark Research Institute

This workshop was developed by Anthony Stevens and Tania Kanellos in 2003.

Critical friends 2003:

• Vicki Feast, Dean Teaching and Learning, Division of Business and Enterprise

• Julie Hockey, Library

• Don Di Matteo, Library

Next review: July 2010

Classification: continuing and completing higher degree by research students