Journal rankings · indicator year 2008
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Field ranking · 2008
Social Sciences journal rankings 2008
2,018 ranked journals · Field in Social Sciences
Social Sciences has 2,018 ranked journals in 2008. The median OJR rose 0.07 on 2007 to 1.36, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 2.54. The top three are American Political Science Review, American Sociological Review, and MIS Quarterly.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2008. Journal access status and listed APC: source snapshot September 23, 2026.
Journals whose main subfield sits in this category and that published at least 30 citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) in 2005–2007, the window the 2008 score is computed on.
The OpenJournalRank Indicator (OJR) is a free, publicly available metric of a journal’s field-normalized citation impact, computed from open OpenAlex citation data. It compares citations to a journal’s papers from the previous three years with the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and values can be compared across fields. It is computed with the NCI3 method.
The middle OJR among ranked journals in this category: half score higher, half lower. 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type.
The dot is this category, the solid tick is the median of all ranked journals and the dashed line is the world average.
Share of ranked journals in this category that are fully open access, so every paper is free to read. Hybrid journals, which sell subscriptions and open single papers for a fee, are not counted.
Median list price of the article processing charge, in US dollars, among ranked journals in this category that list a price above zero. Journals with a listed APC of $0 and journals with no known price are left out of this median. The At a glance table below gives a second median that includes the $0 prices.
Subfields in Social Sciences (22)
Up to Social Sciences2,018 ranked journals
Filters
Rank is the position by OJR within the list on screen; 1 is the highest. | OJR is field-normalized 3-year citation impact: 1.00 is the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so values compare across fields. The badge is the journal’s quartile in this list. | Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is not field-normalized, so compare it only between journals of the same field. ▲ or ▼ is the change from 2007. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2005–2007, the window the 2008 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2005–2007 papers that are free to read in any open-access form. The green OA tag next to a title marks a fully open-access journal. | List price of the article processing charge in US dollars. “$0 listed” means the listed price is zero; a dash means no price is listed. | The line is the journal’s OJR from 2000 to 2008. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 15.45Q1 | 3.25 0.36 down from 2007 | 188 | 10% | $3,550 | ||
2American Sociological ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 13.47Q1 | 5.29 0.26 down from 2007 | 143 | 27% | $3,900 | ||
3MIS QuarterlyMIS Quarterly · United States | 13.31Q1 | 6.64 1.46 down from 2007 | 207 | 3% | — | ||
4American Educational Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 12.63Q1 | 4.55 0.45 down from 2007 | 76 | 4% | $2,500 | ||
5The Future of ChildrenPrinceton School of Public and International Affairs · United States | 12.52Q1 | 8.18 0.02 up from 2007 | 58 | 21% | — | ||
6Journal of Economic GrowthSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 12.15Q1 | 4.93 1.33 up from 2007 | 41 | 27% | $4,290 | ||
7Information Systems ResearchInstitute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences · United States | 11.65Q1 | 5.09 0.33 down from 2007 | 84 | 10% | — | ||
8Foreign AffairsCouncil on Foreign Relations · United States | 11.53Q1 | 4.11 0.08 up from 2007 | 811 | 0% | — | ||
9American Journal of SociologyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 11.33Q1 | 4.61 0.91 down from 2007 | 139 | 9% | — | ||
10Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 11.13Q1 | 3.09 0.26 down from 2007 | 216 | 21% | — | ||
11International SecurityThe MIT Press · United States | 11.05Q1 | 3.43 0.46 down from 2007 | 100 | 5% | — | ||
12Journal of European Social PolicySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.56Q1 | 3.53 0.51 up from 2007 | 76 | 10% | $3,650 | ||
13Information Systems JournalWiley · United Kingdom | 10.19Q1 | 3.22 2.01 down from 2007 | 68 | 31% | $5,110 | ||
