You want the paper to reach a respected audience. You also know that another long submission cycle could affect the rest of your plans. It's easy to feel caught between aiming high and simply getting the work out.
The handbook discusses strategic publishing as a balance of quality, relevance, and practical timing. Avoid turning that into a blanket rule about where early-career faculty should submit. The decision needs to fit this paper and your circumstances.
Start with the contribution
What does the paper add, and who needs that contribution? Read the candidate journal's scope and recent work. Consider whether the question, evidence, and article type belong in that conversation.
A prestigious name doesn't make a mismatch useful. A specialized audience can be the right audience for a focused contribution.
Assess readiness honestly
Ask a knowledgeable reader where the paper is strong and where the evidence or explanation needs work. Distinguish a manuscript that needs revision from one that needs a different outlet.
Changing journals won't resolve a substantive problem in the design or interpretation.
Use timing as a planning consideration
Review the information the journal provides, recognizing that your individual timeline may differ. Consider the time needed for preparation, possible revision, and any later submission decision. Don't build a review plan around a promised acceptance date you can't control.
Ask how the applicable institutional process treats accurate manuscript statuses rather than trying to make a submission stand in for a publication.
Agree on an alternative route
Discuss a reasoned first choice and plausible alternatives with coauthors. Decide what would trigger reconsideration, such as an editorial decision or new feedback about fit. Check all relevant submission conditions.
The alternative should be another suitable home, not merely the next place on a ranking.
Keep ambition attached to the work
Be willing to pursue a demanding outlet when the contribution fits, and willing to revise your choice when it doesn't. Neither decision needs to become a statement about your worth as a scholar.
Before selecting a journal, write three sentences: the contribution, the intended readers, and why this outlet is a fit. Add your timing constraints separately. Bringing those pieces together makes the tradeoff clearer without letting any one label make the decision for you.
Adapted from The New Faculty Handbook by Zafer Unal, p. 114.
