Sharing Your Research in the Health Sciences

A legitimate academic journal is a peer-reviewed publication that disseminates original research, reviews, and scholarly articles in a specific field of study. It maintains rigorous standards for quality and credibility, often requiring articles to undergo a thorough peer review process by experts before publication.

Some questionable or "predatory" journals, however, are motivated by profit rather than scholarship, soliciting articles from researchers through actions that exploit the pressure to publish and present their work for visibility and career advancement. The spectrum of these behaviors is summarized below.

Adapted from: The InterAcademy Partnership. (2022, Combatting Predatory Academic Journals and Conferences (Summary Report in English). Retrieved Apr 22, 2024 from https://www.interacademies.org/publication/predatory-practices-summary-English

This check list gives guidance for evaluating a journal to consider for your manuscript - Think.Check.Submit

Looking for a quality journal to publish your education research? Check the AAMC Annotated Bibliography of Journals for Education Scholarship

Need help locating an appropriate journal for your manuscript? Try the journal finder tools below.

You should still evaluate the journal for reputable practices before submitting your manuscript.

JANE - enter your working title or abstract and "find journals". All journals returned will have articles listed in either PubMed or PubMed Central. 

Elsevier Journal Finder - Search for journal options published by Elsevier - many filtering options and details about the journals.

Wiley Journal Finder - Search for journal options published by Wiley.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) - Is the journal really open access? How open is it?

One measure often used to consider the quality or visibility of a publication venue is the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). The JIF is the annual average (mean) number of citations per article in a given journal over the most recent 2-year period for almost all journals covered in the Web of Science Core Collection. Many quality journals do not have a JIF because they are not listed in Web of Science. See Journal Metrics for more considerations to judge the suitability of a potential journal for your manuscript.

Case report journals typically do not have high impact factors because case reports are generally not cited as much as other types of research articles, like randomized controlled trials or meta-analyses. Case reports still hold significant value in the medical field by providing unique insights into rare conditions, novel treatments, or unusual presentations of common diseases. They contribute to broader medical knowledge and can be particularly useful for clinicians and researchers looking for real-world examples.

The CARE Case Report Guidelines include checklists and writing guides to help you through the process of publishing a case report.

Medical Journals that Accept Case Reports - The academic medical journals included on this list from Gotschall et al. meet the following criteria:

• Accept Case Reports
• Are fully indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed
• Accept and publish English language submissions
• Have not been vetted for ethical or best practices in publishing. It is highly recommended that authors evaluate journals prior to submission.

Some case report journals require patients to complete the journal’s own consent form, in addition to the informed consent obtained from the medical entity. Review the journal’s author guidelines before submitting your manuscript.

The Medical Sciences Library has an institutional fellowship agreement with BMJ Case Reports.

This allows authors affiliated with Texas A&M University to submit manuscripts without paying an individual fellowship fee. Before submitting a manuscript to this journal, contact AskMSL to request the BMJ Case Reports fellowship code needed during the submission process.

Before submitting you manuscript, be sure that your corresponding author has all author names, titles, affiliations, ORCID ids, and email addresses correct. Most journals will need this information to gather publication permissions.

CAREFULLY REVIEW THE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Formatting and Submission Process

• Have you met all the formatting requirements for the type of article submitted - word count, structure, margins, font and spacing, etc.?
• Have you carefully follow the journal's preferred reference and citation style?
• Check the requirements for figures and tables, including file formats, resolution, and how they should be labeled and referenced in the text.
• If you are including supplementary materials, like datasets or figures, be sure you understand formatting requirements and how to submit.
• Do you understand the submission process - timeline, required files and file formats, online submission system, etc.?

Ethics and Processes

• Ensure your submission follows the journal's ethical guidelines regarding plagiarism, data fabrication, use and disclosure of artificial intelligence tools, conflict of interest, and authorship.
• Be sure you understand the journal's peer review process and expectations of both authors and reviewers.
• Be aware of any publication fees, such as Article Processing Charges for open access or hybrid journals, and have a plan for how you will pay them.

Sharing your Work

• Understand the journal’s policy on preprints. Some journals allow you to share your manuscript prior to peer review on preprint servers such as medRxiv.org before submission. Others do not.

• Look for guidelines on how you may share your published work. This includes:

  • Self-Archiving: Whether you can deposit a copy of your manuscript in institutional repositories such as OAKTrust or personal websites.
  • Embargo Periods: Some journals impose an embargo period during which you cannot share the full text of your article publicly.
• Determine whether you retain copyright or if it is transferred to the publisher. Some journals allow authors to retain copyright while granting the journal a license to publish the work. Others may offer Creative Commons licenses that indicate how others can use, share, and build upon your work.

Once your article is published,

• Add the abstract citation to your CV. 
• Promote your work in a professional manner on social media.
• Track the article metrics, such as downloads, views, or shares to get an idea of interest in the topic.

• Add citations to all of your digital profiles, such as Google Scholar, ORCID, LinkedIn or ResearchGate.

For more information about digital profiles, see - Scholarly Identity

TIP: Add a monthly or quarterly appointment to you calendar to update your CV and profiles with your latest activity.