Journal rankings · indicator year 2012
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2012
Communication journal rankings 2012
54 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Communication has 54 ranked journals in 2012. The median OJR fell 0.19 on 2011 to 1.67, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 2.79. The top three are Journal of Knowledge Management, Journal of Communication, and Journal of Studies in International Education.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2012. 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 2009–2011, the window the 2012 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 of Social Sciences (22)
54 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 2011. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2009–2011, the window the 2012 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2009–2011 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 2003 to 2012. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Journal of Knowledge ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 6.80Q1 | 4.16 0.65 up from 2011 | 194 | 2% | — | ||
2Journal of CommunicationOxford University Press · United States | 6.60Q1 | 3.41 0.46 down from 2011 | 193 | 18% | $4,235 | ||
3Journal of Studies in International EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 5.97Q1 | 1.98 0.05 down from 2011 | 88 | 18% | $3,650 | ||
4Communication TheoryWiley · United States | 5.89Q1 | 3.10 0.36 up from 2011 | 64 | 7% | $4,235 | ||
5Journal of Information Technology & PoliticsRoutledge · United States | 4.78Q1 | 2.94 0.81 down from 2011 | 70 | 14% | — | ||
6European Journal of CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.61Q1 | 1.46 0.40 down from 2011 | 84 | 18% | $3,650 | ||
7Political CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United States | 4.47Q1 | 2.43 0.04 up from 2011 | 71 | 0% | — | ||
8The International Journal of Press/PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United States | 4.10Q1 | 2.47 0.79 up from 2011 | 83 | 10% | $3,900 | ||
9Journal of Public Relations ResearchTaylor & Francis · United States | 3.73Q1 | 2.72 0.13 up from 2011 | 61 | 4% | — | ||
10Discourse & CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.38Q1 | 1.32 0.28 down from 2011 | 55 | 9% | $3,650 | ||
11Corporate Communications An International JournalEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.98Q1 | 1.82 0.34 down from 2011 | 90 | 6% | — | ||
12Cross Cultural Management An International JournalEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.82Q1 | 2.18 0.72 up from 2011 | 87 | 0% | — | ||
13International Journal of Cross Cultural ManagementSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.81Q1 | 1.48 1.06 down from 2011 | 60 | 10% | $3,650 | ||
14JournalismSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.79Q1 | 1.61 0.30 up from 2011 | 213 | 5% | $3,900 | ||
15Journalism StudiesRoutledge · United Kingdom | 2.76Q2 | 1.81 0.89 up from 2011 | 185 | 12% | — | ||
16Public Relations ReviewElsevier BV · United States | 2.63Q2 | 1.53 0.57 down from 2011 | 292 | 11% | $4,310 | ||
17Journal of Business CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United States | 2.48Q2 | 1.91 0.53 up from 2011 | 69 | 11% | — | ||
18Journalism PracticeTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.43Q2 | 1.55 0.27 up from 2011 | 134 | 10% | — | ||
19Media War & ConflictSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.32Q2 | 0.72 0.25 up from 2011 | 63 | 14% | $3,650 | ||
20Journal of Political MarketingTaylor & Francis · United States | 2.21Q2 | 1.29 0.60 up from 2011 | 56 | 4% | — | ||
21Knowledge Management Research & PracticeTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.15Q2 | 1.57 0.06 up from 2011 | 99 | 17% | — | ||
22Journal of International and Intercultural CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.09Q2 | 1.44 0.44 up from 2011 | 59 | 16% | — | ||
23Journal of Communication ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.09Q2 | 1.66 0.55 up from 2011 | 79 | 8% | — | ||
24Asian Journal of CommunicationRoutledge · United Kingdom | 1.99Q2 | 0.88 0.08 up from 2011 | 96 | 11% | — | ||
25Global Media and CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.76Q2 | 0.89 0.30 up from 2011 | 82 | 11% | $3,650 | ||
26International Communication GazetteSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.76Q2 | 0.99 0.14 down from 2011 | 114 | 5% | $3,650 | ||
27Annals of the International Communication AssociationTaylor & Francis | 1.72Q2 | 0.93 0.74 down from 2011 | 40 | — | $3,368 | ||
28CommunicationsDe Gruyter Mouton · Germany | 1.62Q3 | 0.88 0.03 down from 2011 | 66 | 41% | $2,712 | ||
