How to check a journal’s reputation? It’s a big question but don’t worry you are at the right place. It is mandatory to know the reputation of a journal before publishing your doctoral paper in it as a good journal could increase the value of your doctoral paper, but a lousy journal could also let all your hard work in drain. Before selecting an appropriate journal for your paper, you should go through journals directory and should shortlist some journals which according to you are perfect for your research domain then you can start filtering your list by deciding the reputation of the particular journal.

Work hard on finding a journal with good reputation and publish your paper only when you are 101% sure about it.  Even a little risk could waste your efforts and hard work. 

Checking the reputation of a journal is a tedious task to do, but you should spend some time doing it as it would really help your doctoral paper to have the upper hand. To judge the trustworthiness of a journal the following criteria need to keep in mind. Note that all these criteria should be used to evaluate a journal properly.

• Reputation and ranking: You must check the rank of the journal as higher rank means higher reputation. 
• Peer-review procedure: A peer review could be one of the factors to judge the reputation of the journal.
• Editorial Board Members: You should check whether the editorial board members affiliated with the journal are associated with known universities and academic institutions or not.
• Previous author: Have a look at the journal’s previous authors, they should be affiliated with various academic institutions.

But do you really think these points are enough to judge the journal’s reputation? I don’t feel so; you should make a checklist so that you don’t miss any as the list is long. 

Journal paper impact factor, Is it really important?

Journal impact factor analyze the number of time a paper in that particular journal has been referred. With the help of impact factor, you can easily judge the credibility of the journals by comparing the citability of journals. 

Long time, No see?

You should always judge journal from its regularity and longevity. It is essential that the journal is active and has some recently published papers in it. It is well said that old is gold, yes look for some old journals which have been publishing the papers regularly. 

How does the quality of work help us to know about the journal?

Don’t just rely on quantity; you must look for quality also. Read some papers already published in that journal and evaluate their quality, After all, what matters is the quality.

How would google scholar tell that the journal is reliable?

If a particular journal is affiliated with google scholar then go ahead it’s a good sign. Google Scholar is one of the most valuable sites for the journal and the publication of the doctoral paper.

Have you ever checked the years of the papers published in the journal?

If you are not checking it then yes, you are in a wrong lane. You must check the years of the paper published in a journal to make sure that they have been recently published. 

I hope you have read it thoroughly and have crammed them in your head. Keep a track of all these points while checking the journal’s reputation as a good journal can hike up your doctoral paper.