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Ohio State University logo University Libraries arrow Guide to Information Resources in Education

Guide to Information Resources in Education
Evaluating Resources in Education



EVALUATING OUTLETS FOR PUBLISHING Preparing an article for publication?  Getting ready for your own or someone else's tenure review?  Here are some reference books and some online databases that may help.

Before you begin
To place your publishing or evaluation project in context, you may want to read:

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF REFERENCE BOOKS WITH INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS IN EDUCATION 
(Note: None of these are comprehensive nor necessarily up to date.)

  • Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Educational Curriculum and Methods Z286 .E3 C322 2002-2003, vols. 1-2 (EHS Reference Stacks)
  • Cabell's Directory of Publishing Opportunities in Educational Psychology and Administration Z286 .E3 C323 2002-2003, vols. 1-2 (EHS Reference Stacks)
  • Contributor's Guide to Periodicals in Reading (IRA) LB1049.9 .C66 1997 (EHS Reference Stacks)
  • Journals in Psychology: A Resource Listing for Authors (APA) BF76.8 J68 1997 (EHS Reference Stacks)
  • MLA Directory of Periodicals: A Guide to Journals and Series in Languages and Literatures Z7006 .M5819 1999 (Main Library Reference Desk; also online)

ONLINE DATABASES

  • Academic Journal Policy Database <http://www.etd.uc.edu/journal/>

    • University of Cincinnati database of publisher policies regarding "prior publication." Particularly relevant to students concerned about releasing their dissertations and theses to the OhioLINK Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) database.
  • Education Abstracts <http://rave.ohiolink.edu/databases/login/edua>

    • ERIC <http://rave.ohiolink.edu/databases/login/eric>
    For a quick list of articles from a particular journal, do a "Words in. . .Journal Title" search for the name of the journal you are considering publishing in.  You can scan article titles and abstracts to gain a sense of the kinds of articles published recently by the journal.
     
  • Journal Citation Reports <http://jcrweb.com/>

    • Journal Citation Reports (JCR), a product of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), claims to offer "a systematic, objective way to determine the relative importance of journals within their subject categories."  Keep in mind that JCR is only comparing journals within its own database of about 1,600 social sciences titles (http://www.isinet.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=master), relatively few of which deal with education.  You also can connect to JCR through Ulrich's (see below).
  • <Highly Cited

    • Another product of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), this database contains biographical information for the most cited authors listed in ISI's citation databases, such as Social Sciences Citation Index. Browsable by name, institution, etc. Authors are responsible for updating their own information.

  • Social Sciences Citation Index <http://cite.ohiolink.edu/isi/CIW.cgi)

    • This online database allows you to trace references to and from articles covered by the approximately 1,600 journals in the database.  Remember that not many are education journals, so just because an article isn't cited frequently in SSCI doesn't mean that it hasn't influenced other researchers.  On the other hand, you'll need to double-check citations you do find in SSCI to see how often authors are citing their own work.
     
  • Ulrich's Periodicals Directory <http://www.ulrichsweb.com/ulrichsweb/>

    • Search "Title (Keyword)" in the "Express Search" drop-down menu.  This will take you to a list of titles containing the words you entered.  A striped "referee shirt" icon beside the title indicates that the journal is refereed.  Click on the title to go to more complete information.  Usually you'll find here an e-mail link to the editor or publisher and the URL for the journal's Web site.  You can ask the editor directly about acceptance rates, etc.  This information, as well as instructions for authors, may be available at the journal's Web site, too.

    You can also perform keyword and subject searches in Ulrich's and limit to refereed publications.  This can be a good way to identify suitable outlets for articles you are writing.