HOW TO CHOOSE A JOURNAL: SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Thomas F. Babor, Dominique Morisano, and Kerstin
Stenius
INTRODUCTION
One of the most important and least understood
decisions made in the course of publishing a scientific article
is the choice of a journal. The decision determines the audience
reached, the context in which work is presented, and the time
it takes to achieve formal publication. At best, the right
choice of a journal results in the rapid publication of an
article that achieves the exposure it deserves. At worst,
the wrong choice results in rejection, delay, and even loss
of an author's motivation to persist in seeking publication
for a potentially valuable scientific contribution.
Journal choice is little understood even by
those who have spent decades in the field of addiction research.
One reason for this state of affairs is that the field is
rapidly changing, with new publication opportunities constantly
being added (e.g., electronic journals) and more traditional
organs of communication (e.g., print journals) adapting to
new technology. Another reason for the difficulty in choosing
a publication outlet is that until recently, there was little
communication between journal editors and their potential
authors. As indicated in Chapter 6, the process by which a
journal decides to accept or reject a given article has been
mysterious; most journals have carefully preserved the mystery
within the 'black box' of editorial decision-making. With
virtually no formal training programs on how to write for
and publish in scholarly journals, the learning process for
novices has been left to chance and the luck of finding an
experienced mentor.
This chapter provides guidance on how to choose
a journal for a scholarly publication on the subject of addiction,
broadly defined as any topic dealing with psychoactive substances
as well as compulsive behaviours such as gambling. A basic
assumption of this chapter is that the primary purpose of
publishing is to communicate findings and ideas to a broader
audience than one's immediate circle. Our focus is on scholarly
journals, which have become the primary organ (in addition
to conference presentations, posters, books and abstracts)
of the scientific communication system that has evolved over
the past century. Although we will provide some information
about publishing in disciplinary journals that serve the scholarly
interests of professional groups such as biochemists, physicians,
sociologists, psychologists and social workers, our primary
interest is in the addiction specialty journals, which limit
their subject matter primarily to psychoactive substances
and related addictive behaviours.
More specifically, addiction journals are periodicals
devoted to the dissemination of information about the use,
misuse, and effects of psychoactive substances, as well as
related topics such as addictive disorders, biological mechanisms,
genetic origins, epidemiology, addictive behaviors (e.g.,
gambling), and the treatment and prevention of substance misuse.
GROWTH OF ADDICTION SPECIALTY JOURNALS AND OTHER PUBLICATION
SOURCES
As we noted in Chapter 1, a scientific journal
has multiple roles and functions. Journals provide a forum
for scientific communication and certify the scientific value
of an individual author's work. They provide access to reliable
knowledge, and at the same time confer scholarly prestige
and facilitate career advancement (see Lafollette 1992). Figure
2.1 provides a striking illustration of the increase of scientific
publishing in the addiction field, which parallels the growth
in most other areas of science during the past century (Babor
1993a). The figure shows the cumulative record of addiction
specialty journals, plotted according to the number of journals
publishing articles since the late nineteenth century, when
addiction publishing first began. During the 1970s and 1980s,
there was a period of dramatic growth in the development of
new addiction journals. By the year 2004, there were 75 peer-reviewed
scientific addiction specialty journals operating throughout
the world.
FIGURE 2.1 CUMULATIVE NUMBER OF ADDICTION
JOURNALS PUBLISHED SINCE 1884, DISAGGREGATED ACCORDING TO
LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION
In addition to the total number of journals
published each decade, Figure 2.1 also subclassifies the journals
according to language of publication. Approximately two-thirds
of these journals are published in the English language, which
has emerged as the main language for international scientific
communication (Babor 1993b). Details about the journals plotted
in Figure 2.1 are provided in Table
2.1 and Table 2.2.
The data in these tables and the detailed journal information
given in Appendix A were compiled from a 2003-2004 survey
of addiction journal editors conducted by the International
Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE). The survey results
were supplemented by a review of public information sources,
such as the journal's webpage (if available), print copies
of the journal, and its instructions to authors.
