This guide provides tips for researchers on how to choose an appropriate journal for publishing their research, and guides research librarians in helping researchers to choose a journal. 

The main section of the guide is a checklist that enables researchers to analyze elements of a journal and the information provided on the journal's website in order to understand if the journal is right for their research. The order of items in the checklist reflects the order of actions in information checking from the perspective of a researcher.

The guide can also be used by librarians for scenario-based training (e.g. librarians can ask researchers who are participating in training to analyze a journal using the checklist). Trainers can also use the guide in combination with other guides and tools. For example a trainer can use the Think. Check. Submit tool for checking a journal, and then also use EIFL’s guide for more detailed checking. If the trainer uses the cOAlition S Journal Checker Tool to find a journal that meets the Plan S requirements, EIFL’s guide can be used to analyze the journal’s quality. 

The guide was compiled by Milica Ševkušić, EIFL Open Access Programme Project Coordinator, and is based on her experience of providing research support and training, and on conversations with researchers and librarians. 

The guide builds on the Diamond OA Standard (DOAS), developed by the Developing Institutional Open Access Publishing Models to Advance Scholarly Communication (DIAMAS) project, and the checklist Think. Check. Submit.

Click the download button for a PDF version of the guide, or view it online here.