Here is a selection of resources which can help you evaluate or choose journals.

Information about journals

Is a journal refereed? How often does it come out? Which databases index it? - Ulrichs contains lots of general information about journals.

Is a journal open access? Can I archive an article in DiVA (parallel publishing)? - Sherpa/Romeo provides information about what publishing rights authors have with a large number of journals. Read more about open access and parallel publishing

Is a journal indexed in Web of Science? - Journal Citation Reports contains information on Web of Science journals, including their subject categories.

Is a journal Level 1 or Level 2 according to the Norwegian register of scientific journals, series and publishers (the so-called "Norska listan")? - Publiseringskanaler is a database with lists of peer-reviewed journals which can be retrieved by subject.  Level 2 journals are considered to be the best.

How fast is a journal from submission to publication? - General information about this can be found on a journal′s or publisher′s website. Some journals have a "received" date and "accepted" on the first page of their articles.

How do I know if a journal or publisher is reputable? - Beall′s list of predatory open access publishers and Grey zone OA publishing houses from Lund University are two lists you can check.

Impact factor

Impact factor is a bibliometric indicator which is calculated by the citation database Web of Science. Only journals indexed by Web of Science have an impact factor.

Impact factors and other bibliometric indicators for journals can be found in Web of Science′s Journal Citation Reports.

An impact factor of 2.5 for 2011 means: a journal′s articles from the years 2009 and 2010 received on average 2.5 citations from Web of Science journals during the year 2011.

There is also a five year impact factor which takes into account articles from a five year publishing window. The 2011 five year impact factor includes articles from 2006 to 2010.

It is important to compare a journal′s impact factor with other journals from the same subject category in order to judge how good it is. This can also be done in Journal Citation Reports.