14Personality and Social Psychology ReviewSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.79Q1 | 10.87 3.71 up from 2007 | 67 | 20% | $3,900 | ||
15Journal of Conflict ResolutionSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.76Q1 | 3.40 0.47 down from 2007 | 118 | 7% | $3,650 | ||
16Progress in Human GeographySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.65Q1 | 3.96 0.24 down from 2007 | 188 | 8% | $3,900 | ||
17Political AnalysisCambridge University Press · United States | 9.62Q1 | 3.35 0.58 up from 2007 | 99 | 39% | $3,550 | ||
18European Union PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.30Q1 | 2.96 0.32 up from 2007 | 75 | 63% | $3,650 | ||
19Review of Educational ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.25Q1 | 9.60 2.60 up from 2007 | 58 | 6% | $2,500 | ||
20Comparative Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.15Q1 | 2.62 1.10 down from 2007 | 187 | 3% | $3,900 | ||
21CriminologyWiley · United Kingdom | 9.13Q1 | 3.75 0.36 down from 2007 | 97 | 23% | $3,570 | ||
22American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 9.04Q1 | 4.44 1.76 up from 2007 | 235 | 15% | $4,100 | ||
23Transactions of the Institute of British GeographersWiley · United Kingdom | 9.00Q1 | 4.00 0.97 down from 2007 | 128 | 24% | $4,070 | ||
24Journal of Applied PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 8.98Q1 | 7.26 1.30 up from 2007 | 355 | 17% | — | ||
25European Journal of International RelationsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.74Q1 | 2.84 0.21 down from 2007 | 62 | 11% | $3,900 | ||
26Journal of Research in Crime and DelinquencySAGE Publishing · United States | 8.57Q1 | 3.67 0.53 up from 2007 | 45 | 14% | $3,650 | ||
27European Foreign Affairs ReviewSpringer Nature · Netherlands | 8.57Q1 | 2.30 0.74 up from 2007 | 88 | 11% | — | ||
28Epidemiologic ReviewsOxford University Press · United States | 8.49Q1 | 17.78 9.91 up from 2007 | 35 | 40% | $5,085 | ||
29International Journal of Transitional JusticeOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 8.39Q1 | 1.97no 2007 value | 33 | 15% | $4,534 | — | |
30Journal of Teacher EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.37Q1 | 3.52 1.39 up from 2007 | 125 | 2% | $3,900 | ||
31World PoliticsCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 8.19Q1 | 2.06 0.19 up from 2007 | 96 | 22% | — | ||
32Administrative Science QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.16Q1 | 2.59 0.15 down from 2007 | 144 | 5% | $3,900 | ||
33Educational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSAGE Publishing · United States | 7.74Q1 | 3.52 0.67 up from 2007 | 47 | 5% | $2,500 | ||
34Justice QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 7.73Q1 | 2.53 0.30 up from 2007 | 71 | 7% | — | ||
35International Studies QuarterlyOxford University Press · United States | 7.70Q1 | 2.97 0.52 up from 2007 | 119 | 24% | $4,320 | ||
36Global NetworksWiley · United Kingdom | 7.61Q1 | 2.72 0.07 up from 2007 | 84 | 19% | $4,050 | ||
37DemographyOASpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 7.59Q1 | 4.35 1.24 up from 2007 | 122 | 92% | $2,750 | ||
38Journal of Computer-Mediated CommunicationOAWiley · United States | 7.57Q1 | 5.25 0.78 up from 2007 | 432 | 63% | $0 listed | ||
39Journal of Interactive MarketingSAGE Publishing · United States | 7.56Q1 | 3.37 0.27 up from 2007 | 62 | 4% | $5,400 | ||
40Urban StudiesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 7.55Q1 | 2.60 0.07 down from 2007 | 367 | 4% | $3,900 | ||
41Philosophy & Public AffairsWiley · United States | 7.51Q1 | 1.63 0.56 down from 2007 | 59 | 10% | $3,460 | ||
42Cultural AnthropologyOAWiley · United States | 7.48Q1 | 3.72 1.42 up from 2007 | 74 | 100% | — | ||
43Community Literacy JournalUnited States | 7.46Q1 | 2.03 1.93 up from 2007 | 36 | 85% | — | ||
44Qualitative Research in PsychologyTaylor & Francis · United States | 7.41Q1 | 5.91 3.21 up from 2007 | 49 | 18% | — | ||
45Information and OrganizationElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 7.39Q1 | 2.57 0.87 down from 2007 | 39 | 25% | $3,590 | ||
46Educational PsychologistRoutledge · United States | 7.31Q1 | 8.00 0.70 up from 2007 | 64 | 19% | — | ||
47Exceptional ChildrenSAGE Publishing · United States | 7.29Q1 | 5.22 1.51 down from 2007 | 79 | 17% | $3,900 | ||
48Journal of Travel ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 7.22Q1 | 2.77 0.12 down from 2007 | 150 | 15% | $3,900 | ||
49Journal of Global Information ManagementOAIGI Global · United States | 7.14Q1 | 2.50 1.27 down from 2007 | 47 | 5% | — | ||
50Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 7.08Q1 | 2.40 0.28 down from 2007 | 145 | 11% | $3,650 |
Subfields of Social Sciences, compared.
