When planning a strategy for searching suitable publication sources, the author should consider and accept several key factors:
- The search should be strictly based on the topic/content focus of the article, the type of data used and the methods of their processing, as well as the nature of data/content interpretation. Based on this, the author should decide on the scope and form of the article. Scientific journals usually offer several types of articles, each with strictly defined content, length, structure, and formal requirements. The most common types of articles (generalized examples) include:
- original papers (Original Papers / Scientific Papers / Research Papers),
- short scientific texts (Short Communications / Letters),
- reports and studies (Research Reports / Case Reports / Clinical Reports),
- case studies (Case Reports),
- review articles (Review Articles / Reviews / Short Reviews).
Each publisher clearly specifies manuscript preparation requirements in the author guidelines.
- A very sensitive issue is the critical evaluation of the type of research underlying the article. The author must be aware of whether they are presenting basic or applied research. The requirements of a particular journal are again available in the guidelines or stated in the journal’s aims and scope (usually in the “Aims and Scope” section).
Note: A suitable strategy is to search for multidisciplinary journals, as it may allow, for example, publishing an applied economics article in journals focused on plant or animal production, etc. - Another important factor is the way the editorial office communicates with authors, especially the timeframes (the response time may sometimes take 12 months or more, depending on the journal’s position in the market).
- It is also necessary to critically assess the chances of acceptance of the manuscript in relation to the journal’s position within the scientific community and the level of authors who publish in it. It is more appropriate to look for journals with indicators that realistically match both the requirements and the author’s possibilities (in our conditions, for example, an impact factor ranging from 0.7 to 1.5).