Library Out Loud

A key decision for any academic is where to submit articles for publication. Which journals publish in my area? Are they well respected? Are they on a list of predatory publishers?

There are various ways of finding likely journals, and finding information about a particular journal. Two tools that the Library subscribes to are Ulrich’s Periodical Directory and Cabell’s Business Directories of Publishing Opportunities. While Cabell’s is a subject specific directory of academic business journals, Ulrich’s is probably as near to comprehensive as you can get. Used together, they can give College of Business academics good information on possible places to submit work. Ulrich’s I would recommend to all academics, for the reason given below.

One of Cabell’s main advantages is that among the pieces of information it collects on journals is the acceptance rate. Cabell’s other strength is that you can use it to generate a list of journals that publish in a broad area e.g. global business, econometrics.

Ulrich’s isn’t good for generating such lists, but gives you a lot of useful information about a journal (although not the acceptance rate). The most important of this from an researcher’s point of view is being able to find out which databases index the journal you’re interested in. This is key information because searching databases is how most people will find your work. Yes, Google Scholar’s spider may find it anyway, but you should also look for a journal to be indexed in a good database related to your subject, or a well-known multidisciplinary database. Both would of course be ideal.

Both Cabell’s and Ulrich’s will link to the journal’s website, which will also give you still more information about the editorial board, instructions for authors, copyright and so on.
Katherine Chisholm
Business Librarian