Instructions for using the WUR Journal Browser to select suitable journals for publishing your manuscript

Introduction

Open Access publishing increases the accessibility, affordability and transparency of your research, and accordingly your scientific and societal impact. Furthermore, the Dutch Government, Wageningen University & Research, and many major research funders often require that you make your scientific work publicly available.

Would you like to publish Open Access at reduced or no cost in quality journals? The WUR Journal Browser can help you select a suitable journal, saving you money, time, and effort. It provides information on Open Access options, publisher policies, metrics, and WUR agreements (‘deals’) with specific journals to publish Open Access without or with less additional costs.

What is the WUR Journal Browser?

The WUR Journal Browser is a library-maintained tool for researchers with a WUR affiliation. You can use it to find high-quality journals to publish Open Access in at no or reduced costs. The WUR Journal Browser contains data for over 38,000 journals. Currently, for more than 11,000 journals, Open Access agreements have been negotiated by the Universities of the Netherlands (UNL): both journal deals involved in national agreements and agreements made specifically for WUR. Furthermore, you can find alternative ways for publishing Open Access at no or diminished costs (e.g. Green Open Access or Diamond Open Access publishing). Also, information on journal metrics is available. Combining this information, the WUR Journal Browser provides an easy overview of options to help you publish Open Access.

How to use the WUR Journal Browser?

Step 1. Identify relevant journals

Option 1: Look up a specific journal. Use ‘Search on words in title’ from the dropdown menu in the search box and insert the journal title in the search box. After clicking ‘Search’, the WUR Journal Browser shows you the link ‘Do you mean the journal…’? just below the search box. You can click that link or browse through the search results.

Option 2: Search journals in your field by using keywords. Use ‘Search all fields’ from the dropdown menu and type in one or more keywords (for example: Soil AND Biology) in the search box. Click ‘Search’.

The search records are now sorted by how many times the journal is cited by WUR staff (default). On the right side, you can change it to other criteria, e.g. the title, or the number of publications by WUR staff in a journal. If you would like more details about the sorting criteria, click on the question mark for an explanation. You can otherwise narrow down search results by using the filters on the left side.

To extend your search for relevant journals, you can open a relevant journal page and search for similar journals (top box). The list of similar journals provided for a journal is based on the co-occurrence of two journals in the references of a WUR article,  i.e. a co-citation of these journals. The co-occurrence is a measure of similarity between two journals and can be used as a list of suggestions for journals that may share topics and research fields.

Step 2. Discover journal quality

You can view each journal record and check quality information:

a. Via the box ‘Metrics’. Several metrics are listed here, such as Scopus Journal Metrics,  the SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) and the Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP). These are indicators of the impact of a journal. To give an impression of ‘journal use’ within WUR, the number of times an article from that journal is cited by WUR staff, and the number of publications in that journal by WUR staff, are given. This information is valuable when you plan to submit your article to a relatively new journal or a journal with no rankings.

b. Information on the peer-review process (click link ‘DOAJ info’). The ‘DOAJ info’ link is only available for journals registered in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Alternatively, you can click on the link ‘Journal Home Page’; the journal website sometimes provides information on the peer-review process. 

c. Number of citations and number of publications by other WUR staff, check the box ‘metrics’ (see above). Although the number of citations and the number of publications by other WUR researchers are not objective quality measures, they offer an indication of how the journal is valued by your WUR peers.

Step 3. Check potential OA routes

In each journal record, you  find information about:  

a. APC discount      
You can publish Open Access with a discount on the Article Processing Charge (APC) when you comply with the requirements; check the box ‘APC discount’. There are several categories:

1. • no agreement with the publisher and therefore no discount on the APC: Full APC costs for WUR authors (no discount) or Open Access support unknown, APC costs unknown
   • an agreement made with the publisher and part of the APC will be covered: e.g. 57% APC discount for WUR authors
   • an agreement made with the publisher, and 100% of the APC will be covered: 100% APC discount for WUR authors 
   • no APC charged: No APC costs     

Note that it is important to check the requirements of the deal and potential quota-based agreements in the box ‘APC discount’. You can only use a deal if you fulfil these requirements.

b. Alternative ways to publish OA with less or no additional costs

Alternative ways include Green Open Access and Diamond Open Access.

Green Open Access means that you publish your initially closed, behind-a-paywall publication, in Open Access. You may have published closed access if, for example, WUR has no agreement with the respective publisher or if your funder or research group doesn’t reimburse the costs for publishing Open Access. With Green Open Access, you self-archive your publication in Research@WUR. The WUR Journal Browser provides information about the two possible routes to publish Green Open Access: (1) sharing the PDF of your publication after a six-month embargo by making use of the Taverne Amendment, and (2) self-archiving your manuscript based on copyright restrictions of the publisher (e.g. version for archiving, embargo period). You can check the Open Access pathways permitted by this journal's policy under ‘Open Policy Finder Info’ in the WUR Journal Browser. Please note that Plan S funders, such as NWO or EU, do not accept an embargo period.

Diamond Open Access refers to a scholarly publishing model where neither authors nor readers are charged any fees.

c. Check the Article Processing Charges of the journal in question

If you cannot publish OA for free or at a discount, you can click on the box ‘DOAJ info’ or ‘Journal Home Page’ to find the Article Processing Charges of the journal.

Article Processing Charges are fees that publishers sometimes charge for Open Access publishing. These charges are often associated with Gold Open Access and hybrid journals, where the journal is either fully open access or offers open access options alongside a subscription model. APCs can vary widely depending on the journal,  publisher and the article type.

Step 4. Check requirements

Before you can decide about a suitable journal for your manuscript, it is important to check the (Open Access) requirements of:

1. Your funder; you may, for instance, be required to publish without an embargo period or to select specific Creative Commons (CC) licences. If your research is Plan S-funded, you are allowed to publish in specific journals only. You can check the Journal Checker Tool to find out whether the journal of your choice is compliant with the policies of Plan S
2. The publishing agreements with your stakeholders, if applicable.

Step 5. Evaluate and choose

If you have all the information that you need regarding quality, costs and requirements, you can choose a journal. It is advised to do this together with your co-authors and in alignment with potential policies or guidelines of your chair group or business unit.

Step 6. Submit your manuscript

If you can make use of an Open Access deal, please ensure that you fulfil the requirements of this deal (check step 3). Furthermore, note that the author who receives the discount, often the submitting author, may be someone else than the corresponding author. Also, make sure that the author who receives the deal has a WUR affiliation, i.e. “Wageningen University & Research”. Preferably, the submitting author uses their own WUR email address when submitting a manuscript, so that the system of the publisher recognises the author being a WUR employee.

About the WUR Journal Browser

The WUR Journal Browser is a tool that helps researchers identify and evaluate journals that match their research topics. The tool contains information on more than 38,000 journals, of which about 11,000 journals with an OA deal.

The information is updated regularly, though occasional errors can occur. All other Dutch universities use their institution-specific versions of the Journal Browser. Make sure to use the journal browser that matches your affiliation.

Questions and support

If you would like to receive personal support, please contact the WUR Library Open Access team. For questions or tips to improve the WUR Journal Browser, please email Journal Browser support. We are happy to help you.