2. Fit: Determine if your manuscript fits the journal's content

Once you have identified candidate journals, the next step is to determine if your article is a good fit for the journals you selected. You can do this by evaluating whether the content of the journals is similar to the content of your manuscript, and checking that the journals accept the type of manuscript you want to publish.

You will want to check the content of the journals and see if their content is similar to your manuscript. You can do this in numerous ways, such as by checking a journal's articles within a database, or by checking the journal website.

Databases: Below are tips for searching by journal within select databases. Try looking at the most recent results within the database to get an idea of a journal's content.

• PubMed
  • Type the journal title into the search bar followed by [ta]. Click "Search"
  • E.g. journal of the medical library association[ta]
  • Note: some journal names may be abbreviated. To find journal abbreviations, you can use NLM's Catalog or enter the journal's name followed by "ISO4" in Google.
• Scopus
  • Type the journal title into the search bar. From the "Search Within" dropdown to the left of the search bar, click "Source Title." Click "Search"
• Web of Science
  • Type the journal title into the search bar. From the dropdown to the left of the search bar, click "Publication Titles." Click "Search"

Journal Websites: You can access many journal websites from the library's catalog. Look at the journal's most recent issues to get an idea of the journal's content.

You will want to check to see if the journal accepts the type of manuscript you would like to publish (e.g. case reports, literature reviews, RCTs, etc.).You can do this by reading the submission guidelines on the journal's website.