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It was recently suggested to me to seek comparable, alternative, journals to the above two (I am not interested in discussing why one would want to do so here). I am wondering if anyone has suggestions of comparable journals to these two, which I rate as middle-of-the-road specialized journals in algebra.

Optimal answers will be names of journals whose likelihood of accepting any given paper, and esteem amongst people in the field, correlates highly with these two; so, they will consequently be specialized in algebra, and of approximately equal caliber. Also, it would be good if the rigor of the referee process is comparable.

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    $\begingroup$ @Donu They are both Elsevier journals. If you are not aware, there is a boycott of Elsevier being organized. See thecostofknowledge.com $\endgroup$
    – Adam
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 15:20
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    $\begingroup$ Despite having signed up for the Elsevier boycott, I think this question should not be here. It is subjective and argumentative. There are plenty of places online to discuss the boycott and its implications. $\endgroup$
    – Felipe Voloch
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 19:05
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    $\begingroup$ I've started a meta thread: tea.mathoverflow.net/discussion/1305/… $\endgroup$
    – Kim Morrison
    Commented Feb 11, 2012 at 6:53
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    $\begingroup$ Mark, while technically you are right your answer is too trivial to answer the question. The OP is not interested in isomorphism of journals, but in equivalence up to area and level. $\endgroup$
    – Yiftach Barnea
    Commented Feb 12, 2012 at 11:44
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    $\begingroup$ @Mark Sapir you might be right. But telling peope they do not understand does not make them understand. You might like to consider explaining yourself better. $\endgroup$
    – Yiftach Barnea
    Commented Feb 12, 2012 at 22:24

5 Answers 5

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I think Journal of Algebra is the top journal in algebra (at least in some areas of algebra). But the quality varies. Some papers are excellent and some are just good. In my view Communication in Algebra and Algebra and Representation Theory are decent journals (indeed I have published in both), but I would say they are a level below Journal of Algebra. I am not familiar too much with Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra.

I think Journal of Group Theory is in the level of Journal of Algebra (some say better).

Groups, Geometry and Dynamics seems to publish good papers recently, but it is relatively new so I am not sure about reputation.

I have just recently noticed Journal of Algebra and its Applications and it seems to have a very good editorial board.

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  • $\begingroup$ This confirms my motivating concern, being that there is not an ideal alternative at the moment. Thank you for this helpful answer; I will look into the two you mentioned in addition to Salvo's suggestions. $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 18:02
  • $\begingroup$ This is my view. You might want to hear more people before formaing your view. Actually, I would also be happy to hear what other people think. $\endgroup$
    – Yiftach Barnea
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 18:12
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In my opinion the question is somewhat vague. However, I think that Algebra and Representation Theory or Algebra and Number Theory are examples of specialized journals in algebra of level more or less similar to J. Algebra or Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra.

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    $\begingroup$ I have to agree that the question is somewhat vague (or perhaps at least subjective/fuzzy), but I am not sure how to be more precise. In any case, those answers help. Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 15:21
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    $\begingroup$ Agreed. Algebra and Number Theory seems to have a much better reputation than Journal of Algebra among people I know. (Even if we ignore the publisher matter.) $\endgroup$
    – Vladimir Dotsenko
    Commented Feb 12, 2012 at 8:56
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    $\begingroup$ The editorial board is indeed very impressive, but there is hardly any group theorist there. $\endgroup$
    – Yiftach Barnea
    Commented Feb 12, 2012 at 17:22
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Communications in Algebra (Taylor and Francis). It was my impression that some years ago it was considered as slightly worse than the ones you mentioned, but I also believe they tried to improve lately.

Journal of Algebra and its Applications (WorldScientific). Most likely also considered as not quite as good, but perhaps not much worse either.

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    $\begingroup$ Thank you for including publishers in your reply, since that seems to be at the heart of this question. $\endgroup$
    – Edgar A. Bering IV
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 15:35
  • $\begingroup$ What is known about the iniquities or virtues of those publishers? I, for instance, have an informal boycott of World Scientific for personal reasons, but would be prepared to accept evidence that they are more of a force for good to the maths community than Elsevier. (If people don't want to discuss this publically, they are welcome to contact me by email.) $\endgroup$
    – Yemon Choi
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 16:41
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    $\begingroup$ @Yemon: are the reasons for your boycott something you want to keep for yourself, or can we get to hear them? I am just being curious - as far as I know, World Scientific is the kind of publishing house which is just as bad as any other, but it does not have the undeserved seriosity nimbus that Springer, T&F etc. have for whatever reasons. Is there something I've missed that makes it even worse? $\endgroup$
    – darij grinberg
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 17:19
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    $\begingroup$ Someone will surely come along shortly and point out that discussions like this are ill-suited to MO comment threads and would be better placed on a forum. Rumor has it that an appropriate forum now exists: math.ntnu.no/~stacey/Mathforge/Math2.0 $\endgroup$
    – Mark Meckes
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 17:33
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    $\begingroup$ Discussions like this are ill-suited to MO comment threads and would be better placed on a forum. It was not my intention to start one here. $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Feb 10, 2012 at 18:00
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The Journal of Commutative Algebra is a more specialized journal that I believe tries to be of similar quality to the Journal of Algebra.

In particular, they have recently asked their referees whether they would recommend that this paper would also be accepted at the Journal of Algebra and state that they are shooting for comparable quality.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm not sure what you mean? $\endgroup$
    – Karl Schwede
    Commented Dec 29, 2012 at 13:46
  • $\begingroup$ @Karl: I think, he meant "advertisement" (compare "publicite" in French). In this case, the answer is "of course not". $\endgroup$
    – Misha
    Commented Dec 29, 2012 at 14:45
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, for clarifying. I'm not an editor of that journal or anything, although Graham Leuschke (a frequent mathoverflower) is. $\endgroup$
    – Karl Schwede
    Commented Dec 29, 2012 at 19:20
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International Journal of Algebra and Computation (IJAC), published by World Scientific, is another possibility. In practice they have their areas of speciality, such as geometric group theory.

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  • $\begingroup$ I am not familiar with the journal, but the editorial board is excellent. $\endgroup$
    – Yiftach Barnea
    Commented Feb 12, 2012 at 11:05

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