Table 2.1 lists the titles of the English language
journals along with information about the substances or addictive
behaviors they are concerned with (e.g., alcohol, tobacco,
licit and illicit drugs, pathological gambling); general topical
areas (e.g., treatment, prevention, epidemiology, biological
mechanisms, history); and details about the
journals' frequency of publication, circulation, acceptance
rate, ISI Impact Factor score, and abstracting or indexing
services. Table 2.2 provides the same information for journals
published in languages other than English, with the exception
of Impact Factor (none of the non-English language journals
reported an Impact Factor). Additional details about the journals
listed in the tables, including mission statements, manuscript
submission details, and URLs, are provided in Appendix A.
All of the journals listed in the tables are peer-reviewed,
and we excluded some periodicals because they did not satisfy
this inclusion criterion.
Growth in the number of specialized addiction
journals described in Figure 2.1 tells only part of the story
of how the addiction field has grown in size and complexity.
As previously indicated, a significant portion of the addiction
literature is also published in scholarly journals that have
a more general orientation towards disciplines such as medicine,
psychology, biochemistry, sociology, economics, and public
health. Figure 2.2 (see page 22) shows the results of a content
analysis that the authors of this chapter conducted to describe
the kinds of journals currently publishing articles on alcoholrelated
research. Alcohol research was chosen for this analysis because
this literature was catalogued relatively well on an international
level. We counted and classified a sample of 344 journal articles
published in 2001 that were abstracted in ETOH, a comprehensive
index of the world scientific literature on alcohol and alcohol
problems. The results showed that 58% of the alcohol-related
articles were published in general or disciplinary journals,
and 42% were published in addiction specialty journals. When
the articles were sub-classified as either 'biomedical' (i.e.,
dealing with biological or medical topics) or 'psychosocial'
(i.e., dealing with topics such as treatment, prevention,
epidemiology, psychology, or social policy), we found that
the addiction journals published a higher percentage of articles
on psychosocial topics, whereas disciplinary journals published
a greater share of the biomedical articles. Our review also
indicated that authors of articles on alcohol-related topics
publish in a tremendous variety of journals. In 2001, ETOH
abstracted articles from over 50 addiction journals and 125
disciplinary and general scientific journals.
FIGURE 2.2 PERCENTAGE OF 2001 JOURNAL ARTICLES
ON ALCOHOL PUBLISHED IN ADDICTION SPECIALTY JOURNALS AND DISCIPLINARY
JOURNALS, CLASSIFIED AS EITHER BIOMEDICAL OR PSYCHOSOCIAL
SUBJECT MATTER
In addition to the expanding array of journals
that addiction authors have to choose from, many publishers
have increased the standard number of issues released per
year, added supplements or 'special issues', and created new
electronic formats for browsing and submitting articles. With
the increase in the number, frequency, and breadth of scholarly
journals covering addiction-related research, there has probably
never been a greater opportunity to publish on the subject
of addiction. Nevertheless, the plethora of journals has created
new challenges and questions for prospective authors. What
are the relative merits of publishing in disciplinary versus
addiction specialty journals? How does an author find the
most appropriate journal for a particular article? What are
the chances that an article will be accepted by a given journal?
Which journals have the greatest impact on the field? How
does an author know whether a journal will reach the intended
audience for a specific article? The answers to these and
related questions are the subject of the remainder of this
chapter. To assist prospective authors in the choice of the
most appropriate journal, Box 2.1 describes the kinds of decisions
that must be made during the selection process. The following
sections expand upon this outline, discussing each step in
the process. It should be noted that although our review focuses
primarily on how to publish a standard article based on original
research and the collection of empirical data, the publication
of other types of articles (e.g., review papers, theoretical
articles, case reports) can also be informed by following
these steps.
