选好期刊和发表类型至关重要：选对了能立马增加发表的机会和引用率。相反，投到不对的期刊往往造成拒稿。在选择目标期刊前，应综合考虑以下因素：期刊的宗旨和范围；目标读者和近期发表情况；拟投稿件的研究结果有多重要、吸引面有多广；研究类型。

首先应考虑的是：拟投论文的侧重点是什么？谁可能会读它？在撰写论文（尤其是“讨论”部分）时就应予以明确。你的研究是侧重于临床还是基础科学？你的结果是对科学界会产生广泛影响还是只限于一个专门领域？属于初步结果尚需更多工作来验证，还是已经有多种互补的数据来支持你的假说？你是急着马上发表，还是不那么着急从而可以收集更多数据去试投高影响因子期刊？回答了这些问题，你对目标期刊就有了一个基本的概念。接下来，你需要列出个清单。

目标期刊最直接的来源就是你论文的参考文献。与你相似或相关的工作应该被你的论文引用过；研究这些工作和他们所发表的期刊。那些多次出现的期刊就可作为候选。另外一个寻找候选期刊的办法就是用关键词搜索Medline和 Pubmed等数据库。同样，重复出现的期刊可能就是比较合适的投稿对象。此前未发表过此领域论文的期刊可能也会对你的结果感兴趣。最好的办法是翻阅和检索图书馆书架、Thompson ISI数据库 (其中包括SCI)，或者各大出版商的主页(学术期刊出版商很多，下文仅列举了其中几家)。根据你对上述问题的回答，你应该能找出适当的期刊。

至此你已有一个候选期刊的清单，头脑中也已有了适宜期刊的形象。你把这两者放在一起看看他们是否吻合。期刊网站中通常有“宗旨和范围”一栏，有的还会说明该期刊的目标读者范围。通常还有影响因子、论文类型、刊期、接受到见刊周期、拒稿率、发表费等信息。这些因素都需要综合衡量。比如，若你希望迅速发表，就应该专门留意反馈快和见刊时间短的期刊。如果你经费紧张，就不要考虑开放获取(open access)期刊或发表费高的期刊。如果你需要把论文发表在影响因子高于某个值的期刊，就应马上排除低于该值的期刊。认真研究期刊网站，考虑编辑和读者为何会对你的结果有兴趣，在此基础上你能更有针对性地撰写投稿信，也能帮你决定清单中那一种期刊才是传播研究结果的最佳平台。根据这些标准把期刊清单缩减至两三家，随后把它们再按照你的具体要求排序。至此，你就可以开始撰写投稿信和投稿了。

Edanz开发了一个期刊选择工具来帮助您完成这个过程，欢迎试用：
http://www.liwenbianji.cn/journal_selector

几个有用的网站
检索或浏览SCI期刊: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=K
Thompson ISI 检索数据库: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/
美国国家医学图书馆数据库 PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Elsevier 期刊列表: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journal_browse.cws_home
Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Wiley-Interscience 期刊: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/browse/?type=JOURNAL
Springer期刊: http://www.springer.com/?SGWID=5-102-0-0-0
实例
我们来做一个撰写论文标题的练习。假定题目是：“Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration”。该虚构研究显示，动物(假定是小鼠)摄入一种毒素okadoic酸(OA)后，海马区CA3和齿状回区域内的神经元退化。此外，MAP激酶依赖途径也参与了神经退行性疾病。
如果神经细胞变化与功能丧失之间在功能上不存在关联，那么，该研究会被视为停留在初步阶段，很难获得发表机会。那么，再假定我们也进行了行为学研究，且结果显示小鼠摄入毒素后产生了学习和记忆障碍。这样一来，我们就有了组织学、生化和行为学数据。
用关键词检索Pubmed数据库只找到很少几个类似研究(鉴于该案例为虚构，当不足为奇)，不过仍然指出了几个潜在期刊，如《Journal of Neuroscience》，《European Journal of Neuroscience》，《Neuroscience， Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications》，《Neurobiology of Learning and Memory， Neuropharmacology》和《Journal of the Neurological Sciences》。
其中，《Journal of Neuroscience》和《European Journal of Neuroscience》可能要求更多数据，比如显示与某人类疾症的相关性和/或细胞死亡相关机制的详尽分析，不过后者尚有发表可能，也许值得投去试试。《Journal of the Neurological Sciences》更关注临床，所以只有当OA处理已知是某个疾病的良好模型时，才可考虑投到这个期刊。但是，如果该研究确实显示存在这种关联，这是一个很好的目标期刊。《Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications》的范围较广，发表各种生物领域的研究；神经生物学属于其兴趣领域，且该期刊表明它致力于迅速传播成果。对于希望尽快从编辑部获得回应或希望尽快发表论文的作者，这可能是一个很好的初步目标期刊。如果行为学数据较为新颖，《Neurobiology of Learning and Memory》也可以是一个很好的目标；该刊的“外联部”的答复速度很快，也很适合需要尽快发表的作者。最后，若结果中揭示“神经系统是如何运作的”等方面的内容，《Neuroscience》就是一个很好的目标期刊，因此，根据终稿的侧重点(如临床vs神经生物学vs行为学)和作者的需求(影响因子和出版时间)，可以将候选期刊按照其适合程度排序。
英文原文
Choosing the right platform
Selection of an appropriate journal and publication type is critical: get it right and you instantly increase your chances of successful publication and regular citation. By contrast, sending a manuscript to an inappropriate journal is a frequent cause of rejection. The aims and scope of the journal, the journal’s target audience and recent publication history, the significance and broadness of appeal of the findings described in your manuscript, and the type of study performed should all be considered before selecting your target journal.
Start by considering what the main focus of your paper is, and therefore, who you would expect to want to read it. This should be clear from the results you have obtained and your knowledge of the current literature in the same field. Is there a clinical focus or do you describe basic science findings? Are the findings of relevance to a broad cross-section of the scientific community or will they only appeal to researchers in a specialist field? Are the findings preliminary, with more work required to make an irrefutable and comprehensive story, or do you have multiple types of complementary data to support your hypothesis? Indeed, do you need to publish right away, or can you delay publication while collecting more data to try for a journal with a higher impact factor? By asking yourself these questions, among others, you will be able to build up a picture of the type of journal you should be targeting. Then, you need to generate a short-list.

