Targeting the Right Journal for Your Work

Most of you probably know that Longwoods publishes several journals. In fact, there are six all together. Three are focused on aspects of health policy and health services research. Healthcare Quarterly is a journal of leading practice. HealthcarePapers is a forum for examining new policy initiatives. Healthcare Policy is a peer-reviewed journal of health services and policy research. (And yes, the names are very similar and can be confusing to the uninitiated.)

The other three Longwoods journals have names that are more suggestive of the content. The Canadian Journal of Nursing Leadership is a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on issues related to nursing administration. ElectronicHealthcare explores IT in healthcare. World Health and Population is also peer-reviewed and publishes primarily on public health issues in developing countries.

Now that you have a sense for the editorial themes of the various journals, how do you decide which journal you should be targeting for publication? One important consideration is the audience. What group of readers are you looking for and (going back to Tip #1 ) what value will they find in your paper?

Let’s focus now on the three journals with “Healthcare” in their titles as they generate the most questions.
Healthcare Quarterly (leading practice) is well-established with a loyal readership of senior decision and policy makers. It is indexed in Medline and several other large databases. But – and this is important to many authors – it is not peer reviewed.
HealthcarePapers (policy innovation) is also well-established with a readership of senior decision and policy makers. It, too, is indexed in Medline and the other major databases. However, authors are usually invited to submit essays and commentaries based on their expertise on a particular topic and reputation in the industry. We do occasionally accept unsolicited manuscripts for publication but it’s rare.
Healthcare Policy (health services research) is building a strong readership of senior decision and policy makers, and it indexed in PubMed Central (ensuring papers are free on-line within 12 months) and the other large databases. Since the focus here is research, papers are peer-reviewed prior to publication.

Still have questions? Ania and I are more than happy to discuss the journals with you by phone or email.

Dianne

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 11th, 2010 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Longwoods Online.