BOX 2.1 MAJOR STEPS IN CHOOSING A JOURNAL
1. Decide first whether the
article is primarily of interest
to a national or international audience
2. Consider the language of publication
3. Consider whether to publish in a generic,
disciplinary or addiction specialty journal
4. Determine whether the general content
areas (type of drug, clinical/basic science, etc) fit the
journal's mission statement
- Explore the compatibility between your
article and the journal's culture
- Make sure the journal is currently interested
in the type of article you have written
5. Gauge your exposure by reviewing the
journal’s circulation and abstracting services
6. Evaluate your chances of acceptance
7. Consider, but don't be fooled by, impact
factors
8. Take into account time to publication
and other practical matters
MAJOR STEPS IN CHOOSING A JOURNAL
1 DECIDE FIRST WHETHER THE ARTICLE IS PRIMARILY
OF INTEREST TO A NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE
This is partly a matter of the article's information
content, and partly a matter of presentation or appeal. If
the topic is primarily of local or national interest (e.g.,
prevalence of substance abuse among Brazilian secondary school
students, or an evaluation of a local treatment program) and
the presentation is oriented toward professionals in a particular
country, then the article should be submitted to a journal
capable of reaching that audience, such as one sponsored by
a national professional society. If the topic is likely to
appeal to scientists or professionals in many countries, and
the presentation speaks to this broader audience, then an
international journal should be considered. In general, the
best way to determine the scope and audience of a journal
is to read the journal's mission statement (see Appendix A).
2 CONSIDER THE LANGUAGE OF PUBLICATION
Increasingly, English has become the main language
of scientific communication throughout the world. Nevertheless,
significant numbers of scientific articles are published in
German, Russian, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese,
and the Scandinavian languages, as indicated by the journals
listed in Table 2.2. For most researchers, choosing what language
to publish in depends largely on the author's native tongue,
the country where the study was conducted, and the potential
audience. Another limiting factor is the availability of an
addiction journal that publishes in that language and accepts
papers on the author's topic. If one is writing
for an international audience, it is wise to choose an English
language journal that can be read by scholars in most countries.
Under many circumstances an article in English will have greater
exposure, especially when included in major abstracting and
indexing services (e.g., MEDLINE, PsycInfo), most of which
operate in the English language. English language authors
can choose between national, more specialized journals or
the bigger, international journals, depending on the quality
of the paper, the importance of the findings and the audience
one wishes to reach (see Step 1). If the article is likely
to be of interest to an international audience, but it is
not written in English, the author can consider publishing
it in English, in addition to his or her native language.
Multiple publication in different languages, however, requires
permission from both of the journal editors involved. Alternatively,
researchers writing in languages other than English should
consider publishing in journals that
provide English language abstracts (see Table 2.2), thereby
gaining entré into some of the world's major abstracting
services (see Appendix 2.1 to this chapter).
In general, journals published in languages
other than English provide a valuable service to national
and regional audiences that have a special interest in addiction
studies. For example, if an article has special relevance
to French-speaking populations, the journal Alcoologie et
Addictologie (Alcohol and Addiction Studies) provides immediate
access to that audience not only because of the language it
is written in, but also because of the network through which
the journal is distributed (i.e., the French Society on Alcoholism
and Addiction). In addition, many non-English language journals
demonstrate an intentional internationalism that is expressed
in a
readiness to publish articles and review books submitted from
many different countries. Nordisk Alkohol- & Narkotikatidskrift
(Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs), for example, defines
its scientific role as going beyond the borders of one country
to include the analysis of alcohol policy in both Scandinavia
and the international arena.
Overall, non-English language journals serve
as a necessary medium for communication among clinicians,
scientists, and policymakers within major linguistic areas
of the world. They increase the range of cultural and scientific
diversity in the addiction field and in this way provide new
opportunities for authors and readers. Authors whose first
language is English should not ignore the advantages of publishing
in these journals, which often have a higher acceptance rate
and, in some cases, are open to submissions written in English.
Depending on the topic and scope of the article, some journals
are willing to either translate into the language of publication
or publish the article directly in English.
