New research has just been published on what differentiates authors who publish in low- and high-impact journals

Some interesting findings in a new study by authors in Brazil show that significant linguistic and financial inequalities still exist for researchers worldwide.  The authors, Carlos Eduardo Paiva et al, collected responses from 269 participants who had published in 30 medical journals which they grouped according to low and high impact factor.  

The main indicator for the increased likelihood of publishing in a higher impact factor journal was living in a country where English is the official language, which was associated with an almost threefold greater chance of publication.

The level of English language was more relevant than being located in a wealthy country.  However, living in a country with a higher per capita gross domestic product was still associated with a greater chance of being published in a high-impact journal.

http://ecancer.org/journal/11/full/718-what-are-the-personal-and-professional-characteristics-that-distinguish-the-researchers-who-publish-in-high-and-low-impact-journals-a-multi-national-web-based-survey.php

HIFA profile: Katie Foxall is Head of Publishing at eCancer, Bristol, UK. katie AT ecancer.org