Journal rankings · indicator year 2015
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Domain ranking · 2015
Social Sciences journal rankings 2015
5,769 ranked journals · Domain
Social Sciences has 5,769 ranked journals in 2015. Its median journal scores above the world average: OJR 1.20 against 1.00, down 0.03 on 2014. A journal needs OJR 2.29 to reach Q1. The top three are Therapeutic Recreation Journal, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Academy of Management Annals.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2015. 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 2012–2014, the window the 2015 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.
Fields in Social Sciences (6)
Up to All journals5,769 ranked journals
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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 2014. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2012–2014, the window the 2015 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2012–2014 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 2006 to 2015. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Therapeutic Recreation JournalUnited States | 23.40Q1 | 39.33 39.10 up from 2014 | 72 | 4% | — | ||
2The Quarterly Journal of EconomicsOxford University Press · United States | 21.43Q1 | 9.84 2.73 down from 2014 | 157 | 36% | $7,619 | ||
3Academy of Management AnnalsRoutledge · United States | 19.43Q1 | 14.08 2.95 up from 2014 | 75 | 18% | — | ||
4The Journal of Economic PerspectivesOAAmerican Economic Association · United States | 18.90Q1 | 10.45 0.36 down from 2014 | 149 | 43% | — | ||
5MIS QuarterlyMIS Quarterly · United States | 16.39Q1 | 11.53 1.00 up from 2014 | 249 | 25% | — | ||
6Review of Research in EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 15.60Q1 | 6.52 1.02 up from 2014 | 38 | 0% | $2,500 | ||
7American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 14.99Q1 | 6.10 1.47 up from 2014 | 228 | 31% | $4,100 | ||
8American Economic ReviewAmerican Economic Association · United States | 14.84Q1 | 8.88 1.69 down from 2014 | 792 | 40% | — | ||
9Journal of Interactive MarketingSAGE Publishing · United States | 14.77Q1 | 9.83 3.22 up from 2014 | 61 | 25% | $5,400 | ||
10Government Information QuarterlyElsevier BV · United States | 14.56Q1 | 6.20 0.23 up from 2014 | 215 | 25% | $4,360 | ||
11Journal of Business VenturingElsevier BV · Netherlands | 14.16Q1 | 8.86 2.27 up from 2014 | 132 | 31% | $4,130 | ||
12American Sociological ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 13.87Q1 | 7.08 0.65 down from 2014 | 144 | 33% | $3,900 | ||
13American Educational Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 13.61Q1 | 5.32 0.19 up from 2014 | 120 | 6% | $2,500 | ||
14Journal of International Business StudiesPalgrave Macmillan · United Kingdom | 13.55Q1 | 6.47 1.02 down from 2014 | 162 | 15% | $4,790 | ||
15Review of Educational ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 13.34Q1 | 10.22 0.20 down from 2014 | 65 | 13% | $2,500 | ||
16Educational ResearcherSAGE Publishing · United States | 13.04Q1 | 7.32 1.90 up from 2014 | 155 | 6% | $2,500 | ||
17Journal of Accounting and EconomicsElsevier BV · Netherlands | 12.93Q1 | 5.92 0.72 down from 2014 | 99 | 18% | $4,170 | ||
18Academy of Management JournalAcademy of Management · United States | 12.91Q1 | 6.71 2.79 down from 2014 | 291 | 32% | — | ||
19Linguistic InquiryThe MIT Press · United States | 12.52Q1 | 6.19 1.71 up from 2014 | 87 | 21% | — | ||
20American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 12.36Q1 | 4.38 1.27 down from 2014 | 172 | 34% | $3,550 | ||
21IMF staff discussion noteInternational Monetary Fund | 12.30Q1 | 10.04 5.00 up from 2014 | 36 | 63% | — | ||
22CriminologyWiley · United Kingdom | 11.80Q1 | 8.21 2.62 up from 2014 | 91 | 27% | $3,570 | ||
23Journal of Management StudiesWiley · United Kingdom | 11.61Q1 | 5.70 1.26 down from 2014 | 161 | 31% | $4,150 | ||
24Journal of Computer-Mediated CommunicationOAWiley · United States | 11.46Q1 | 7.10 1.46 up from 2014 | 132 | 67% | $0 listed | ||
25American Journal of SociologyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 11.42Q1 | 4.38 0.96 down from 2014 | 117 | 8% | — | ||
26Educational Administration QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 11.41Q1 | 3.29 0.91 down from 2014 | 85 | 0% | $3,900 | ||
27Educational PsychologistRoutledge · United States | 11.33Q1 | 12.16 3.21 up from 2014 | 54 | 12% | — | ||
28The Internet and Higher EducationElsevier BV · United States | 11.28Q1 | 7.08 0.17 down from 2014 | 84 | 21% | $4,120 | ||
29Journal of Teacher EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 11.05Q1 | 4.40 0.26 up from 2014 | 130 | 9% | $3,900 | ||
30Research on Language and Social InteractionTaylor & Francis · United States | 11.02Q1 | 2.64 2.53 down from 2014 | 66 | 16% | — | ||
