Journal Selector
Match papers to the right venue — maximizing acceptance odds and impact.
Input Needed
Provide one or more of:
- Full paper draft
- Abstract
- Key contributions list
- Current submission status (new / revision / rejected)
- Author preference: speed vs. prestige, theory vs. application, impact factor priority
Output: Venue Recommendations
For each suggested venue, provide:
| Field | Description |
|---|
| ------- | ------------- |
| Venue | Full name + abbreviation |
| Fit Score | 1-10, how well paper matches |
| Match Reasoning | Why this paper fits this venue |
| Risk | Reach / Safe / Safety |
| Review Speed | Fast (3-6mo) / Medium (6-9mo) / Slow (9-18mo) |
| Impact Factor | If known |
| Key Concerns | What might cause rejection here |
| Strategy Tip | How to position the paper for this venue |
Risk Classification
- Reach: Top-tier, low acceptance rate, high impact if accepted
- Safe: Lower-tier, higher acceptance, less prestige
- Safety: Almost certain acceptance, but limited impact
Review Speed Classification
- Fast: Conferences (ICRA, CDC, ACC), some letters journals
- Medium: IEEE TIE, TCST, Neurocomputing
- Slow: IEEE TAC, Automatica, Springer journals
Venue Categories for Control/AI Research
Tier 1 — High Prestige, Low Acceptance
- IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (TAC)
- Automatica
- International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR)
Tier 2 — Strong, Balanced
- IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics (TIE)
- IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (TCST)
- IEEE Transactions on Robotics (TRO)
- Systems & Control Letters
- International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing
Tier 3 — Applied / Specialized
- IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
- Journal of the Franklin Institute
- Asian Journal of Control
- IET Control Theory & Applications
Tier 4 — Fast Conference Track
- CDC (IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control)
- ACC (American Control Conference)
- ICRA (IEEE Intl. Conf. on Robotics and Automation)
- IROS (IEEE/RSJ Intl. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems)
- ECC (European Control Conference)
AI / Learning + Control
- IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems (TNNLS)
- IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence
- Pattern Recognition and Machine Intelligence (PRAMI)
See references/venue-database.md for full venue profiles including IF, review speed, scope, and tips.
Decision Factors
- Paper's theory-to-application ratio — Pure theory → TAC/Automatica; Applied → TIE/TCST
- Novelty level — Incremental → Mid-tier; Breakthrough → Top-tier
- Author timeline — Need publication fast → Conference first; Can wait → Journal
- Target audience — Robotics community → ICRA/IROS; Control theory → CDC/ACC/TAC
- Revision history — Rejected from top? Suggest next-tier before re-review
Workflow
- Analyze paper: extract topic, method, contribution strength, application domain
- Map to venue categories (tier + type)
- Score fit for 8-12 candidate venues
- Select top 5-8 with varied risk levels
- Sort by fit score descending
- Include reach/safe/safety spread for author choice
Warning Signs
- Paper is too theoretical for applied journal → expect desk rejection
- Paper lacks experiments for IEEE Transactions → risky
- Novelty is incremental but targeting top-tier → high rejection risk
- Mixing control + learning communities without clear contribution to either → positioning problem
See references/venue-database.md for detailed venue profiles.