Journal rankings · indicator year 2016
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2016
Communication journal rankings 2016
68 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Communication has 68 ranked journals in 2016. The median OJR fell 0.17 on 2015 to 1.56, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 2.98. The top three are Communication Theory, Journal of Communication, and Journal of Studies in International Education.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2016. 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 2013–2015, the window the 2016 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)
68 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 2015. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2013–2015, the window the 2016 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2013–2015 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 2007 to 2016. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Communication TheoryWiley · United States | 7.73Q1 | 3.63 1.16 down from 2015 | 90 | 25% | $4,235 | ||
2Journal of CommunicationOxford University Press · United States | 7.47Q1 | 6.26 1.11 up from 2015 | 194 | 12% | $4,235 | ||
3Journal of Studies in International EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 7.06Q1 | 3.11 0.39 down from 2015 | 82 | 5% | $3,650 | ||
4Digital JournalismTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 5.86Q1 | 4.41 1.04 up from 2015 | 150 | 25% | — | ||
5The International Journal of Press/PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United States | 5.77Q1 | 3.35 0.43 down from 2015 | 70 | 39% | $3,900 | ||
6Journal of Knowledge ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 5.71Q1 | 3.52 0.63 down from 2015 | 191 | 22% | — | ||
7Political CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United States | 5.00Q1 | 2.71 0.10 down from 2015 | 122 | 25% | — | ||
8Corporate Communications An International JournalEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 4.79Q1 | 2.87 0.33 down from 2015 | 86 | 19% | — | ||
9Journal of Information Technology & PoliticsRoutledge · United States | 4.18Q1 | 3.72 0.90 up from 2015 | 72 | 14% | — | ||
10Discourse & CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.62Q1 | 1.35 0.28 up from 2015 | 73 | 12% | $3,650 | ||
11Journalism PracticeTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 3.50Q1 | 2.42 0.01 up from 2015 | 197 | 22% | — | ||
12Media and CommunicationOACogitatio · Portugal | 3.47Q1 | 0.70 2.10 down from 2015 | 46 | 100% | $1,132 | ||
13Journal of Public Relations ResearchTaylor & Francis · United States | 3.40Q1 | 3.21 0.36 up from 2015 | 72 | 23% | — | ||
14Journalism StudiesRoutledge · United Kingdom | 3.26Q1 | 2.26 0.51 up from 2015 | 228 | 23% | — | ||
15Journalism & Mass Communication QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 3.18Q1 | 1.67 0.17 up from 2015 | 207 | 6% | $3,900 | ||
16JournalismSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.02Q1 | 1.87 0.11 down from 2015 | 233 | 27% | $3,900 | ||
17CommunicationsDe Gruyter Mouton · Germany | 2.98Q1 | 1.83 0.59 up from 2015 | 69 | 23% | $2,712 | ||
18Annals of the International Communication AssociationTaylor & Francis | 2.91Q2 | 2.04 0.29 up from 2015 | 47 | 6% | $3,368 | ||
19International Communication GazetteSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.59Q2 | 0.96 0.58 down from 2015 | 130 | 26% | $3,650 | ||
20International Journal of Cross Cultural ManagementSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.57Q2 | 1.66 0.06 down from 2015 | 52 | 12% | $3,650 | ||
21International Journal of Strategic CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United States | 2.51Q2 | 1.59 0.02 up from 2015 | 46 | 16% | — | ||
22Media War & ConflictSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.49Q2 | 1.40 0.09 up from 2015 | 65 | 19% | $3,650 | ||
23Public Relations ReviewElsevier BV · United States | 2.43Q2 | 1.87 0.02 up from 2015 | 360 | 16% | $4,310 | ||
24European Journal of CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.41Q2 | 1.18 0.34 down from 2015 | 249 | 10% | $3,650 | ||
25Journal of Communication ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.32Q2 | 1.73 0.03 up from 2015 | 74 | 13% | — | ||
26Journal of International and Intercultural CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.07Q2 | 1.14 0.24 down from 2015 | 57 | 15% | — | ||
