What is a journal?

In scientific publishing, a journal is a periodical publication that releases content over time under a common title, typically focused on a defined subject area. In life sciences, journals are the primary venues for scholarly articles that report research methods, results, interpretation, and limitations in a format intended to be archived and cited. 

Why journals matter in pharma and healthcare

Journals are where clinical and biomedical evidence becomes part of the public scientific record. For pharma teams, journal publications support transparent disclosure of study outcomes, enable scientific scrutiny, and help clinicians and researchers assess the strength of evidence that may later influence guidelines, formularies, and standards of care.

Journals also serve as a credibility filter. Not because journals guarantee truth, but because reputable journals enforce editorial policies, peer review, and publication ethics expectations that raise the bar for how evidence is reported.

How peer review works in journals

Peer review is the critical assessment of a submitted manuscript by subject matter experts, typically coordinated by an editor. Journals use peer review to decide whether a manuscript fits the journal and meets quality thresholds, and to improve reporting through reviewer feedback. Review models vary (single-blind, double-blind, open review), and journals are expected to describe their approach transparently.

Types of journals you will encounter in life sciences

Not every journal serves the same purpose. Common categories include:

• General medical journals that publish across specialties and prioritise broad clinical relevance.
• Specialty journals focused on a therapeutic area or discipline (oncology, cardiology, pharmacovigilance).
• Society journals affiliated with professional associations, often with clear community standards.
• Open access journals where articles are free to read immediately, typically under an open licence.
  
• Hybrid journals that combine subscription content with optional open access for specific articles.

How to assess whether a journal is credible

The quality of a journal is less about branding and more about governance. A credible journal usually has:

• Clear editorial leadership and a verifiable editorial board
• A public description of peer review and author policies
• Transparent ethics standards for authorship, disclosures, corrections, and misconduct handling
• Practical signals of trust such as being listed in established indexes or meeting recognised inclusion criteria, depending on the field

For researchers deciding where to submit, checklists such as Think. Check. Submit. are widely used to evaluate whether a journal is a suitable and trusted venue. 

Journal metrics: useful, but easy to misuse

Journal-level metrics like the Journal Impact Factor are commonly referenced when comparing journals. Used responsibly, they can describe citation performance at the journal level, but they should not be treated as a proxy for the quality of an individual paper or the value of a specific researcher. 

Journal pitfalls in pharma publishing

• Poor journal fit: scope and audience do not match the study.
• Weak transparency: missing funding, conflicts, or writing support disclosure.
• Late authorship decisions: disputes after drafting slows submission.
• Prior sharing not managed: abstract, poster, or preprint overlap not disclosed.
• Embargo breaches: results shared publicly too early.
• Traceability gaps: figures and claims not cleanly tied to source data.
• Low-governance journals: unclear peer review and correction policies.