How to evaluate the impact of my work anywhere to submit it?

[Etienne]

Greetings all,

I am an undergrad working on my first first-author paper in theoretical / computational condensed matter physics (near the computational materials science end of the spectrum) and I am looking to getting it published. My advisor has published in many journals, from mid to high end journals in condensed matter physics.

A brief summary of my work: a certain compound was proposed in the bulk with DFT in 2015; in 2017 it was proposed as a 2D material with DFT... no further studies have been published on it and only theoretical electronic properties are 'known'.

Interested in this material, I re-did it from scratch, in the bulk and as a 2D material but instead of using DFT, I used EHT (Extende Huckel Tight-Bingind). Everything is O.K. so far. I also studied magnetic properties in bulk and 2D and the electronic properties (or changes in) from 2D-to-bulk transitions. The material is yet to be synthesized.

I know I am not proposing a new material, and I know that DFT is usually considered as BETTER than EHT, but I also know that it's worth getting out there. My advisor told me to start looking for a prospective journal, and suggested this as an option:

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism: (Springer)http://www.springer.com/physics/condensed+matter+physics/journal/10948

I have also been looking at this one,

Computational Condensed Matter: (Elsevier)
https://www.journals.elsevier.com/computational-condensed-matter

Although, I know that I would love to publish here... but it scares the @#^% out of me to even consider it...

Physical Review Materials: (APS)
https://journals.aps.org/prmaterials/

Can anyone give me some good advice? I know that it will be important for my graduate school applications to have good publications, although this won't be my only publication during undergrad... (I have two years left of school)

Please help and thank you.

 

[Choppy]

I can't offer any field-specific advice unfortunately, but as an undergrad, in the vast majority of cases it's best to go with your supervisor's suggestions.

 

[Dr. Courtney]

I agree with Choppy that it is best to go with your supervisor's advice. But you might have a discussion and raise your other options to get his feedback. Hearing his thinking on why he likes one journal more than the others can be useful.

I often end up on the fence and leave the final decision up to the undergraduate once I've advised them of the trade-offs. Some journals are more highly esteemed, but the odds of rejection are usually higher for those. Some journals also have longer review cycles. It may be to your benefit to submit to a journal with a shorter review cycle so it is likely to be accepted by the time you are applying to grad school. Usually it is an undergraduate's best interests to select a journal with a short review time and high probability of acceptance.

 

[Etienne]

Thank you Choppy and Dr. Courtney. I believe you are correct, I think the point of this first publication isn't to report a breakthrough but to rather demonstrate that I can do some quality work as an undergrad, and my advisor probably has a good eye for that. I shall have a more thorough conversation with my advisor about the topic and see what he thinks, maybe show him the journals I've been looking at and get his expert opinion on the matter.
Thanks!