The right journal, the first time.
A journal selection report that weighs indexing status, impact factor, scope fit, acceptance rate and publication fees against your manuscript. Five alternative journals if the first choice rejects.
What a journal selection & submission involves
There are more than 40,000 journals indexed in PubMed and Scopus combined. Picking the right one for your manuscript is not a matter of aiming at the highest impact factor - it is a matter of fit. A strong case report in a mid-tier BMJ Case Reports title will travel further than the same paper submitted to a general medical journal that will desk-reject it in a week.
We work with authors before submission to shortlist journals that match the manuscript's scope, methodology, evidence level and the author's own goals - whether that is the fastest possible indexed publication, the best visibility within a clinical community, or an open-access venue that a specific grant requires. The shortlist is weighted against indexing credibility, peer-review integrity, acceptance rate, time-to-decision and publication fee.
Predatory and low-integrity journals are filtered out. We do not shortlist journals that advertise guaranteed acceptance, that are not indexed in PubMed or Scopus (with a small number of credible exceptions), or that appear on successor lists to Beall's List of predatory publishers.
What the selection covers
- Comprehensive Journal Selection Report with Impact Factor, CiteScore, indexing status, publisher, publication frequency, review model and publication fees
- Fit analysis against your manuscript's scope, evidence level and target audience
- Indexing verification: Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, DOAJ, Embase
- Impact metrics: Journal Impact Factor, CiteScore, SJR, SNIP (weighted per your goals)
- Acceptance rate and average time-to-decision (where the journal publishes these)
- Publication fee (APC) analysis for open-access vs subscription routes
- Five alternative journal recommendations if the first choice rejects
- Predatory-journal screening (successor lists to Beall's, DOAJ delisting, Cabell's)
- Cover letter preparation addressed to the editor
- Ethics, disclosure and author-contribution statements in the journal's format
How we work on journal selection
- 01
Manuscript audit
We read the manuscript once and note: what is the article type, what is the primary claim, who is the audience, what evidence level is the study, any author-goal constraints (grant-mandated open access, language restrictions, specific indexing requirements).
- 02
Shortlist generation
We generate a shortlist of 8-12 candidate journals using journal finders (Elsevier Journal Finder, Jane, SJR) cross-referenced against indexing databases. The shortlist is filtered for credibility - no predatory titles, no mills, no journals with unclear peer-review processes.
- 03
Scoring and recommendation
Each shortlisted journal is scored against your manuscript: scope fit, evidence-level match, indexing credibility, impact metrics, acceptance rate, APC, time-to-decision, open-access policy. We deliver a ranked report with the top recommendation, four alternates, and an explicit rationale for each.
- 04
Submission package
Once you pick the target, we prepare the submission package: cover letter, author contributions (ICMJE format), conflict-of-interest and funding disclosures, ethics statement, any reporting checklists (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA), figure files in the journal's required formats, supplementary material.
- 05
Re-targeting if rejected
If the first-choice journal rejects, we do not start from scratch. The four alternates from the original report are re-evaluated against the reviewer feedback (if any), the cover letter is rewritten, the manuscript is reformatted to the new journal's author guidelines, and the resubmission is prepared.
What you get
- Journal selection report: top recommendation plus four alternates with scoring rationale
- Indexing verification for every shortlisted journal (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, DOAJ)
- Current impact metrics for each journal: IF (JCR), CiteScore (Scopus), SJR, SNIP
- Acceptance rate and typical time-to-decision where publicly available
- Publication fee (APC) summary with any waiver or discount programmes noted
- Predatory-journal screen with rationale for any exclusions
- Editor-addressed cover letter framing the contribution and novelty
- Submission-ready compliance package (author contributions, disclosures, ethics, checklists)
Standards we use
We verify Scopus indexing and pull current CiteScore for every shortlisted journal.
PubMed indexing is the primary credibility signal for medical journals.
Verification for open-access journals; DOAJ delisting is a red flag we screen for.
Journal Citation Reports for Journal Impact Factor; used when JCR-indexing is specifically required.
Author contributions, disclosures and ethics-statement formats expected by most medical journals.
One of several successors to the discontinued Beall's List; we screen against Cabells and DOAJ delisting.
Common questions about journal selection
How do you avoid predatory journals?
Three filters. First, indexing: we restrict the shortlist to journals in Scopus or PubMed/MEDLINE (with a small number of credible exceptions for newer society journals). Second, publisher reputation: we check the publisher against known lists of predatory publishers (Cabell's, successor lists to Beall's). Third, DOAJ delisting: if a journal has been removed from DOAJ, we investigate why. We also flag red flags independently - journals offering 'guaranteed publication', charging high APCs with no peer review, or with suspiciously short acceptance times.
Should I aim for the highest impact factor my paper might land?
Not necessarily. Impact factor averages citations to the journal, which is only loosely correlated with whether your specific paper will be cited. More important questions: does the journal's audience read papers like yours? Is the scope match genuine or a stretch? What is the time-to-decision - a high-IF journal that takes six months to reject costs you six months. For a thesis-derived paper or an early-career author, a well-matched mid-tier indexed journal with a reasonable time-to-decision usually serves better than a reach submission that delays publication by a year.
Can I afford the publication fee (APC)?
Open-access APCs in credible journals range from around 500 USD in society journals to over 5,000 USD in top-tier journals. Many have institutional agreements (transformative deals, read-and-publish) that waive or discount the APC for authors from signatory institutions. A growing number of journals offer fee waivers for authors from lower-income-group countries (full waivers for World Bank low-income, discounts for lower-middle-income including India). We flag these on every shortlisted open-access journal so the decision is informed.
What happens if the journal rejects my paper?
The first-choice journal's report comes with four vetted alternates, so re-targeting is a one-day turnaround, not starting over. If the first rejection came with useful reviewer comments, we incorporate the revisions before resubmitting. If the decision was a desk reject, we re-evaluate whether the fit was genuinely wrong and adjust the shortlist. We do not resubmit the same paper to multiple journals simultaneously - most journal policies and all of ICMJE's recommendations prohibit this.
Do you handle the submission itself or just recommend the journal?
Both, if you want us to. Most Indian medical publishers now use submission portals like ScholarOne Manuscripts, Editorial Manager (Elsevier) or Taylor & Francis's system; we can handle the portal submission, author-account setup, file uploads and metadata entry under your account credentials, with you (as corresponding author) retaining approval at each confirmation step. Alternatively, we deliver the submission package and you submit yourself.
You might also need
Article Publication
Hands-on submission, reviewer comment handling and proof checking through to acceptance.
Read more § WritingManuscript & Article Writing
Original research articles, case reports, reviews, editorials and letters, written for the journal you are targeting.
Read more § WritingAbstract Writing
Structured and unstructured abstracts for medical conferences, journals and grant applications.
Read moreWhat we don't do.
No ghost-authorship
Your name, your voice, your work. We do not put our names on your thesis or paper.
No publication guarantees
Peer review is not ours to promise. We make the work stronger; the journal decides.
No fixed turnaround promises
Good research takes the time it takes. We scope honestly, not optimistically.
No shortcuts
No AI paraphrasing to game similarity checks. No plagiarism. No sentence-swapping.
Talk to us about your project.
Send over an abstract, a chapter or a rough outline of what you need. We reply within one working day with a clear scope and a fixed quote, no obligation to proceed.