The Journal Info web site allows users to look up information on a journal or to discover a new one through browsing subject areas. The Journal Info database was released in June 2007 for the benefit of researchers or scholars interested in identifying journals to which work can be submitted for publication. The publication market has continuously grown more and more complex. Due to this complexity, it is important to consider not only the scope and quality of journals, but also information about reader availability and library cost. The Lund University Libraries created this tool to merge all these factors into one convenient location, giving the researcher the power to make informed choices.
The service currently includes about 18,000 journals and plans to continue growing. At the time of this review the service extended to journals covered in nearly 30 major databases including the following: ABI/Inform, Art Index, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, ATLA Religion Database, Biosis Previews, Chemical Abstracts, Civil Engineering Database, Compendex, CSA Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, CSA Social Services Abstracts, ERIC, FSTA, Inspec, Information Political Science Abstract, LISA, MathSciNet, Medline, PsycInfo, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, Science Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, The Philosopher's Index and Zoological Record.
Users can find articles by browsing subjects including Agriculture, Asian Studies, Business, Education, Gender Studies, Medicine, Religion, Science and Technology. If users need narrower subject areas, there is an option to “Expand the subject tree” which brings up sub‐headings under each subject. If users still cannot find information, all items include a help text. This is a useful feature which appears when users place their cursor over the chosen items. There are also summaries available to users by clicking on the bottom question mark icon. Once a journal record is retrieved, users are treated to a quick overview of the vital statistics about the periodical including publication information, reader accessibility, cost and quality. Publication information includes ISSN, web address, subject and the first year of publication. Reader accessibility includes available options such as whether it is open access and whether it allows self archiving of reviewed manuscripts. The cost section details the prices per article, subscription price per citation as well indicators of non‐profit or for‐profit companies. Lastly, the quality section includes the names of databases that index the selected journal.
Journal Info is relatively newly created and therefore will be developed more fully. The current design of the web site is clean and easy to navigate. It meets a particular need for a very specific audience and is a good starting point. Recommended for authors trying to identify appropriate journals to which they can submit their articles.