27Cross Cultural Management An International JournalEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.05Q2 | 1.79 0.74 up from 2015 | 89 | — | — | ||
28Journal of International StudentsOAEditors of the journals · United States | 2.00Q2 | 1.66 0.55 up from 2015 | 108 | 100% | — | ||
29Electronic Journal of Knowledge ManagementOAAcademic Conferences and Publishing International · United Kingdom | 1.94Q2 | 1.55 0.22 up from 2015 | 36 | 100% | — | ||
30Public Relations InquirySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.90Q2 | 1.23 0.36 up from 2015 | 53 | 24% | $3,650 | ||
31Global Media and CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.88Q2 | 1.13 0.27 up from 2015 | 43 | 13% | $3,650 | ||
32Journal of Political MarketingTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.78Q2 | 1.14 0.11 up from 2015 | 77 | 21% | — | ||
33Journal of Global Mobility The Home of Expatriate Management ResearchEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.77Q2 | 1.62 1.44 down from 2015 | 53 | 31% | — | ||
34Knowledge Management Research & PracticeTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.63Q2 | 0.86 0.18 down from 2015 | 134 | 25% | — | ||
35Ecquid Novi African Journalism StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.50Q3 | 0.28 0.37 down from 2015 | 85 | — | — | ||
36Asian Journal of CommunicationRoutledge · United Kingdom | 1.50Q3 | 1.09 0.43 up from 2015 | 105 | 8% | — | ||
37Journal of Intercultural Communication ResearchTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.33Q3 | 0.95 0.39 down from 2015 | 52 | 26% | — | ||
38Journal of Mass Media EthicsTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.30Q3 | 1.17 0.43 up from 2015 | 61 | — | — | ||
39African Journalism StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.27Q3 | 0.77no 2015 value | 44 | 8% | — | — | |
40El Profesional de la InformacionOAEdiciones Profesionales de la Informacion SL · Spain | 1.25Q3 | 1.39 0.60 up from 2015 | 227 | 100% | — | ||
41Journal of Deliberative DemocracyOAUnited Kingdom | 1.23Q3 | 0.96 0.03 up from 2015 | 88 | 100% | — | ||
42Journal of Teaching in International BusinessTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.16Q3 | 1.18 0.31 up from 2015 | 57 | 40% | — | ||
43Nordicom review/NORDICOM reviewOADe Gruyter Open · Sweden | 1.13Q3 | 0.69 0.14 down from 2015 | 112 | 100% | — | ||
44Media International AustraliaPublisher not listed | 1.11Q3 | 0.60 0.09 up from 2015 | 198 | 18% | $3,650 | ||
45Electronic NewsSAGE Publishing · United States | 1.00Q3 | 1.09 0.63 up from 2015 | 49 | 0% | $3,650 | ||
46International Journal of E-PoliticsIGI Global · United States | 0.98Q3 | 1.06 0.42 up from 2015 | 52 | 14% | — | ||
47International Journal of Knowledge ManagementOAIGI Global · United States | 0.95Q3 | 1.24 0.53 down from 2015 | 53 | 9% | — | ||
48Studies in Communication SciencesOAElsevier BV · Switzerland | 0.93Q3 | 0.81 0.26 up from 2015 | 80 | 21% | — | ||
49International Journal of Civic Engagement and Social ChangeIGI Global · United States | 0.78Q3 | 0.39 0.28 up from 2015 | 33 | 6% | — | ||
50Journal of International CommunicationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.77Q3 | 0.45 0.08 up from 2015 | 45 | 5% | — |
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Communication highlighted.
- Sociology and Political Science1,233
- Education677
- Political Science and International Relations308
- Communication68
- Gender Studies63
- Health52
- Public Administration51
- Safety Research51
- Law46
- Transportation46
- Linguistics and Language45
- Library and Information Sciences43
- Urban Studies42
- Demography41
- Anthropology40
- Geography, Planning and Development27
- Cultural Studies10
- Development4
- General Social Sciences3
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
Citations made in 2016. Corpus-wide, 77.2% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
20 additional Communication journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2013–2015, 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: 2016. Publication window: 2013–2015. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 68
- Window papers (baseline)
- 32,404 +17.7% from indicator year 2013
- Median OJR
- 1.56 -9.3% from indicator year 2013
- Rising journals (2025)
- 3
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2013–2015 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.