- Sociology and Political Science861
- Education443
- Political Science and International Relations255
- Public Administration48
- Gender Studies44
- Communication43
- Library and Information Sciences36
- Health35
- Linguistics and Language35
- Law34
- Safety Research34
- Anthropology33
- Demography29
- Urban Studies28
- Transportation27
- Geography, Planning and Development18
- Cultural Studies9
- Development3
- General Social Sciences2
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
Citations made in 2008. Corpus-wide, 71.1% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
714 additional Social Sciences journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2005–2007, at least 80% of them with a subfield, and a positive world-average expectation. Ranks are within the whole category; filters hide rows without re-ranking. OJR excludes self-citations.
At a glance
Indicator year: 2008. Publication window: 2005–2007. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 2,018
- Window papers (baseline)
- 867,532 +30.2% from indicator year 2005
- Median OJR
- 1.365 +24.7% from indicator year 2005
- Rising journals (2025)
- 134Comparison-group list (134)
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2005–2007 in all journals of the world-average baseline, including non-core journals, counted by each paper’s own subfield. They are not the papers of the ranked journals alone.
| Measure | Year series | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranked journals | 1,406 | 1,451 | 1,539 | 1,622 | 1,698 | 1,765 | 1,844 | 1,932 | 2,018 | 2,111 | 2,231 | 2,335 | 2,450 | 2,548 | 2,662 | 2,755 | 2,851 | 2,959 | 2,994 | 3,028 | 3,056 | 3,141 | 3,149 | 3,144 | 3,107 | 3,066 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 443,953 | 481,120 | 524,797 | 573,040 | 615,403 | 666,449 | 723,952 | 792,817 | 867,532 | 946,631 | 1,027,940 | 1,103,353 | 1,185,358 | 1,256,728 | 1,323,833 | 1,400,086 | 1,483,492 | 1,554,301 | 1,600,611 | 1,663,801 | 1,760,718 | 1,914,483 | 2,065,185 | 2,148,493 | 2,214,535 | 2,302,259 | |
| Median OJR | 0.86 | 0.91 | 0.92 | 0.97 | 1.03 | 1.09 | 1.16 | 1.30 | 1.365 | 1.382 | 1.43 | 1.42 | 1.40 | 1.377 | 1.356 | 1.352 | 1.353 | 1.346 | 1.31 | 1.33 | 1.32 | 1.23 | 1.194 | 1.187 | 1.18 | 1.20 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 4.7% | 1,882 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 0.498 per 1,000 | 1,610 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -2.6% | 2,852 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 58.5% | 3,066 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,400 | 1,164 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 18.2% | 2,785 journals |
| Review share | Median: 0.0% | 3,066 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 1.22 | 3,041 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 44.4% | 3,066 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 49.7% | 3,059 journals |
How to read these rankings
- OJR, the OpenJournalRank Indicator
- A field-normalized 3-year citation impact, computed from OpenAlex with the NCI3 method. It divides the citations a journal’s papers received by the world average for papers of the same subfield, year and type, so 1.00 is the world average and 2.00 means twice as many citations as expected. Because it is normalized, it can be compared across fields. Read the methodology
- Quartiles
- Q1 to Q4 split the ranked journals of the list you are viewing into four equal groups by OJR. A journal’s quartile depends on the list: the same journal can be Q1 in its subfield and Q2 among all journals.
- Impact factor (2-year)
- Citations per paper over a two-year window, counted from OpenAlex. It is easy to compare with familiar impact factors but is not field-normalized, so compare it only within a field. It is not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. Why it differs from the Journal Impact Factor
- Rank ranges
- Each rank in the latest year carries a likely range from 1,000 resamples of the journal’s papers. Where two journals’ ranges overlap, the data cannot tell them apart, so treat neighbouring ranks as ties.