Journal ranking

[Seeker123]

Hello. How do I find out a journals acceptance rate? Is the Q1, Q2 etc used in all fields? I published in a Q1 journal and just want to know the best way to describe the tier of the journal
I published in.

[Puget]

I think you're confusing acceptance rate with ranking-- those are not the same thing. Rankings/impact factors have to do with how much articles in the journal are cited in other papers, not the acceptance rate. There are a bunch of different impact factor metrics, calculated in somewhat different ways, put out by different companies/organizations-- IF, SJR, etc. What's considered "good" is going to vary by field.

[Seeker123]

Thanks for the clarification. I never really looked at these thing and just published in journals where senior scholars publish. So how do I determine the tier of a journal? If it is the acceptance rate where do I find that info? 

[Puget]

I'm not sure what you mean by "tier"-- some journal impact factors list what quartile the journal is on that impact factor rating within a particular field. Other than that, when someone says something like "top tier journals" they aren't referring to some formal classification-- it's just a way of saying the best journals in a field. Impact factor certainly plays into that, but also just informal consensus in a field, which is party driven by acceptance rate probably, but also where top researchers publish, if it is run by a major society, etc.

What do you need this information for? If you're trying to figure out where to submit, ask senior mentors for suggestions. If you are tempted to list such things on a CV or other materials, resist the urge-- at least in the US this would be a weird thing to list on your CV, and those in your field already know about the journals in the field.

[Seeker123]

Thanks I need the info because I am going up for promotion and would like to note the acceptance rate atleast. Most people in my Dept are not in my field so they don't know the ranking of journals in my field.

[Parasaurolophus]

In my field, we keep our own rankings--every few years (or more), the leading blog in the profession runs a poll for the top 30 or so generalist journals. For specialist journals, you're on your own--but it's pretty easy to figure out which are the best specialist journals. Which ones is everyone publishing in, and which ones do you cite again and again and again?

We also maintain our own database of acceptance rates, response times, etc. Sometimes that information is available through the journal itself, but it's more useful to have it crowd-sourced and un-massaged. But you should be able to find at least some of that kind of info hidden somewhere on the journal website, or on the publisher's. If it's an association-based journal, the association will give out that kind of information in the editors' reports to the association's board of trustees. Sometimes that's publicly available, sometimes it's only available to association members. There's no harm in asking for it, though.

[arcturus]

I consulted with our discipline librarian regarding how to best indicate the quality of the journals in my field for my tenure and promotion cases. He pointed me to Journal Citation Reports (JCR), which reports the impact factors for a given year.  My field has a limited number of journals, and a high acceptance rate (because, you know, we all do excellent science!), so saying that I published in the top ten journals for the field meant that I was publishing in all of the reputable ones. My field also tracks citations through an easily accessible database, so it was relatively easy for me to show that my work was being cited by others. We even have someone in the field that looks through citations and publishes "typical" citation rates for different sub-fields of my field. While some of the above is field specific, my underlying message is to consult with your librarians, as they may be able to point you toward appropriate resources to highlight your research accomplishments.

[Hibush]

Thanks I need the info because I am going up for promotion and would like to note the acceptance rate at least. Most people in my Dept are not in my field so they don't know the ranking of journals in my field.

Consider choosing a metric that makes sense to you, or to a trusted colleague in your field. That will make your presentation of the data in your narrative more true to what you are doing; your colleagues sound unlikely to second guess your ranking report. Be sure to frame the interpretation of the metric in the most favorable light. That way your chair's letter to the P&T committee can address the quality of your publications by paraphrasing what you write.

[Vkw10]

 

While some of the above is field specific, my underlying message is to consult with your librarians, as they may be able to point you toward appropriate resources to highlight your research accomplishments.

I second Arcturus' recommendation to consult with librarians. If there's a librarian assigned as primary contact for your department, start by emailing that librarian to ask for help with journal rankings for your tenure case. If you don't know which librarian to contact, email any of the librarians and tell them what you need.

[delsur]

Some journals offer summaries of acceptance rates in the editor's notes.

[Sun_Worshiper]

In my field there is a go-to list, based on a survey of professors.  There is also impact factor, which is universally recognized, but also can be misleading (some so-so journals in my field have great IFs, while some of the great outlets have so-so IFs).  A few journals in my area publish (semi) annual reports that include info on acceptance rates, but most do not.

[fizzycist]

Not an attack on OP, but wtf is the point of submitting a gigantic dossier with a 20 page CV, several mini-essays on your scholarship, a dozen external letters, etc. if you still need to come up with some arbitrary metric to describe the journals that you published in?!

[Sun_Worshiper]

Not an attack on OP, but wtf is the point of submitting a gigantic dossier with a 20 page CV, several mini-essays on your scholarship, a dozen external letters, etc. if you still need to come up with some arbitrary metric to describe the journals that you published in?!

Coming from an interdisciplinary department myself, I can understand why it is necessary to signal journal quality to colleges from different fields. 

[Durchlässigkeitsbeiwert]

Scopus just updated their Citescore metric.
https://www.scopus.com/sources?dgcid=RN_AG_Sourced_300005499
It has a convenient web tool showing different metrics including how high each journal ranks within corresponding subject area.
It allows to claim something like "I have X articles in journals within 75th percentile or higher out of which Y articles are in Journals within 90th percentile or higher."

[jerseyjay]

Like everything else, I would assume this depends on field and department.

That said, hopefully your external reviewers would note the quality of the journals you published in.

If you have to write an essay explaining why you should be promoted, I would emphasize whatever you can to highlight your strengths.

For example: Last year I published an article, "A Weberian Approach to Yellow Baskets, 1920-1925" in the Journal of Yellow Baskets. According to Google Scholar, this article already has 500 citations. The journal (published by the Society for the Study of Yellow Baskets) is the most important forum for those of us who study Yellow Baskets in the interwar period, and only has a 10 per cent acceptance rate.