Journal publication - aim high?

[da_willem]

I worked for a few months on simulating the magnetohydrodynamics of insulating spheres and found some novel relations and insights I have never seen in print during an extensive literature search. My supervisor advises to write one or two publications about this and I would be glad to, but for which journals?

I could submit a paper about the fundamentals, many nice pictures and obtained correlations to the 'journal of fluid mechanics' or 'physics of fluids' or the like. It would be great to publish in such a widespread journal but it has quite the chance of getting rejected and if I understand it corectly that would probably results in a few months delay / more rejections. Would it be better to submit to a bit more low profile journal?

As this would be my first publication, any suggestions, advise, tips, stories are welcome!

 

[Norman]

You should shoot for the highest journal for which you feel it has a "real" chance of publication. Your supervisor will give you the best guidance here and he/she is the one who probably knows the best in this circumstance.

Just because it is your first publication does not mean it has to be in a low profile journal. But the contents of the paper and its impact on the field along with the novelty of the research all will determine what journal is appropriate.

 

[ZapperZ]

I definitely advice you to listen to your supervisor. He/she should have a feel for what each of the journals in your field expects, and the standards that each one of them are seeking for.

Remember, just because something is "interesting", it doesn't mean it is important. The prestigious journals require something new and interesting, but also important. Only your supervisor can have a wide-enough knowledge of the field to judge the degree of importance of your work to suit the appropriate journal.

Zz.

 

[da_willem]

Remember, just because something is "interesting", it doesn't mean it is important. The prestigious journals require something new and interesting, but also important. Only your supervisor can have a wide-enough knowledge of the field to judge the degree of importance of your work to suit the appropriate journal.

Zz.

Thanks for your feedback!

Given the fact that all of my references date from before the seventies the 'importance' might be not that high. The effects studied are not entirely new but can be better understood with the results of my simulations, also some of the fundamental principles behind them I never saw in papers.

However I feel that these effects should find their way into multiphase magnetohydrodynamic modelling. I did this for some application in metals processing and the results show some nice novel implications.

However I think people in the field of metals processing are not that interested in the fundamentals and theory of insulating spheres and simulations of metal processing devices don't belong in a more fundamental paper. So I would figure that two papers in different journals would be better. Do you agree?