Author: Kishor Patwardhan, Faculty of Ayurveda, IMS, BHU

1. Choosing the right journal
Kishor Patwardhan

2. Where to publish?
2…..Here?

3. .....or here?
3

4. 4
 Popular Literature

5. 5
 Scholarly Literature

6. Popular Literature Scholarly Journals

7. Popular Literature
 Shorter articles, providing broader
overview
 Author often not an expert in the
subject, name and credentials often
not provided.
 Written in non-technical language
 Articles do not follow a specific
format or structure.
 Articles are not evaluated by experts
in the field, but by the editorial
board.
Scholarly Literature
 Longer articles, providing in-depth
analysis of a topic.
 Author usually an expert or specialist
in the field, name and credentials
always provided.
 Written in a technical / scientific
language
 Structured articles (Abstract, IMRaD,
Bibliography etc.)
 Articles are reviewed and critically
evaluated by a board of experts in the
field.
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8. Myth:
There are only a few
‘good’ journals that
publish Ayurveda
research
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9. The fact:
More than 375 journals on
PubMed have published at
least two papers on
‘AYURVEDA’
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10. An example:
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11. Myth:
Journals publish only
those studies that
show positive results
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12. Publishing Negative results is easier now
 All good journals have space for
negative results
 Dedicated journals:
 Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine
 Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results
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13. Myth:
Publishable
research is
possible only if
you have a well-
equipped modern
laboratory
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14. Examples for low-technology studies:
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15. Myth:
Good journals don’t
publish theoretical /
hypothetical articles
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16. Every good journal has space for hypothesis /
Theory
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17. 17

18. Classifying the
Scholarly Journals relevant for
Ayurveda
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19.  Basic Science Journals
 Biomedical Journals
 CAM Journals
 AYUSH Journals
 Other Journals
19

20. Basic Science Journals
 Examples:
 Nature
 Science
 Current Science
 Phytochemistry
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21. Biomedical Journals
 Examples:
 The Lancet
 British Medical Journal (BMJ)
 Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
 Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS)
 Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 Journal of Applied Physiology
 Phytomedicine
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22. CAM Journals
 Examples:
 Evidence-based Complementary and
Alternative Medicine (eCAM)
 BMC Complementary and Alternative
Medicine
 The Journal of Alternative and
Complementary Medicine
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23. Ayurveda/AYUSH Journals
 Examples:
 Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative
Medicine
 AYU
 Ancient Science of Life
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24. ‘Other’ potential Journals
 Examples:
 Indian Journal for History of Science
 The Linguistics Journal
 Current Sociology
 International Journal of Culture,
Tourism and Hospitality Research
 Anthropology & Medicine
 Journal of Medical Education
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25. PubMed Search
 “Ayurveda”- 3100 results
 "Traditional Chinese Medicine" – 47,063 results
 "Panchakarma" – 122 results
 "Acupuncture" – 29,061 results
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26. Reasons?
 Limited awareness regarding the importance
 No training is given in scientific writing during
formal Ayurveda education
 Differences between Magazines, Newsletters,
Journals and Books are not clearly understood
 Not aware of the important guidelines while
planning the research protocols and while
writing the manuscripts
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27. Choose the journal before
writing your manuscript
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28. What is a ‘Good’ journal? (Minimum essential requirements)
 Must be available online (Searchable/Easy to locate/share)
 Must be ‘Peer-reviewed’ for real (Beware of fake peer review)
 Must be indexed with some widely referred database (e.g.,
PubMed Central, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus)
(Beware of misleading/fake indexing information)
 Google Scholar is NOT an indexing database
28http://the-aps.org/trainees/Symposia/2010%20talks/Barrett-web.ppt

29. ‘Better’ journal (Optional requirements):
 Has got a good Impact Factor
 ‘National’ / ‘International’ has got no meaning virtually
 E.g., New England Journal of Medicine
 Has got good SNIP/SJR ranking/Cite-Score
 It is an ‘Open Access’ journal (Be Careful!)
 (Many funding agencies require you to publish with Open Access
Journals)
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30. What is impact factor?
 In any given year, the impact factor of a journal is the average
number of citations per each published paper, received in that
year, of articles published during the two preceding years.
 For example, if a journal has an impact factor of 5 in 2018,
then, its papers published in 2016 and 2017 must have received
5 citations each on an average in the year 2018.
 Remember: Impact factor has its own limitations
 Clarivate Analytics’ Journal Citation Reports
 Based on Web of Science database 30

31.  CiteScore: CiteScore is the number of citations received (over Scopus)
by a journal in one year to documents published in the three previous
years, divided by the number of documents from the journal published
in those same three years.
 SNIP: Source Normalized Impact per Paper measures contextual
citation impact by weighting citations based on the total number of
citations in a subject field.
 SJR: SCImago Journal Rank is a prestige metric based on the idea that
'all citations are not created equal'. With SJR, the subject field,
quality and reputation of the journal have a direct effect on the value
of a citation.
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https://liu.cwp.libguides.com/c.php?g=45770&p=4417804

32. ‘Convenient’:
 Takes minimum time for editorial decision
 Provides easy online submission process, /manuscript
tracking facility
 Known Acceptance Rate
 No article processing fee / color printing charges/
reprint charges / submission fee
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33. Be careful
 Fake Impact Factors / Fake Journal Metrics
 ‘Author Pays’ model of Open Access
 Fake Peer-Review process
 Don’t fall prey to ‘Call for papers’
 Claims such as ‘Under the process of PubMed indexing’
 Claims such as ‘Indexed in Elsevier’
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34. www.scholarlyoa.com
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35. Bogus journal metrics (Examples)
 Advanced Science Index
 Directory of Journal Quality Factor
 International Scientific Indexing
 International Impact Factor Services
 GISI Impact Factor
 Global Impact Factor
 Universal Impact Factor
 SJIF Impact Factor
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36. Please ensure:
 Editor-in-Chief of the journal has publications in standard
databases
 Journal has a traceable address/location
 Ayurveda/Traditional Medicine is listed under the list of the
subjects covered the ‘scope’ of the journal
 At least a few editors are there on the editorial board who
possess expertise in Ayurveda/TM
 Article Processing Fee is transparent
 Journal does not send spam emails soliciting articles
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37. For further reading:
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38. Thanks!