Publish your research
Publishing your research involves more than just choosing a journal – it’s about making strategic decisions that affect the visibility, accessibility, and impact of your work. KTH Library offers support throughout the entire publishing process, from selecting the right publication channel to registering in DiVA, KTH’s publication database. Here you will also find information about alternative publishing platforms, how to publish research data in a sustainable way, and what to consider regarding copyright and Creative Commons licenses.
Choose publication channel
The principles for selecting a publication channel involve strategic evaluation of relevance, credibility, visibility, and ethical considerations to ensure research reaches the appropriate audience and maintains academic integrity. Below is an updated and comprehensive guide that integrates freely available, open-science-aligned tools to support each step of the process.
Relevance and Audience Alignment
The first step is to assess how well a journal’s scope aligns with the research topic, methodology, and target audience. Publishing in venues used by the research group ensures visibility within the community and aligns with departmental publishing traditions. Tools that match manuscripts to journals based on title and abstract can help identify suitable candidates:
JANE (Journal/Author Name Estimator) : A free, AI-based tool that matches manuscript content with journals publishing similar research, particularly strong in biomedicine.
B!SON : A free, open-source recommender that uses semantic and bibliometric methods to suggest open access journals, helping researchers avoid predatory publishers.
DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) : A curated, community-driven directory of high-quality, peer-reviewed open access journals across disciplines.
Visibility and Indexing
To maximize discoverability, verify that the journal is indexed in major databases relevant to the field, such as Web of Science, Scopus, or subject-specific indexes (e.g., MEDLINE, Inspec). Tools to check indexing include:
Web of Science Master Journal List : A free resource to confirm journal inclusion in Clarivate’s databases and view impact metrics.
MIAR : A comprehensive database of over 40,000 journals and their indexing across multiple sources, useful for cross-checking coverage.
Scopus Sources : Allows filtering by subject and source type to verify Scopus indexing and access metrics like CiteScore and SNIP.
Academic Metrics and Reputation
Compare journals using field-normalized indicators to ensure fair comparisons across disciplines:
CWTS Journal Indicators : Provides SNIP values based on Scopus and Web of Science data, enabling field-normalized comparisons.
Scimago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) : A free, open-access platform based on Scopus data, offering journal rankings and country-level metrics.
Open Policy Finder : Helps researchers verify journal compliance with funder open access mandates and self-archiving policies.
Open Access and Funder Requirements
Ensure the journal offers a legitimate open access option and complies with funder requirements:
KTH Library’s Open Access Support : Covers Article Processing Charges (APCs) for journals in transformative agreements, promoting equitable open access publishing.
Think.Check.Submit : A free checklist to evaluate journal legitimacy and avoid predatory publishers, emphasizing transparency and ethical practices.
JOT (Journal OveRview Tool) : An open-source tool from Yale that aggregates journal fit, impact, and open access data, presenting them in interactive visualizations.
Creative Commons licenses : If you want to be able to share your text, you can assign a Creative Commons license (CC licens) to it. Creative Commons supply different degrees of licenses that specify in what ways others are allowed to use your work. The license clearly states which rights and restrictions apply.
Ethical and Practical Considerations
Maintain research integrity by using ethical publishing practices:
CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) : A standardized framework for defining author contributions, ensuring transparency and fairness.
Transpose (ASAPbio) : A database of journal policies on peer review, co-reviewing, and preprinting, supporting transparent editorial practices.
Responsible Journals (PREP) : A platform promoting transparency in editorial procedures, helping researchers identify journals with responsible policies.
By combining these principles with open science tools, researchers can make informed, ethical, and strategic decisions when selecting publication channels, ensuring their work is visible, credible, and accessible.
Open access
Before you publish you should think about how to make your text available. There are several ways to do this. Read more about open access .
As an author, you own the copyright as long as you are not transferring the economic copyright to a publisher or an organization. You should read the agreement that you get from the publisher thoroughly. Read more about copyright
A short film about how to choose a journal
A short video from Karolinska Institutet University Library on how to navigate among the many journals available for publishing articles. The video is licensed with Creative Commons BY SA.
