Journal selection: aims and scope, audience and metrics

Prof Julie Nightingale, University of Salford

Editor-in-Chief Radiography journal

ECR 2017: EFRS authorship and reviewer workshop Aims

• To highlight the classifications and formats of journals available to radiography and radiology authors

• To explore the role of journal metrics (comparison data) in demonstrating impact, speed and reach of a journal

Which journal?

• We are well-served with journals within radiography / radiology • alone list 33 established publications • Many new ‘’ journals emerging

• All have different ‘unique selling points’

• There is no BEST journal in a field – each author’s manuscript may have a different ‘best fit’

• How do we select a journal to submit to? What is the most important reason to publish in a particular journal?

Reputation and

Open Readership access

Which Journal?

Aims and Publishing Scope speed

Quality of reviews Readership

• A high quality article will be of little value Reputation and Impact if it is never read by people who can Factor potentially use it to develop knowledge Open Readership or effect change access

Which • Who do you need to read your Journal? manuscript ? Aims and Publishing Scope speed • Aims and Scope (purpose) influences Quality of the readership - does your manuscript reviews fit well with the ethos of the journal?

Journal choices – within radiology and radiography

Specialist Sub-Specialist Modality / Methodology Link between journal type and readership

• Wide clinical and academic • Small readership readership • Engaged in your discipline • Professional journal – • Weighted to clinical and subscriptions academic readership • Reaches many readers but may not be specialists Specialist Sub-specialist

Modality / Multi- Methodology disciplinary • Small readership • Wide readership crossing • More engaged in the topic professional boundaries • May be weighted to • May not reach many from research-active individuals your profession A note on open access

Gold Hybrid Green

• Open access • Subscription journal • Subscription journal journals – free to authors • After an embargo • Charge author but charge the period, a version of ($500-$5000) readership [or the article may be • Free to reader organisation] used widely • Full article available • Author can pay to • Usually the - no restrictions have their article accepted author open access – non • Beware predatory manuscript (before subscribers can journals! type-setting) access it Journal metrics – operational performance

Editorial / reviewer speed Global reach of the journal

12 wks Final decision 8 wks

4 wks First decision Journal metrics – impact ( data)

Citation Metrics Explanation Examples Unweighted metrics Based on the no. to a Impact Factor (traditional) journal (limited period of time) (established) Citescore (new Weighted citation Take into account the ORIGIN SNIP metrics of the citation SJR Non-citation data to Article page views and (alternative metrics) demonstrate impact downloads; Social media trends (eg. Twitter); Citations in other media (newspapers, blogs, policy documents) Impact Factor

• Total no. citations in a year / articles published in the previous 2 years

• IF = 1 is approx. an average of 1 citation per article

• Radiology journal IFs – between 0.5 and 5

• Limitations • Only a 2 year window – not long enough to reflect reaction in many medical fields • Not responsive – IF figure is out of date when published • Need to be indexed by Thomson Reuters, so not all journals have an IF No radiography journal currently has an Impact Factor Introducing Citescore

A CiteScore 2015 value = B A

B

• Citescore can compare ANY journal • A full year score is calculated, but a ‘live’ score is also available • Citescore will usually be lower than the IF Radiography journal Citescore 2015 Weighted Citation Metrics

• Enables comparison across different research fields (citation score is weighted depending on ‘citation loads’ in the field)

• Source-Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP) measures the impact of a paper within a subject field. • Higher weighting for citations in a field where they are few = 0.64 [0.388 JMIRS]

• SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) is a prestige metric based on the idea that 'all citations are not created equal‘ • Higher weighting for citations from ‘more influential’ journals (more citations) = 0.323 [0.19 JMIRS] Summary

• Many radiography / radiology journals available – selection of right one is important

• Many different types of metrics to compare journals

• Qualitative judgements are as important as metrics – aims, readership, quality, reputation (article quality)

• Operational performance of the journal is also important: editorial speed, local, regional or global reach

• Whole range of citation metrics are available to give an indication of impact and importance – traditional (IF, Citescore) and weighted (SJR, SNIP)

• Altmetrics increasingly used but not yet clear of their importance Thank you

• [email protected]

• [email protected]