Research Guides: Publishing Support: Journal Fit

Finding the Right Journal

Journal fit refers to how well a specific publication matches your work's scope and purpose. Submitting to suitable journals will increase the chances your work will be accepted. When searching for a good fit, consider:

Does the journal publish your writing's type (e.g. case reports, narrative reviews, clinical trials, etc.)
Does your writing match the journal's scope?
Is the journal read by your desired audience?
Where are your collaborators, mentors, and colleagues publishing?
If you are graduate student or resident, does the journal publish work from physicians in training?

Answers to some of these questions can be found in pages such as 'About', 'Aims and Scope', or 'Guidelines for Authors' on a journal's website.

Where to Look

Temple Database List
To find journals that fit your manuscript, search databases to see where similar work is being published. For additional places to search, filter the Temple Database List (listed below) by subject (e.g., 'Health & Rehabilitation Sciences' or 'Medicine').

The following databases are helpful for discovering relevant publishers:

PubMed This link opens in a new window
PubMed comprises more than 37 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) is the largest component of PubMed and consists primarily of journal citations; articles indexed with MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) and curated with funding, genetic, chemical and other metadata.
CINAHL This link opens in a new window
CINAHL Provides indexing for nursing and health journals. The database contains records dating back to 1972. In addition, the database offers access to health care books, nursing dissertations, and selected conference proceedings.
CINAHL Abstracting and Indexing Database
Nurses, allied health professionals, researchers, nurse educators and students depend on the CINAHL Database to research their subject areas from this authoritative index of nursing and allied health journals. CINAHL indexes the top nursing and allied health literature available including nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses Association. CINAHL also includes rigorous curation and indexing of open access (OA) journals, which has resulted in a growing collection of 1,446 active global OA journals.  Once validated and certified for inclusion, these OA journals are treated with high-quality subject indexing and sophisticated, precise/accurate full-text linking.
Subject Headings
CINAHL Subject Headings help users effectively search and retrieve information and follow the structure of the Medical Subject headings (MeSH) used by the National Library of Medicine. These Subject Headings help researchers find new concepts, including COVID-19, social distancing and vaping as well as local terminology.
Content Includes
3,814 active indexed and abstracted journals
3,461 active peer-reviewed indexed and abstracted journals
1,312 journals with searchable cited references
Embase This link opens in a new window
EMBASE contains references to journal articles in biomedicine. The references consist of authors, title, journal data, abstract and keywords. EMBASE contains European literature, and coverage in the field of drug research, pharmacology and pharmaceutics. The database can be searched back to 1974.

Additional resources that are helpful for discovering relevant publishers:

JANE: Journal/Author Name Estimator
By entering the title and/or abstract of your paper, JANE will compare your document to millions of documents in PubMed to find the best matching journals, authors, or articles.
Web of Science Manuscript Matcher
With your manuscript's title and abstract, this tool will help you find related journals indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. Must by signed in with your Web of Science account to use.
JournalGuide
A free tool that helps you evaluate scholarly journals. In addition to searching by journal name, category or publisher, authors can use the title and abstract of a paper to discover journals that have already published articles on similar topics.
Elsevier Journal Finder
Input your manuscript's abstract and the Elsevier Journal Finder will create a list of recommended journals for you to publish your research in based on all of the journals indexed in Scopus.
DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals
A unique and extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world, driven by a growing community, committed to ensuring quality content is freely available online for everyone.
Taylor and Francis Journal Suggester
This tool will help you identify journals to consider for publication. The suggestions will be more accurate if you use a full abstract containing relevant keywords. Click on 'Reveal suggested journals' to see a short description of the journal and some citation and speed metrics.
Ulrich's Periodical Directory
Ulrich's Periodical Directory provides users with serials bibliographic and access information that ranges from subscription rates to the web sites. Includes ISSN, former ISSN(s) and former title(s) history, variant titles, editorial and classification data, start year, and frequency. Also pricing, subscription, and distribution details key publisher, editor, rights & permissions and advertising contact.

Journals Welcoming Student and Resident Submissions

Although most journals accept student work provided it matches their existing publishing standards, the options below explicitly encourage student and resident submissions

CommonHealth
The College of Public Health at Temple University's peer-reviewed, online, open access journal. Publishes papers of interest to public health scholars in academic, clinical, government and industry roles working on all aspects of major public health issues
The Cooper Rowan Medical Journal
Open-access, peer-reviewed medical journal prioritizing submissions whose first author is a current student or resident/fellow
Harvard Medical Student Review
The HMSR is a student-run medical journal and provides a platform for students to contribute to important issues facing health and medicine. Scholarly articles, reviews, editorials, and original artwork submissions are considered
International Journal of Medical Students
The IJMS aims to be a platform for early-career scientists' medical research and accepts clinical trials, survey research, reports of diagnostic tests, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and observational and analytical studies
BMJ Student
BMJ Student invites medical students and newly qualified doctors to submit pitches for articles on issues related to medical student life, career planning, and education
Harvard Public Health Review
HPHR seeks content from emerging and established investigators producing public health research in a variety of formats including online and print publications, videos, podcasts, ebooks, and more
Einstein Journal of Biology and Medicine
The EJBM encourages original investigation by scientists and physicians in training. Journal contents encompass the results of basic and clinical investigation, as well as those disciplines at the interface of medicine and the social sciences, medico-legal and ethical studies, epidemiology, public policy, and the history of medicine
Journal for Healthcare Quality
The JHQ is the peer-reviewed official publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality. The Journal publishes scholarly articles targeted to leaders of all healthcare settings, leveraging applied research and producing practical, timely and impactful evidence in healthcare system transformation
Journal of Healthcare Risk Management
Published by the American Society for Healthcare Management (ASHM), content focuses on original research, trends, and new developments in the field of healthcare risk management
Implementation Science
Publishes research relevant to the scientific study of methods to promote the uptake of research findings into routine healthcare in clinical, organizational, or policy contexts
PLOS ONE
An interdisciplinary journal publishing research in over two hundred areas across science, engineering, medicine, and the related social sciences and humanities
PRiMER
Peer-reviewed Reports in Medical Education Research (PRiMER) publishes research briefs of original research relevant to education in family medicine and closely related areas (primary care, preventive medicine, public health, etc.)

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