3 CONSIDER WHETHER TO PUBLISH IN A GENERIC,
DISCIPLINARY OR ADDICTION SPECIALTY JOURNAL
The third step involves examining whether the
results of a study are mainly of interest to other addiction
researchers or to a more general readership. It is probably
easier to get an addiction article accepted in an addiction
specialty journal. Publishing in a nonaddiction journal may
require authors to write the article in a way that is understandable
to those who do not speak the 'addiction dialect'. Some journals,
such as Natureand Science, are multidisciplinary and oriented
toward the general scientific community. Other journals, like
The Lancetand the Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
publish articles dealing with a specific discipline, such
as medicine or public health, respectively. In countries without
addiction specialty journals, a journal in psychiatry can,
for instance, be an important channel for addiction research.
Although this Guide deals primarily with addiction
specialty journals, there are several reasons for considering
more broadly-oriented journals. For example, our ETOH analysis
indicated that disciplinary journals published approximately
half of the scientific literature on alcohol-related research
in 2001. These journals are generally
published by and oriented towards professional groups associated
with the major disciplines contributing to addiction studies,
i.e., biology, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, public health,
sociology, and anthropology.
Disciplinary journals are sometimes favored by addiction researchers
because they are thought to have greater prestige value within
a given discipline than an addiction specialty journal. Professional
advancement for academic researchers is often based on such
subtle considerations. Moreover, some of the most popular
disciplinary journals (e.g., The Lancet, New England Journal
of Medicine) have higher circulation numbers and Impact Factors
(discussed below) than addiction specialty journals, which
adds to their prestige value. Nevertheless, the chances of
publishing an article on an addiction-related subject are
sometimes reduced if a journal does not have reviewers or
editors familiar with the topic. If a particular disciplinary
journal rarely publishes articles on addiction, it is advisable
to contact the editor before submitting a paper. In addition,
if a disciplinary journal has a large circulation and a high
Impact Factor, authors should make sure that the article is
likely to be seen as important before submitting it for review.
In the remainder of this chapter, we discuss the relative
merits of publishing in addiction specialty journals, as such
journals offer a range of opportunities to prospective authors
that are comparable to those available in the disciplinary
journals.
4 REVIEW THE JOURNAL’S CONTENT RANGE
AND GENERAL CULTURE
Every journal has a culture of its own, sometimes
developed over many years of serving a particular professional
society or through the influence of editors who sometimes
place their own particular imprint on the journal. The best
way to understand that culture is to review several issues
of the journal in their entirety, including editorials, letters-to-the-editor,
and scientific papers. A visit to the journal's homepage,
if available, will accomplish the same purpose. Prospective
contributors should also read the journal's mission statement
(summarized in Appendix A at the back of this Guide for the
journals listed in Tables 2.1 and 2.2), which often describes
the focus of the journal, its goals, its preferences, and
its audience. Although these statements are sometimes dated
and written in general terms, they often provide a broad outline
of the journal's traditions, image, priorities, and aspirations.
In Tables 2.1 and 2.2, the first column describes the major
substances (and addictive behaviors) that each journal considers
part of its purview. Some journals (e.g., Nicotine and Tobacco
Research) are interested in one particular substance, whereas
others are quite generic (e.g., Drug and Alcohol Dependence).
The topical areas covered by a journal are also an important
consideration. Some specialize in treatment research, others
in biological effects or mechanisms, and still others in prevention
or policy. The less a particular article meets a journal's
priority substance and content areas, the more likely it is
to be rejected. Even when an article is considered to be scientifically
sound and relevant to the addiction field, it may be dismissed
by a journal editor because it does not meet with the journal's
current priorities and stated mission. It is therefore important
for authors to narrow their choice of journals to those whose
history and current contents have demonstrated an interest
in (or at least an openness to) the topic and scope of the
article being submitted.
When in doubt, it is always advisable for authors to talk
with colleagues and communicate with journal editors. By asking
someone with experience in publishing for advice, younger
or less experienced authors can obtain first hand and up-to-date
information about the priorities and preferences of particular
journal editors.