29Ecquid Novi African Journalism StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.53Q3 | 0.64 0.34 up from 2011 | 78 | 3% | — | ||
30Journalism & Mass Communication QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 1.45Q3 | 0.72 0.08 down from 2011 | 233 | 1% | $3,900 | ||
31International Journal of Strategic CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.44Q3 | 1.04 0.06 down from 2011 | 48 | 8% | — | ||
32Nordicom review/NORDICOM reviewOADe Gruyter Open · Sweden | 1.21Q3 | 0.97 0.40 up from 2011 | 58 | 100% | — | ||
33Journal of Deliberative DemocracyOAUnited Kingdom | 1.19Q3 | 0.83 0.28 up from 2011 | 41 | 100% | — | ||
34CommunicatioRoutledge · United Kingdom | 1.13Q3 | 0.43 0.16 down from 2011 | 69 | 9% | — | ||
35International Journal of Knowledge ManagementOAIGI Global · United States | 1.08Q3 | 0.92 0.42 down from 2011 | 59 | 0% | — | ||
36Journal of Intercultural Communication ResearchTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.04Q3 | 0.97 0.66 up from 2011 | 42 | 4% | — | ||
37Newspaper Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United States | 1.02Q3 | 0.38 0.12 down from 2011 | 100 | 7% | $3,200 | ||
38Journal of Mass Media EthicsTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.97Q3 | 0.37 0.29 down from 2011 | 89 | 2% | — | ||
39Journal of Teaching in International BusinessTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.96Q3 | 1.36 0.07 down from 2011 | 55 | 15% | — | ||
40International Journal of Knowledge Management StudiesInderscience Publishers · United Kingdom | 0.91Q3 | 0.69 0.02 down from 2011 | 42 | 0% | — | ||
41International Journal of E-PoliticsIGI Global · United States | 0.89Q3 | 0.55 0.05 down from 2011 | 40 | 4% | — | ||
42Media International AustraliaPublisher not listed | 0.82Q4 | 0.53 0.21 up from 2011 | 184 | 9% | $3,650 | ||
43Comunicação e SociedadeOAUniversity of Minho · Portugal | 0.68Q4 | 0.38 0.06 down from 2011 | 110 | 100% | — | ||
44El Profesional de la InformacionOAEdiciones Profesionales de la Informacion SL · Spain | 0.61Q4 | 0.63 0.20 up from 2011 | 259 | 100% | — | ||
45Journal of Radio & Audio MediaTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.54Q4 | 0.31 0.10 down from 2011 | 64 | 0% | — | ||
| 0.52Q4 | 0.33 0.16 up from 2011 | 60 | 100% | — | |||
47Observatorio (OBS*)OAOberCom (Observatorio da Comunicação) · Portugal | 0.46Q4 | 0.29 0.08 up from 2011 | 107 | 100% | — | ||
48Critical Studies in Television The International Journal of Television StudiesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 0.43Q4 | 0.16 0.08 up from 2011 | 64 | 17% | $3,650 | ||
49Radio Journal International Studies in Broadcast & Audio MediaIntellect · United Kingdom | 0.42Q4 | 0.35 0.01 down from 2011 | 37 | 23% | — | ||
50Journal of Intercultural CommunicationOAPublisher not listed | 0.36Q4 | 0.22 0.06 up from 2011 | 64 | 100% | — |
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Communication highlighted.
- Sociology and Political Science1,049
- Education564
- Political Science and International Relations287
- Gender Studies57
- Communication54
- Safety Research49
- Public Administration48
- Health43
- Transportation40
- Library and Information Sciences39
- Linguistics and Language38
- Law37
- Anthropology36
- Urban Studies36
- Demography33
- Geography, Planning and Development24
- Cultural Studies10
- Development3
- General Social Sciences2
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
Citations made in 2012. Corpus-wide, 75.7% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
23 additional Communication journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2009–2011, 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: 2012. Publication window: 2009–2011. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 54
- Window papers (baseline)
- 25,150 +38.5% from indicator year 2009
- Median OJR
- 1.67 -10.5% from indicator year 2009
- Rising journals (2025)
- 3
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2009–2011 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 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 36 | 35 | 35 | 38 | 38 | 43 | 48 | 52 | 52 | 54 | 57 | 66 | 65 | 68 | 71 | 74 | 74 | 79 | 75 | 77 | 73 | 72 | 71 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 6,625 | 7,353 | 8,060 | 9,040 | 9,893 | 11,132 | 12,598 | 14,308 | 16,130 | 18,165 | 20,333 | 22,525 | 25,150 | 27,541 | 29,419 | 31,115 | 32,404 | 33,284 | 33,565 | 34,506 | 36,327 | 39,973 | 43,466 | 44,324 | 43,348 | 42,854 | |
| Median OJR | 0.692 | 0.54 | 0.691 | 0.67 | 0.94 | 1.31 | 1.570 | 1.66 | 1.47 | 1.86 | 1.80 | 1.85 | 1.67 | 1.72 | 1.49 | 1.74 | 1.56 | 1.59 | 1.54 | 1.333 | 1.42 | 1.326 | 1.48 | 1.62 | 1.68 | 1.565 |
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.