You should put some thought into choosing your target journal before you start writing your manuscript. When looking for suitable journals in which to publish your own results, start with what you have read. You should already be familiar with published studies that are similar to yours. Which journal were those studies published in? The same journals may be appropriate for your manuscript, so make a list of them. If you need more journals to consider, you can do literature searches for other published articles in your field that are similar in scope and impact on the field, and see where they were published.

When you have a list of potential target journals, visit and read the websites for these journals. Every journal should have a page that provides instructions or guidelines for authors, including information on many of the factors listed above.