5 EVALUATE THE JOURNAL’S EXPOSURE
One of the most important goals of scientific
publication is to reach one or more specific audiences, such
as the scientific community, clinical practitioners, or policymakers.
A journal's ability to provide exposure to these audiences
is determined by its circulation (print and electronic) and
its dissemination capabilities, determined by access to abstracting
and indexing services. Tables 2.1 and 2.2 summarize information
relevant to these two aspects of exposure for addiction specialty
journals. Print circulation refers to the number of copies
printed for the journal's subscribers as well as those who
receive free copies. Scholarly journals have two major types
of subscribers: members of professional organizations and
libraries. In addition, there are smaller numbers of personal
and institutional subscribers. Prior to the Internet, the
number of journal copies in circulation was a good indicator
of a journal's exposure. In the future, figures describing
the number of visits to homepages or the number of downloads
may be better measures of how extensively and frequently a
journal is read. If an article is relevant to the members
of a particular learned society (e.g., the British Society
for the Study of Addiction to Alcohol or Other Drugs), professional
group (e.g., the Canadian Medical Association), or scientific
organization (e.g., the Research Society on Alcoholism), then
it may make sense to submit the manuscript to a journal that
is sponsored by that organization. As detailed in the Appendix
to this Guide, many of the journals listed in Tables 1 and
2 are sponsored by professional organizations or learned societies
that provide free subscriptions or reduced rates to their
members. For example, Alcoologie et Addictologie (Alcohol
and Addiction Studies) is sponsored by the French Society
of Alcohol and Addiction Studies, which distributes free copies
of the journal to its 1400 members. Psychology of Addictive
Behaviorsis published by the American Psychological Association,
which makes the
journal available to members at a reduced subscription rate.
In addition to targeting organizational subscribers, exposure
is also affected by the number of library subscriptions. Libraries,
especially university libraries, guarantee
exposure to students and scholars, thereby providing direct
access to perhaps the most important audience for any scientific
communication. The world of library science and informatics
is changing rapidly, with electronic subscriptions replacing
or supplementing print copies available on the library shelf.
Library subscriptions are
therefore the main conduit for a publication to reach a broader
audience than the members of a particular learned society.
University libraries and other large information sources have
begun to pool resources to increase electronic availability
of full-text journals.
Beyond the journal's print circulation and subscriber
base, an article's exposure is now determined to a far greater
extent than before by the electronic databases that index
the published literature by author, topic, and bibliographic
reference, and provide abstracts of articles for potential
readers in search of particular types of information. Appendix
2.1 lists some of the main abstracting and indexing services
mentioned by the addiction specialty journals listed in Tables
2.1 and 2.2. These secondary information sources provide a
variety of important services that dramatically increase the
potential exposure of a scholarly communication. In general,
these databases are available in both print and electronic
versions.
Electronic databases have become the information
source of choice for those who are searching for topical information
via the Internet. They are comprehensive, rapid, and often
inexpensive or free. They permit searches of the current and
past literature according to author, title, and keywords,
often providing the author's abstract for review. From the
author's perspective, a journal's ability to provide a listing
of its journal articles and abstracts to these secondary information
sources greatly increases an article's exposure to scholars
and students throughout the world. The greater the number
of indexing and abstracting services a journal belongs to
(as indicated in Tables 2.1 and 2.2), the more likely it is
that an article will reach its intended audience. Although
many of the non-English language journals indicate minimal
coverage in abstracting and indexing databases, this situation
is changing rapidly and most of these journals now provide
English abstracts, an important first step in reaching an
international audience.
6 EVALUATE YOUR CHANCES OF ACCEPTANCE
A major consideration in the choice of a journal
is the likelihood of acceptance. Journals vary tremendously
in the criteria they use to select articles for publication,
and in the competition a given article will encounter in relation
to other authors seeking to claim the same journal space.
