Academic Journal Rankings: How to Find, Check, and Use Them

Choosing where to submit is one of the biggest decisions in publishing your research. Academic journal rankings help you make it, but only if you know what each ranking measures and where to find it. This guide explains how journals are ranked and walks through the major systems, from impact factor and SJR quartiles to the ABS and ABDC lists. It then shows how to check any journal's ranking step by step. It also covers how to judge a journal's quality and how to use rankings without letting them override fit.

How Are Academic Journals Ranked?

Academic journals are ranked in two main ways: by citation metrics and by expert lists. Citation metrics, such as impact factor and SJR, count how often a journal's articles are cited. Expert lists, such as the ABS guide and the ABDC list, rate journals through panels of senior researchers.

Both approaches have limits. Citation metrics favor fields that cite heavily and journals that publish reviews. Expert lists reflect the judgment of a particular community and country. That's why most researchers check more than one source before deciding where to submit.

What Are the Main Journal Ranking Systems?

The systems below are the ones you'll meet most often. The first five are citation metrics that cover most fields. The last two are expert lists used mainly in business and management.

Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

The impact factor is the average number of citations a journal's articles received in one year for items it published in the previous two years. Clarivate publishes it each June in Journal Citation Reports (JCR). It's still the most widely recognized journal metric in hiring, promotion, and grant decisions.

Two changes since 2023 are worth knowing. Every journal in the Web of Science Core Collection now receives an impact factor, including arts, humanities, and emerging-source journals. Impact factors are also shown to one decimal place instead of three. Impact factors can't be compared across fields, because citation habits differ so much. A strong mathematics journal will have a far lower impact factor than a strong molecular biology journal.

SJR and journal quartiles (Q1 to Q4)

The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) is a free metric based on Scopus data. It weights citations by the prestige of the citing journal, so a citation from a leading journal counts for more. SJR also sorts journals into quartiles within each subject category.

A Q1 journal is in the top 25% of its subject category. Q2 is the next 25%, and so on down to Q4. Because quartiles are relative to each field, they're easier to compare across disciplines than raw scores. A journal listed in several categories can hold a different quartile in each, so check the category that matches your paper.

CiteScore

CiteScore is Elsevier's metric, also built on Scopus data. It divides citations received over four years by the documents published in those same four years. The longer window makes it steadier than the impact factor and fairer to fields where citations build slowly. CiteScore and its percentile are free to view on Scopus Sources.

SNIP (Source Normalized Impact per Paper)

SNIP adjusts a journal's citations for how often papers in its field are cited. That makes it one of the better tools for comparing journals across disciplines. A SNIP above 1.0 means the journal is cited more than average for its field. You'll find it alongside CiteScore on Scopus Sources.

Google Scholar h5-index

Google Scholar Metrics ranks journals by their h5-index, the h-index of articles published in the last five complete years. An h5-index of 50 means 50 articles from that period have each been cited at least 50 times. It's free and covers fields that Scopus and Web of Science index less fully, including many conference-driven fields.

Eigenfactor and Article Influence Score

The Eigenfactor Score measures a journal's total influence over five years, weighting citations by the prestige of their source. Because it's a total, larger journals score higher. The Article Influence Score divides that influence by the number of articles, so a score above 1.0 means above-average influence per article. Both are reported in Journal Citation Reports.

ABS Academic Journal Guide

The Academic Journal Guide (AJG) from the Chartered Association of Business Schools is the main ranking list for business and management research in the UK. It's also widely used elsewhere. Expert panels rate journals 1, 2, 3, 4, or 4*, where 4* marks a "journal of distinction." The guide is revised about every three years and is free to access after registering on the Chartered ABS website.

ABDC Journal Quality List

The Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List rates business journals A*, A, B, or C. It's the standard list in Australia and New Zealand and is widely used across Asia. The list is reviewed about every three years, and the most recent review was completed in 2025. It's free to search on the ABDC website.

Other national and field lists

• France: the FNEGE list for management research and HCERES lists for several social science and humanities fields.
• Humanities: the European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS), which lists qualifying journals rather than ranking them.
• Australia: the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) journal list no longer assigns tiers. Its A* to C rankings were dropped after the 2010 round, and the ERA exercise itself was paused in 2022. Use the ABDC list for business fields.

