Biology Research Guide:Find Articles

How to Evaluate a Journal

Before using that article for a journal club or sending off your manuscript to an unknown journal, it's a good idea to evaluate the journal's credentials. 

While the growth of online publications have contributed to the ease and speed of publishing study findings, it has also increased the number of publishers who do not follow scholarly best practices or worse, are predatory in their practices.

Below we've listed some library resources that you can use to evaluate the journal before you cite that article, present at that journal club, or publish an article.

  • Cabell's Journalytics Cabells is the complete reference resource for details on academic journals, including general information, evaluation metrics, submission details, and more. Cabells online directories provide complete information on various journals, including ranking, submission information, and citation data
  • UlrichsWeb

    the authoritative source of bibliographic and publisher information on more than 421,000 periodicals of all types -- academic and scholarly journals, Open Access publications, peer-reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more from around the world

  • Is the journal listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) ?

    DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals.

  • Does the Journal have the DOAJ seal?

    The DOAJ Seal is awarded to journals that demonstrate best practice in open access publishing. Around 10% of journals indexed in DOAJ have been awarded the Seal. Journals do not need to meet the Seal criteria to be accepted into DOAJ. There are seven criteria which a journal must meet to be eligible for the DOAJ Seal.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: When looking up a journal, check that the title and ISSN match the journal as listed. One common device that predatory publishers use is to create titles that are extremely similar to well-known, respected journals with only a slight variation.**

Online Databases

Interlibrary Loan

If you need anything Bell Library doesn't own, Interlibrary Loan is the service that can find those materials to you!

Usually, we'll be able to get the material in a few days, but a hard copy (like a full book or journal issue) will take us a little longer.

Don't forget: If you are currently a registered Distance Learner with the Registrar's Office or designated as a Remote Researcher; you can have books from Bell Library’s Main Collection, and borrowed interlibrary loan materials, shipped directly to your home for free. We also supply a prepaid return label for your convenience.