Some journals have high acceptance rates and are often looking
for articles to publish. Other journals have a surfeit of
submissions, making it necessary for editors to reject articles
that would nevertheless be worthy of publication in less competitive
journals. A journal's acceptance rate provides a rough estimate
of an author's chances of eventual acceptance, but the rates
listed in Tables 2.1 and 2.2 are subject to a number of limitations.
First, some journals do not know or choose not to reveal their
acceptance rate. In the ISAJE survey conducted for the preparation
of this chapter, we asked journal editors to tell us the proportion
of articles accepted that were eligible for peer review (regardless
of whether the articles were sent out for review or returned
unreviewed). It should be noted that several journals (e.g.,
Alcohol Research and Health, Science and Practice Perspectives)
operate primarily by commissioning authors to write papers
on a topic or theme, which accounts for their high acceptance
rates. Beyond a journal's acceptance rate, an author's chances
of acceptance depend on many other considerations, some of
them scientific, some stylistic, others administrative. Scientific
considerations include the importance of the findings, the
originality of the ideas, the sophistication of the research
methods, the appropriateness of the data analysis, and the
implications of the results.
Stylistic factors include the quality of the
writing and the way in which the data are presented. If the
article is poorly written or not well organized, reviewers
may see this as a limitation, and editors may be reluctant
to take the time to work with authors to bring the article
up to the journal's standards. Some journals have more resources
for editorial assistance (e.g., language checking) than others.
Administrative factors include the length of the article,
the amount of revision required, and the appropriateness of
the topic to the journal's mission. If an article is too long,
it reduces the amount of space available for equally worthy
articles that are written more concisely by competing authors.
If the article is not appropriate to the journal's current
priorities or mission statement, it might be rejected even
before it is sent out for peer review. Finally, the number
of articles published by a journal could affect chances of
acceptance. Journals that are published monthly or weekly
need to accept more articles than journals that publish less
frequently. But journals that publish more frequently also
tend to be more competitive.
7 CONSIDER, BUT DON’T BE FOOLED BY,
IMPACT FACTORS
The so-called Impact Factor is an attempt to
provide an objective measure of the extent to which a scientific
author's work is cited by other authors. Such a measure can
also be used to determine how often the articles from a specific
journal are cited. The impact of a journal on a field of study
is thus based on the assumption that the more a journal's
articles are cited, the more influence it has on the field.
In 1962, the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) began
publishing the Science Citation Index (SCI). By the early
1990s, 3,200 journals belonged to the core or citation journals
of SCI (Seglen 1998). Since 1972, ISI has also published the
Journal Citation Reports.
These reports give information about different journal impact
factors, of which the standard Journal Impact Factor (JIF)
is the one most followed. It is presented as a figure that
indicates the average citation frequency of the articles in
the journal. It is based on the number of times in a given
year, on average, the articles that appear in the two preceding
years of the journal received citation in other SCI indexed
journals (Rydholm 1998). The JIF was originally developed
to objectively compare the quality of journals. Increasingly,
however, the data used to calculate impact factors have been
used as a shortcut to compare and rank individual articles,
researchers, and research groups. The JIF has been criticised
almost from its inception (Seglen 1998; Stenius 2003), partly
because the ISI's databank covers only a small share of the
world's scientific journals. Different research fields have
different coverage in the database. The database has a clear
preference for English language journals (particularly those
based in the USA). National or regional journals in other
languages are not well represented (Seglen 1998), as indicated
by the fact that none of the journals listed in Table 2.2
has an Impact Factor.
All journals from a field that is under-represented
will receive lower JIFs. In addition, the use of citations
varies between different research fields. Thus, it is not
acceptable to compare JIFs for journals from different fields.
A journal representing a field that typically favours large
numbers of references will automatically get a higher Impact
Factor, especially if the field is quickly developing. Research
fields that get references from related disciplines get higher
JIFs. This explains why journals focusing on basic science
have higher values. The humanities are in a particularly unfavourable
position. Disciplines where national or regional research,
or publications in local languages, are important also tend
to get low JIFs (Rousseau 2002). As a measure of impact, the
JIF, with its two-year time frame, is more appropriate for
quickly developing research fields, such as molecular medicine.
