Providing a platform for global discourse and equity
A home for regionally relevant content
Q3 and Q4 journals play an essential role in supporting authors from LMICs, offering an inclusive and accessible platform for research that might otherwise struggle to find representation in higher-ranked journals. While Q1 and Q2 journals often prioritise novelty and large-scale studies, Q3 and Q4 journals are more likely to focus on accessibility, guidance, and inclusivity, allowing for smaller-scale studies that address pressing regional and practical challenges.
For instance, AIDS Research and Therapy receives a significant proportion of its submissions from African researchers operating with limited resources and funding. The journal’s editorial team provides tailored support to these authors, helping them refine their manuscripts and ensuring their research is both accessible and impactful.
“About 50% of the papers that come to me I send straight back with a set of instructions as to how to reduce it to a brief communication […] which is readable by people for whom English is not their first language. It serves both the author and the potential reader that they are concise and precise.”
Patricia Price
Editor-in-Chief of AIDS Research and Therapy
These studies often have particular interest beyond academia, offering direct benefits for practitioners or policymakers working in these regions. Price emphasises the importance of actionable, context-specific work in these journals, adding, “I always emphasise the need for people to describe the population that they're treating.” By addressing local and actionable issues, lower-ranked journals like AIDS Research and Therapy contribute to solving real-world challenges faced by specific communities. AIDS Research and Therapy’s commitment to mentorship and guidance is also highly valued by their community.
In Springer Nature’s annual editorial excellence survey, over 90% of authors agreed that the editorial advice helped improve their papers and that the peer review process was well managed.
Meanwhile, as commented on in Section 2, these journals accommodate the practical realities of conducting research in LMICs, such as smaller sample sizes or resource constraints. By adapting to these constraints while maintaining rigorous quality standards, they play a crucial role in fostering global discourse and enabling contributions from underrepresented research communities.
Publishing in an OA journal (such as AIDS and Research Therapy) can further boost the impact by reaching practitioners working in LMICs, where many institutions and individuals cannot afford subscription-based journals. As Editor Barbara Castelnuovo explains, “If you publish in a journal that only three people can read in Africa, then you're not going to have any impact.” OA makes it possible for local and contextual research to influence practice.
Supporting early career researchers
Q3 and Q4 journals provide opportunities for researchers who may lack the resources or experience required to publish in Q1 or Q2 journals. This support is especially valuable for ECRs, notably for PhD students and first-time authors. By prioritising accessibility and guidance, these journals often serve as an entry point into academic publishing, providing guidance and feedback to researchers to improve their research papers and ultimately help them progress their research careers.
Journals like AIDS Research and Therapy work with these authors. As Editor Barbara Castelnuovo explains, “It’s a chance for people who are trying to publish for the first time: maybe they've done interesting work but they don't know how to package it. Instead of just rejecting, we try to tell them how to improve the paper and resubmit it.”
In addition to offering a supportive publishing platform, these journals also play a role in providing essential skills among junior researchers. AIDS Research and Therapy’s Editor Patricia Price comments on how the journal fosters research skills among junior doctors: “I suspect that many of our authors are young doctors... it’s important that they understand what makes a good paper so that they can interpret the statistics... and use statistics that can be interpreted." In this way, the journal also prepares these ECRs to make meaningful contributions to their field in the future.
By creating an inclusive and supportive environment, Q3 and Q4 journals empower ECRs from diverse backgrounds to contribute to their fields, develop their skills, and grow as researchers.
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