An immediate source of potential target journals is in your own paper’s reference list. Any similar or related previous work should have been cited in your study; identify those studies and the journals they were published in. Some journals will appear more than once, and these are likely candidates. Another way to identify candidate journals is performing keyword searches in literature databases such as Medline and PubMed. Again, journals that appear repeatedly are potentially suitable. Of course, journals that haven’t previously published in the same area of research might equally be interested in your findings; the best way to identify these is to search or browse your library’s journal shelves, Thompson ISI databases, including the Science Citation Index, or the websites of major publishers (see below, but note that these are just a few of many publishers of academic journals). You should be able to recognize journals that might be appropriate based on your answers to the questions above.
Now that you have a short-list of possible target journals and a clear picture of the type of journal your study would be suitable for, you need to merge the two to see where they correspond. Journal websites generally contain and ‘aims and scope’ section and occasionally describe their target audience. They will usually also contain information on impact factor, publication types, publication frequency, time from acceptance to publication, rejection rates, and publication charges. All of these factors need to be weighed up. For example, if you require rapid publication, you should specifically look for journals that offer fast response times and short periods from acceptance to publication like Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. If you are on a tight budget you may need to rule out open access journals or journals that have high publication charges. If you require publication in a journal with an impact factor above a certain level, you can instantly rule out any with impact factors lower than that. Study the journal websites closely and consider why the editors and readers of each would be interested in your findings; as well as giving you an angle for the approach in your cover letter (see the previous post on journal cover letters and a free example letter here), this will help you decide which of the remaining journals in your short-list is the most relevant platform from which to disseminate your findings. When your short-list has been reduced to two or three journals on the basis of the above criteria, you should rank them as first, second and third choices based on your particular requirements. Then you are ready to write your cover letter and submit your manuscript!
To assist you in this process, Edanz has developed a Journal Selection Tool that is free to use at:
http://www.liwenbianji.cn/journal_selector.

Helpful Links
To search or browse Science Citation Index journals: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=K
Thompson ISI searchable databases: http://science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/
US National Library of Medicine database PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
Elsevier journal titles: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journal_browse.cws_home
Science Direct: http://www.sciencedirect.com/
Wiley-Interscience journals: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/browse/?type=JOURNAL
Springer: http://www.springer.com/?SGWID=5-102-0-0-0

Example
The following manuscript title was used in the exercise accompanying the section on writing a good title: “Region-specific neuronal degeneration after okadaic acid administration”. This imaginary study showed degeneration of neurons in the CA3 and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus after administration of the toxin okadoic acid, let us assume in mice. It also showed involvement of a MAP kinase-dependent pathway in this neurodegeneration.

Without a functional correlate of the neuronal cell loss, the study would be considered very preliminary and would be difficult to publish; thus, let us assume that behavioral studies were also performed and that these showed deficits in learning and memory in mice administered the toxin. Therefore, the data shown are histological, biochemical and behavioral.

A keyword search of the PubMed database throws out very little in the way of similar studies (not surprisingly given that the example study is imagined), but does point to potential journals such as the Journal of Neuroscience, European Journal of Neuroscience, Neuroscience, Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Neuropharmacology and the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.
Among these, the Journal of Neuroscience and the European Journal of Neuroscience are likely to require more data, perhaps showing relevance to a human disease or condition and/or an exhaustive analysis of the mechanisms involved in the cell death, although the latter journal is a possibility and might be worth an initial submission. The Journal of the Neurological Sciences has more of a clinical focus and should only be considered if administration of OA was known to provide a good model of a particular disease or condition. However, if such a link was shown, this journal would represent a good target. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications has a broad focus, publishing studies in diverse fields of biological research; however, neurobiology is one of their areas of interest and they claim to be devoted to rapid dissemination of results. For authors who want a quick answer or who need to publish soon, this could represent a good initial target journal. Depending on the novelty of the behavioral data, the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory could be a good target; with a rapid communications section, this journal could also suit those authors in need of immediate publication. Finally, Neuroscience represents a good target journal if the findings reveal aspects of ‘how the nervous system works’. Thus, depending on the focus of the final paper (eg. clinical vs neurobiological vs behavioral) and the authors’ requirements (impact factor and time to publication), the candidate journals selected can be ranked in terms of their suitability.