Applied, clinical, or social sciences do not fare as well
with the two-year window (Mäkelä 2000; Andersen
1998; Luukkonen 1994). Non-English language journals or bilingual
journals (for instance Japanese-English), even if included
in SCI, will on average receive a lower JIF.
Finally, it is important to note that a citation
is not necessarily an indication of research quality. Every
researcher knows that there are numerous reasons (apart from
its quality) for citing a scientific publication. Authors
may cite or quote for polemical reasons, to flatter their
readers, or to promote their own research (or that of their
friends, colleagues or patrons). West and McIlwaine (2002)
studied 79 articles published in Addiction between 1995 and
1998, and found no correlation between citation frequency
(up to the year 2000) and an independent quality rating. Interestingly,
West and McIlwaine also found that articles from the developing
world received fewer citations than the quality ranking would
have led them to expect. (See Chapter 4 for further discussion
of citation procedures).
In conclusion, Impact Factors should be treated
with caution. Until the deficiencies in the system have been
corrected and its limitations better understood, however,
the JIF remains a relatively crude index of the value of a
particular journal. According to Jones (1999), authors should
not be preoccupied with the Impact Factor of a journal. Rather,
they should give more consideration to the speed and efficiency
of the editorial handling of their manuscripts, and to the
quality and timeliness of the peer review. In a time when
electronic publishing becomes more common, it is also a fact
that the quick (and often free) availability of research results
on the Internet in many cases may compete with measures of
impact such as the Impact Factor.
8 OTHER PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS
There are several other factors that should
be taken into account in selecting a journal. One is the lag
time to publication. Some journals take longer than others
to process their manuscripts. Most journals do not reveal
how long it takes to arrive at a decision, however; and even
when this information is available, it should be noted that
the average time is affected by the number of manuscripts
that are rejected before being sent out for peer review. Another
factor is the time between the acceptance of a revised manuscript
and its final publication. This will depend in part on the
number of issues published by the journal per year, the number
of accepted manuscripts, and the efficiency of the publisher.
In general, journals that publish more frequently are likely
to have a shorter lag time to publication. The best way to
obtain information about the review process is to consult
the journal's instructions to authors or the journal's website.
It is best not to rely on hearsay, anecdote, or the journal's
reputation.
SUMMARY
Journals differ in the quality of articles they
publish, the exposure they provide to an author's work, and
in their subject matter. Once an author or a group of authors
has a clear idea of the results of a particular study or project,
it is often valuable to conduct a preliminary review of the
journals most likely to publish an article on that subject.
As indicated in Tables 2.1 and 2.2, there are many peer-reviewed
addiction specialty journals to choose from, as well as hundreds
of disciplinary and multidisciplinary journals. The careful
selection of a journal, when one takes into account both scientific
and practical considerations, is clearly worth the effort.
Not only is the process likely to save valuable time for authors,
peer reviewers, and journal editors, it will also increase
the likelihood that an article will contribute as much to
science as it does to the author’s curriculum vitae.
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Helsinki, Finland.
- Rousseau, R. (2002) Journal evaluation: technical
and practical issues. Library Trends,50, 418-439.
- Rydholm, A. (1998) Impact factors. Acta Orthopaedica
Scandinavica, 69, 221.
- Seglen, P. (1998) Citation rates and journal
impact factors are not suitable for evaluation of research.
Acta Orthopaedica Scandinavica, 69, 224-229.
- Stenius, K. (2003) Journal impact factor
- mittari joka vahvistaa tutkimusmaailman hierarkiaa (The
journal impact
factor - an indicator that strengthens the hierarchy of
the research world). Tieteessä Tapahtuu, 7, 35-39.
