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Journal Evaluation Tools

This guide is intended to be helpful to someone trying to identify quality journals in their discipline. It covers journal rankings, acceptance and rejection rates, and links out to information on predatory journals and open access.

Journal Circulation Rates

One of the lesser utilized methods for determining journal prestige or quality might be to look and see how many subscriptions they have (also known as their circulation rate). The higher the circulation, the more likely it's a good journal. The one exception to this is that Open Access journals (which are available free) will not have a circulation rate listed.

Acceptance/Rejection Rates

For journals not included in the resources below, the best way to locate information on acceptance rates is to visit the journal website (in the Author Guidelines section) or contact the journal editor directly. Some societies will also publish acceptance rates for their journals on the society home page.

Your Librarian

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Lorrie Pellack
Contact:
Head, Research & Instruction Services Dept.
150c Parks Library
Ames, IA 50011-2140
Phone: 515-294-5569