31The Journal of FinanceWiley · United States | 10.90Q1 | 6.74 0.60 up from 2014 | 283 | 24% | $4,430 | ||
32Academy of Management ReviewAcademy of Management · United States | 10.86Q1 | 6.49 1.84 down from 2014 | 158 | 25% | — | ||
33European Journal of Political ResearchOAWiley · United Kingdom | 10.84Q1 | 3.64 1.15 up from 2014 | 106 | 29% | $3,550 | ||
34International Journal of Management ReviewsWiley · United Kingdom | 10.73Q1 | 6.57 0.09 up from 2014 | 73 | 30% | $4,220 | ||
35Journal of Economic LiteratureAmerican Economic Association · United States | 10.66Q1 | 5.72 0.88 down from 2014 | 121 | 7% | — | ||
36Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social MediaOAPublisher not listed | 10.62Q1 | 4.27no 2014 value | 82 | — | — | ||
37Global Strategy JournalWiley · United Kingdom | 10.47Q1 | 2.48 4.26 down from 2014 | 65 | 29% | $3,480 | ||
38Journal of Peace ResearchSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.33Q1 | 3.89 0.73 down from 2014 | 192 | 16% | $3,900 | ||
39Progress in Human GeographySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.21Q1 | 5.34 0.25 up from 2014 | 184 | 15% | $3,900 | ||
40Strategic Management JournalWiley · United States | 10.13Q1 | 5.21 0.58 up from 2014 | 410 | 20% | $4,250 | ||
41Journal of ManagementSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.89Q1 | 6.27 0.67 down from 2014 | 272 | 32% | $3,900 | ||
42Political AnalysisCambridge University Press · United States | 9.86Q1 | 3.99 0.29 down from 2014 | 134 | 35% | $3,550 | ||
43Research PolicyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 9.80Q1 | 5.70 0.24 down from 2014 | 432 | 46% | $4,280 | ||
44American Economic Journal MacroeconomicsAmerican Economic Association · United States | 9.64Q1 | 4.65 1.63 down from 2014 | 96 | 26% | — | ||
45American Economic Journal Applied EconomicsAmerican Economic Association · United States | 9.59Q1 | 6.47 0.34 up from 2014 | 127 | 43% | — | ||
46International Journal of Information ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 9.48Q1 | 6.13 1.21 up from 2014 | 234 | 22% | $3,990 | ||
47The Review of Economic StudiesOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 9.45Q1 | 6.64 1.15 up from 2014 | 146 | 41% | $6,530 | ||
48Journal of MarketingSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.45Q1 | 7.21 2.51 up from 2014 | 182 | 16% | $5,400 | ||
49Journal of the Academy of Marketing ScienceSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 9.41Q1 | 4.94 0.12 down from 2014 | 120 | 30% | $4,790 | ||
50Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 9.41Q1 | 3.44 0.17 up from 2014 | 252 | 43% | — |
Fields of Social Sciences, compared.
- Social Sciences2,755
- Psychology914
- Economics, Econometrics and Finance798
- Business, Management and Accounting679
- Arts and Humanities443
- Decision Sciences180
Journals
Citations made in 2015. Corpus-wide, 78.1% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
1,755 additional Social Sciences journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2012–2014, 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: 2015. Publication window: 2012–2014. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 5,769
- Window papers (baseline)
- 2,869,634 +16.3% from indicator year 2012
- Median OJR
- 1.204 -4.7% from indicator year 2012
- Rising journals (2025)
- 301
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2012–2014 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 | 2,933 | 3,074 | 3,257 | 3,421 | 3,551 | 3,684 | 3,847 | 4,034 | 4,222 | 4,411 | 4,638 | 4,858 | 5,103 | 5,326 | 5,550 | 5,769 | 5,975 | 6,155 | 6,251 | 6,310 | 6,367 | 6,458 | 6,516 | 6,519 | 6,456 | 6,382 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 973,082 | 1,101,576 | 1,187,966 | 1,289,835 | 1,324,068 | 1,431,668 | 1,541,994 | 1,678,086 | 1,825,065 | 1,985,403 | 2,148,912 | 2,303,999 | 2,468,040 | 2,603,480 | 2,734,303 | 2,869,634 | 3,018,278 | 3,128,445 | 3,209,329 | 3,319,936 | 3,489,326 | 3,755,807 | 4,010,665 | 4,149,019 | 4,247,103 | 4,426,831 | |
| Median OJR | 0.81 | 0.86 | 0.88 | 0.92 | 0.96 | 1.0001 | 1.063 | 1.14 | 1.196 | 1.22 | 1.242 | 1.25 | 1.26 | 1.241 | 1.236 | 1.204 | 1.179 | 1.181 | 1.165 | 1.183 | 1.158 | 1.09 | 1.067 | 1.057 | 1.065 | 1.08 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 4.6% | 4,027 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 1.605 per 1,000 | 3,404 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -2.2% | 5,924 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 56.3% | 6,382 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,390 | 2,626 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 20.9% | 5,817 journals |
| Review share | Median: 0.0% | 6,382 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 1.12 | 6,330 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 42.6% | 6,382 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 49.1% | 6,369 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.