Information for Researchers

Preparation of the first publications in academic journals can be challenging, especially while doing it for the first time. To provide support in this process, we gathered useful information regarding the selection of journals. It is recommended to consider the publication strategy in parallel to preparation of research papers. It will help to refine the objectives of the publication, focus on the main criteria of its format, and strengthen the collaboration of the publication’s co-authors for the shared aim.

More information and detailed steps of developing a publication strategy are provided here.

Choosing the right journal for publication will not only help to reach the target audience, but also lowers the chance of rejection of the submission. While choosing a journal, the it is recommended to take the following criteria into account:

• Take into consideration the type of article you would like to publish (full length, letter, review, research output).
• Check the references in your article, to give an indication of possible journals of interest.
• Read the journal’s aims and scope on the journal homepage.
• Take the impact factor (or CiteScore) of the journal into consideration. In Lithuania citation indexes generated by two databases – Clarivate Analytics Web of ScienceTM and Scopus  – are mainly recognized.
• Read the journal’s Guide for Authors.
• Check if the journal is invitation-only; some journals only accept articles after inviting the author to submit.
• Check the journal’s performance for review and publication timelines.
• If you need to publish open access, remember that most journals explain their open access options on the journal homepage.
• Submit your paper to only one journal at a time.

Following the Lithuanian evaluation procedure of scientific activities, according to which the best evaluated scientific publications are those in journals with a citation index in the IF CA JCR and / or SNIP SCOPUS databases, we recommend and encourage the search of suitable journals in Clarivate Analytics Web of ScienceTM (recommendations for use) and Scopus (recommendations for use) databases. It is also possible to use the Elsevier Journal Finder for this purpose. After entering the title, summary, and keywords of the proposed publication, according to the dictionary used, the system generates a list of the most suitable journals, which belong to the Scopus database.

In the document provided below, you will find over 200 publications that are included in both Clarivate Analytics Web of ScienceTM and Scopus databases. The advantage of these journals is that during the annual scientific evaluation, the publication points are calculated using the citation indicators generated by both databases. The listed publications cover three main groups: politics and international relations, politics and sociology, and public administration, but do not include regional studies, management, and other potentially relevant categories, so we also encourage exploration of alternatives through a search of these databases.

The list of journals is provided here.