- West, R. and Mcllwaine, A. (2002) What do
citation counts count for in the field of addiction? An
empirical evaluation of citation counts and their link with
peer ratings of quality. Addiction, 97, 501-504.
APPENDIX 2.1 A SELECTION OF ABSTRACTING AND
INDEXING SERVICES USED BY ADDICTION SPECIALTY JOURNALS
Addiction Abstracts is a quarterly journal
that is published simultaneously in print and online editions.
It is an international abstracting service that covers all
addictive substances as well as other compulsive behaviours.
Approximately 100 journals are reviewed from such areas as
psychology, psychiatry, public health, medicine, health behaviour,
treatment and prevention.
CSA Sociological Abstracts provides an
index and abstracts of journal articles from the international
literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social
and behavioural sciences. Its database is drawn from over
1,700 serials publications. Major subject areas include evaluation
research, family and social welfare, health law, substance
abuse and addiction.
Current Contents provides access to bibliographic
research information from articles, editorials, meeting abstracts
and other sources from more than 8,000 scholarly journals,
with separate editions for Clinical Medicine, Life Sciences
and Social and Behavioural Sciences. Internet access is provided
through Current Contents Connect.
DrugScope is an independent centre of
expertise on drugs located in the United Kingdom. DrugScope
Information Service allows access to a multi-disciplinary
library of over 80,000 documents from around the world. (see
http://www.drugscope.org.uk/about/home.asp)
EMBASE is a comprehensive index of the
world's literature on human medicine and related disciplines.
Each record is classified and indexed using terms and synonyms
that assist the process of searching for specific subjects.
Subject coverage includes AIDS, drug dependence, psychiatry,
and public health. EMBASE provides access to articles from
more than 2,900 journals from 110 countries.
ETOH refers to the Alcohol and Alcohol
Problems Science Database. This is a comprehensive online
resource covering all aspects of alcohol abuse and alcoholism.
It is produced by the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism. ETOH contains both abstracts and bibliographic
references to journal articles and other information sources
that cover medicine, biochemistry, psychology, psychiatry,
epidemiology, sociology, anthropology, treatment, prevention,
education, accidents and safety, legislation, criminal justice,
public policy and health services research. Each ETOH reference
is assigned one broad subject heading (i.e., genetics and
biological behavioural determinants, incidence and prevalence,
medical consequences, metabolism, neuroscience, occupational
and workplace issues, pregnancy, prevention, psychological
and developmental determinants, public policy, socioeconomic
aspects, social consequences, special populations and treatment).
These ‘keywords’ are designed to facilitate the
search for particular types of information by means of the
ETOH web site (http://etoh.niaaa.nih.gov/ewebgide.htm).
MEDLINE (Medical Literature, Analysis,
and Retrieval System Online) is the US National Library of
Medicine's bibliographic database. It contains over 12 million
references to journal articles in the life sciences with a
concentration on biomedicine, including nursing, allied health
and pre-clinical sciences such as biology and chemistry. It
can be searched free of charge in most libraries through the
Internet via PubMed or the home page of the National Library
of Medicine (http://www.nlm.nih.gov).
Currently, MEDLINE documents citations from over 4600 journals
published in 30 languages, although nearly 89% of the cited
articles are published in English. Approximately 76% of English
abstracts are printed verbatim from those written by the authors
of the articles. For over 3,000 journals, there is a link
from a MEDLINE reference to the publisher's web site so that
the reader can request or view the full article.
PsycINFO is the electronic version of
Psychological Abstracts. It contains summaries (abstracts,
bibliographic information and indexing) of English-language
articles from journals originating in more than 50 countries.
It is available through libraries and to members of the American
Psychological Association. More than 1800 journal titles are
covered with articles selected for their psychological relevance.
TOXIBASE is a French language database
designed to provide access to scientific information and documentation
dealing with psychoactive drugs and addiction. It is part
of the French Reseau National d'Information et de Documentation,
a national network of information and documentation centers
with partners in France and other countries. http://www.toxibase.org
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