publishing in European journals?

[Quantum Buckyball]

Why is that there are so many research groups publish papers in European journals and not American-based journals such as ACS XXXX?

 

There are a couple of research groups at my school only published about <10% of their work in American journals... 

Edited February 3, 2014 by Quantum Buckyball

[MetalChemEnthusiast]

Professors have different views on how impactful the journals are. JACS and ACIE are about the same impact level I think but some people like JACS better, some like ACIE better. (I personally would love to have a paper in ACIE before JACS one day)

 

There are cases where the professors know the editor(s) and think they have a better shot at getting the paper sent out to be reviewed. Some also publish in one journal to promote it since they're on the advisory/editorial board.

[loginofpscl]

Professors have different views on how impactful the journals are. JACS and ACIE are about the same impact level I think but some people like JACS better, some like ACIE better. (I personally would love to have a paper in ACIE before JACS one day)

 

There are cases where the professors know the editor(s) and think they have a better shot at getting the paper sent out to be reviewed. Some also publish in one journal to promote it since they're on the advisory/editorial board.

 

I agree with MCE, it's easy to forget how involved personal preferences, personality, and politics are in chemical academia

[YaBoyAR]

Good answers to all. It also depends on particular focus. For example, some RSC journals that are focused on particular topics may be more well-regarded than the ACS equivalents.

[St Andrews Lynx]

Or they might have had their paper rejected first time around from the ACS journal, and tried again with a European one, then had better luck. 

[Eigen]

Or the other way around. I find there's a strong preference for European groups in EU journals. 

 

I think a lot of it also depends where collaborators are. For instance, there are far more EU groups working in my field than US groups, so a lot of people tend to publish in RSC journals more than ACS journals. 

[Quantum Buckyball]

There are a lot more European journals than the ACS journals, and most of them have a decent impact factor. How would you know which one to pick? I usually use the journal's aims and scope but I don't think that's enough.... 

[Eigen]

It's not an exact science. 

 

But generally, I find trends in where papers of a particular bent are published. Maybe not the general field, but a specific interrelated area of work. 

 

Most PIs also have journals they like. And never underestimate picking one based on how smooth the publication process is!

[Quantum Buckyball]

The turnover time is also a big factor. My first manuscript was in an ACS journal and the turnover time was a solid 7 months. How about a technical note and short communication such as JACS, Chem Comm, Nature Comm? 

[Eigen]

Woah, 7 mos for an ACS journal? There's something going on there. 

 

Usually turnaround for ACS journals is shorter than RCS journals, and for most of the chemical sciences, turnover for a paper decision is 3-6 weeks. That's been pretty true for everything I've reviewed as well. 

 

We had one take 2 mos and got a heartfelt apology from the editor. 

[YaBoyAR]

Agreed. 7 mos means something weird is happening. I had a paper in JACS go from submission to reviewed with minor edits, to acceptance, to publication in like 5 weeks.

I realize that may not be the case always, but 7 mos, without some major revision happening/recommended seems really strange. Even Science would probably only take 2-3 months.

[Quantum Buckyball]

It took 7 months, the paper was submitted in September and was published online in April. I was told that's pretty normal in my field.... 

[Eigen]

Unless you had several cycles of revisions or took like 4 mos. doing revisions, I wouldn't think it's normal.

[YaBoyAR]

It took 7 months, the paper was submitted in September and was published online in April. I was told that's pretty normal in my field.... 

Interestingly, we discussed this topic in my thesis writing class yesterday. I guess it really does depend on field/journal/etc.

 

My professor talked about how one publication she had took LITERALLY 3 years from submission to publication. Interesting. Care to share what journal took you 7 months? I'll be sure to avoid that one when pursuing tenure at (Insert top ranked program here).

[Quantum Buckyball]

Interestingly, we discussed this topic in my thesis writing class yesterday. I guess it really does depend on field/journal/etc.

 

My professor talked about how one publication she had took LITERALLY 3 years from submission to publication. Interesting. Care to share what journal took you 7 months? I'll be sure to avoid that one when pursuing tenure at (Insert top ranked program here).

 

Yes, it depends on what kind of work you're trying to publish and how much the reviewers like it. It's really hard to predict what kind of reviewers you'll get if you do it the "right' way. However, you may request someone to be your reviewer when submitting a manuscript. I believe this is the part where some people might take advantage of (requesting someone whom they already know, instead of someone anonymous) to speed up the reviewing process.

 

For instance, a colleague of mine submitted a paper to a very top ACS journal (IP >8) on Dec 30th, and the paper was accepted for publication on Jan 1st. The turnover time is typically longer during the holiday seasons if your reviewers are anonymously selected by the editor. Its no way that the turnover time is this short if all 3 reviewers and the editor reviewed the paper properly.