Choosing a suitable scientific journal for the publication of a manuscript can be quite challenging. The professional suitability of a journal, quality assurance, possible publication fees or the experience of colleagues, for example, all play a role.
In addition, digital tools such as "Journal Finder" are now also available for searching for suitable journals. Based on text searches using information such as title, abstract and references used, suggestions are displayed as to which journal a manuscript could be submitted to. For the comparison between journal and manuscript, it is assumed that journals that have previously published articles on a similar topic are very likely to be interested in publishing articles on this topic again in the future. Some Journal Finders are linked to institution-specific information, so that information on funding opportunities or valid TUBAF publishing contracts is displayed directly.
Publisher-independent Journal Finder
B!SON: Stands for "Bibliometric and Semantic Open Access Recommender Nnetwork". The recommendation service is developed by the TIB Hannover and the SLUB Dresden to find a suitable open access journal.
By entering the title, abstract and references of a publication, B!SON creates a list of suitable quality-assured Open Access journals sorted according to thematic relevance. The instance for TU Bergakademie Freiberg was linked with our valid publishing contracts with publication options and with the funding conditions of Publication Fund, so that institution-specific recommendations can be displayed directly.
- DOAJ: The Directory of Open Access Journals is a curated directory with more than 20,000 gold (pure) open access journals. To be indexed here, a journal must fulfill certain criteria. For example, a recognized quality assurance procedure (peer review) must be applied, the publications in the journals must be available directly, under an open license (e.g. CC-BY) and free of charge. A search is possible by title, publisher or keywords as well as by selecting subject areas.
- oa.finder: The oa.finder is a search tool for scientific publication organs with a wide range of information about journals. You can specify the publication type of the planned publication, the role in the publication process and your own scientific institution. The tool then provides customized information on publication venues. In addition, institution-specific Open Access funding opportunities are displayed, e.g. for TUBAF.
The oa.finder was developed as part of the BMBF-funded joint project open-access.network at Bielefeld University Library and will be operated sustainably after the end of the project.
Publisher-specific Journal Finder
Various publishers offer their own journal finder platforms, limited to their publisher-specific portfolio.
A selection:
Other helpful sources of information
- Publishing Open Access - but where? Tips for finding suitable publication opportunities (in german)
- Useful tools for searching for Open Access journals: B!SON, oa.finder, DOAJ (in german)
- Overview of all currently valid publishing contracts for the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and the possible publication venues
With the help of these tools and information you can often find numerous publication opportunities. If you have any doubts about the business model or similar of a journal, the page Think. Check. Submit offers a catalogue of criteria for identifying potential predatory journals.
provides a list of criteria for identifying potential predatory journals. More information on this topic can be found on our website on Open Access -> Predatory Publishing.
Contact
Martina Obst
(Open Access Representative)
Winklerstraße 3
+49 3731 39-4327
openaccess [at] ub [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de