Plain-English explanations of 20 terms that come up often in journal selection and the publishing process. These metrics and concepts help when you decide where to submit your manuscript. When you're ready, run your manuscript through pre-review on Peerfect.
An impact metric, published in Clarivate's JCR, that shows the average number of citations to a journal's articles over the previous two years. A high value usually signals prestige, but comparing it directly across disciplines can be misleading.
A Scopus-based impact metric that gives a journal's four-year citation average. It is an alternative to the Impact Factor and covers a wider range of journals.
Related: Impact Factor, Scopus
Science Citation Index (Expanded); a prestigious Web of Science index covering science and engineering journals. In Turkey it is frequently required for academic incentives and appointments.
Social Sciences Citation Index; the Web of Science index covering social science journals.
Emerging Sources Citation Index; the Web of Science index for rising journals that do not yet have an Impact Factor. Being in ESCI is a sign of credibility, but there is no IF yet.
Elsevier's broad citation and abstract database. Whether a journal is indexed in Scopus is a common reference point for credibility and CiteScore.
Directory of Open Access Journals; a vetted directory of trustworthy open access journals. A journal's presence in DOAJ is a strong signal that it is not predatory.
Article Processing Charge; the publication fee charged to the author so that an article in an open access journal can be freely available to everyone. It can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.
A model of free and unrestricted access to an article. Gold OA is open directly at the publisher (usually via an APC), while Green OA is a version the author archives in a repository.
When a manuscript is rejected directly by the editor without being sent to reviewers. It usually happens because of being out of scope, formatting mismatch or a weak contribution. Peerfect's pre-submission step aims to surface these risks early.
The process of having a manuscript examined by experts in the field before publication. It can be single-blind, double-blind or open. Peerfect does not replace this formal process; it prepares you for it beforehand.
A journal that publishes quickly for a fee without scholarly vetting and has no credibility. Red flags: promises of extremely fast acceptance, aggressive e-mail invitations, an unclear editorial board, and absence from the DOAJ/Scopus index.
A manuscript draft shared in a repository (e.g. arXiv, SSRN) without having gone through peer review. It provides early visibility but has not yet received formal approval.
Digital Object Identifier; a unique digital identifier permanently assigned to an article. You can provide a DOI as input to Peerfect.
A persistent digital identity that uniquely identifies researchers. It prevents confusion caused by name similarities.
A metric that combines a researcher's productivity and citation impact: if you have h papers each cited at least h times, your h-index is h.
Journal Citation Reports; the report in which Clarivate publishes the Impact Factor and journal category rankings (Q1–Q4 quartiles).
An open, free database of scholarly literature and journals; a common reference for international journal coverage and citation relationships.
The cover note sent to the editor along with the manuscript, summarising the importance of the work and its fit with the journal. A good cover letter reduces the risk of a desk reject.
The document in which reviewer comments are answered point by point and the changes made are explained. It is one of the most critical parts of the revision process.