Publishing in the right journal is important for guaranteeing visibility and impact, but a huge volume to choose from can make it difficult to pick. By keeping certain factors in mind when considering your own work and assessing target journals, you can ensure that you efficiently narrow down your research from thousands of journals to a select few, helping you make the right decision. 

In the following article, we’ll cover all the criteria you need to consider when choosing a journal for publication, including scope and fit, target audience, indexing, Journal Impact Factor, and open access models.

Locate your research in a broader academic context 

Before starting the writing process, you should consider what research gaps your work intends to fill. What disciplinary issues does it seek to resolve? What existing research does it constructively engage with? How does it advance the knowledge base for your field? Asking these questions before starting the writing process will help you tailor your work to relevant journals.

Find journals that fit the scope of your work 

The first task in choosing a journal for publication is to build a shortlist. Find journals that feel especially relevant to the topic you are covering. An easy way to do this is to make use of journal-matcher tools. For example, MDPI’s Journal List allows authors to search for journals by subject, providing further information such as activity status, total articles, Journal Impact Factor and CiteScore, and year of launch. You can also check recent issues of journals to determine topical alignment. 

Use a journal-matcher tool to help narrow down your search and identify 3 or 4 target journals. Next, assess the scopes and aims of these journals. If your research paper aligns with their major criteria, then your submission has a much greater chance of appealing to editors and making it past the initial screening phase. 

For more information, see an example of well-defined scopes and aims posted by the journal Antioxidants.

Consider target audience 

When choosing a journal for publication, as well as ensuring topical alignment you also want to consider what kind of audience your research is aimed at. If your research paper is for a specialist audience, then narrow, discipline-specific journals are essential. If its intended audience is a more general one, however, then a broader, multidisciplinary journal may be a better option.

Check indexing record

Indexing refers to the submission of journals to scholarly platforms that evaluate and organise the scientific literature. Indexing platforms track citation patterns and research impact, helping researchers find reliable journals in a rapidly evolving scholarly publishing landscape. 

Publishing with a journal that is regularly indexed in the top scholarly platforms is key to improving your discoverability and academic profile. Therefore, you want to find a journal that has a history of being indexed by the likes of Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. 

For more information on indexing, see MDPI’s Q&A with Head of Indexing, Dr. Constanze Schelhorn.

Assess Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore, and altmetrics 

Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore, and altmetrics are useful for choosing a journal for publication.  

Journal Impact Factor and CiteScore 

Assessing Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and CiteScores is key to seeing the wider reach and influence of a specific journal. The higher the JIF and CiteScores, the better the chance of that journal being indexed by scholarly platforms. 

There is no universal number, but a JIF score above 3 is generally considered good. 254 MDPI journals saw a rise in impact factor in 2025. See MDPI’s latest Impact Factors for more information.  

In terms of CiteScore, if a journal is in the top 25% (Q1 quartile) of your specific subject category, that is another good indication of the quality of the journal. 314 MDPI journals ranked in Q1/Q2 quartiles in 2025. See MDPI’s latest CiteScores for more information.  

Please note that these are exclusively journal-level metrics, so what they can tell us about the quality of an individual article is limited. 

Altmetrics 

Altmetrics are are a useful alternative to traditional citation metrics. They include online mentions on various social media channels, coverage in news media, blog discussions, etc. 

Whilst Journal Impact Factor and CiteScore are the authoritative indicators concerning journal reputability and impact, you should also consider the wider online reach and influence of the articles in the journal you want to submit to. Altmetrics can help you get a comprehensive picture of the popularity of and engagement of articles generated garnered by your target journal.

Open access model 

Open access (OA) has become the predominant and fastest-growing model for scholarly journal publishing. Many journals are fully OA, but some offer hybrid or even retain subscription-based models. 

Another thing to consider is article processing charges (APCs) and funder mandates. A fee must be paid to journals or publishers to cover the cost of processing and publishing an article as OA; these costs are usually covered by the researcher’s institution. Grants can help researcher’s cover these costs, but funder mandates may require that the research is published immediately as OA using open licenses like Creative Commons CC BY.  

As a researcher wanting to benefit from increased visibility of your work, OA is the most likely route you will want to go down. Be sure to consult your target journal’s APC pricing and any funder mandate requirements before choosing your desired journal.  

If you are interested in getting the most visibility and impact from your research, MDPI is a fully OA publisher with transparent APC pricing.

Preparing your research paper for submission 

Choosing a journal for publication is only half the picture; you must also ensure that your research paper is ready to be submitted. Professional editing services can help. 

At MDPI Author Services, we specialise in helping researchers prepare their manuscripts for publication. Our Academic Editing Service provides subject-specific expertise and in-depth technical refinement during the manuscript preparation phase, helping to improve the scientific content and structure of the paper as the author is guided from pre- to post-publication. Click here for a free quote.  

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