If your institution or funder names a specific list, treat it as your primary source and the international metrics as supporting evidence.

How Do You Check a Journal's Ranking? Step by Step

Use these steps to check the ranking of any journal you're considering. The first step is free and works in every field.

1. Search Scimago. Go to scimagojr.com and search by journal name or ISSN. Note the SJR score, the quartile in your subject category, and the trend over recent years.
2. Check Journal Citation Reports. If your library subscribes, search Journal Citation Reports for the impact factor and the journal's rank and percentile within its category.
3. Check Scopus Sources. Search the journal on Scopus Sources to see its CiteScore, CiteScore percentile, and SNIP. To check a ranking in Scopus, open the journal's page and look at its percentile within each subject area.
4. Check your field's list. Business and management researchers should look up the journal in the ABS guide and the ABDC Journal Quality List. Check any list your institution uses for promotion.
5. Check Google Scholar Metrics. Browse Google Scholar Metrics by subject to see where the journal's h5-index places it, especially in fields Scopus covers less well.

If you don't have a shortlist yet, start with our guide to where to find academic journals, which covers the databases researchers use to discover journals in their field.

How Do You Check a Journal's Quality?

A ranking tells you about citations, not whether a journal is legitimate or well run. Before you submit, check these quality signals too.

• Indexing. Legitimate journals are usually indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, or the Directory of Open Access Journals. Confirm this on the database itself, not the journal's website.
• Verifiable metrics. A journal that advertises an impact factor or SJR you can't find in JCR or Scimago is a serious warning sign.
• Clear peer review. Look for a described review process, a named editorial board of real researchers, and realistic timelines. Promises of acceptance within days are a red flag.
• Transparent fees. Open access charges should be stated up front, not revealed after acceptance.
• A recognized publisher or society. Journals from established university presses, scholarly societies, and major publishers are easier to verify.

The free checklist at Think. Check. Submit. walks you through these checks for any journal.

How Should You Use Journal Rankings When Choosing Where to Submit?

Finding a ranking is easy. Using it well takes judgment. These principles help you build a realistic submission plan.

• Put scope first. A paper in the right journal for its audience gets read and cited by the right people. Rankings should shape your shortlist, not override fit.
• Be honest about your contribution. A solid but incremental study often does better at a respected Q2 journal that fits than at a Q1 journal where it can't compete.
• Build a shortlist and a cascade. Pick three or four journals that fit, ranked by preference, so a rejection doesn't stall you.
• Weigh time as well as prestige. Top-ranked journals usually reject more papers and review more slowly. Factor in any grant or promotion deadline.

If a submission doesn't work out, our guide on what to do after a journal rejection covers how to revise and choose the next journal.

What About Author Metrics Like the h-Index?

Journal rankings measure journals. Author metrics measure a researcher's own citation record, and they often appear in the same promotion and hiring files. These are the four you'll see most.

The same researcher will have a different h-index on each platform, because each indexes different publications. Like journal metrics, author metrics vary widely by field, so compare researchers only within the same discipline.

What Are the Limits of Journal Rankings?

• Field differences. Citation rates vary hugely between disciplines. Compare journals only within the same subject category.
• Review article bias. Journals that publish many review articles score higher, because reviews are cited more often.
• Gaming. Excessive self-citation and citation agreements between journals can inflate scores.
• Citations measure attention, not quality. A highly cited paper isn't always a strong one, and important work in small fields may be cited rarely.
• Old data. Rankings reflect past citations, so they lag behind changes in a journal's editorial quality.

Get Your Manuscript Ready Before You Submit

Reviewers at highly ranked journals judge the writing along with the research. At Editor World, you choose a native English editor with experience in your field, and no AI is used at any stage. See our journal article editing and academic editing services. A certificate of editing is available as an optional add-on for journals that ask for proof of editing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides

For well-known journals in each discipline, see our examples of academic journals. When you're ready to submit, read our guide to writing a cover letter for journal submission.

Reviewed by the Editor World editorial team under the direction of Patti Fisher, PhD, founder. Editor World has provided 100% human editing by native English editors since 2010. About Editor World