Assess fit with the journal

#EditorObservations 03 Assess fit with the journal (YouTube, 1m 36s)

Every journal has a specific orientation. This orientation is typically outlined in the Aims and Scope section of the journal webpage, which is easily accessible to authors. My observation over the past eight years is that authors pay less attention to the fit between the research study they would like to publish and the orientation of the journal. Instead, it seems that authors have developed a habit of sending manuscripts relatively randomly from one journal to the next, in the hope that they will get lucky eventually. I would argue that this is not a promising strategy. It is very labour-intensive to prepare a paper for submission to a new journal, so it is best to avoid having to resubmit a paper to a new journal too many times. A more effective approach is to already have a journal in mind when conducting the study. This is the most natural approach. As researchers we usually contribute to a specific body of work, which tends to be published in specific outlets. As we familiarise ourselves with the relevant literature, inevitably, some journals will stand out as being the main contributors to discussions around the topic. Those are good journals to target.

Before submitting, I would recommend reading the Aims and Scope of the potentially suitable journals in detail to see if the alignment is good. For example, the journal I co-edited, Annals of Tourism Research, has a strong focus on theory development. It does not publish applied research. This does not mean that Annals does not believe that applied research is important. It is important. It is valuable. It can create important change. But Annals of Tourism Research does not publish this type of work. Its sister journal, Annals of Tourism Research Empirical Insights, does – it is focused specifically on applied tourism research. Yet, about 20% of the articles submitted to Annals of Tourism Research are primarily making an applied contribution, often within limited geographical boundaries. Submitting such an article to Annals of Tourism Research is a waste of time for the authors.

The #editorobservations in this section illustrate the different ways in which manuscripts can misalign with the target journal. Such misalignment already reduces publication chances.