How to find a journal for your paper
Write one line naming the work and its reader: “A qualitative study of peer feedback for people who teach first-year writing.” Use that line to judge fit before looking at rankings. A journal can have a high score and still send your paper to the wrong audience.
Start with the subject and article type
After signing in to ResearchSpace, open Journal finder in the Workspace sidebar. Browse a subject area and then narrow the category. For each promising title, check its aims and scope and find two recent papers that address a related question or use a comparable method. Confirm that the journal accepts your article type.
Read a ranking in its category and year
A SCImago result gives you a dated record. Note the category as well as the year: a journal’s best quartile can differ from its quartile in your own field. If your institution requires current Scopus coverage, verify that separately. A past quartile does not establish current indexing or tell you how likely your paper is to be accepted.
Check the submission route at the publisher
Open the submission guide and follow its publisher links. Look for the instructions for your article type, file or anonymisation requirements, and fees for your intended publication route. An optional open-access fee is different from a mandatory charge. If the guide cannot verify a fee or deadline, leave it unknown until you find the publisher’s answer.
Worked example: narrow three candidates to one
Imagine the peer-feedback study uses classroom interviews. Journal A publishes evidence syntheses only, so set it aside. Journal B accepts interviews but does not state a fee for your route; keep it under consideration while you check. Journal C accepts original qualitative studies and has recently published classroom research for your intended readers. Read its author instructions before choosing it as your first submission.
What to keep in your shortlist
- Audience and fit: one sentence on who would use your finding, plus two comparable recent papers.
- Article type: the publisher’s author-guidelines link and the format it accepts.
- Cost and requirements: the fee for your route, any taxes or waivers you need to check, and required files.
- Decision: the first-choice journal, one alternative and any unanswered question. Submit through the publisher’s own portal.