Journal rankings · indicator year 2016
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Field ranking · 2016
Social Sciences journal rankings 2016
2,851 ranked journals · Field in Social Sciences
Social Sciences has 2,851 ranked journals in 2016. Its median journal scores above the world average: OJR 1.35 against 1.00, unchanged on 2015. A journal needs OJR 2.56 to reach Q1. The top three are Review of Research in Education, Journal of Interactive Marketing, and Educational Researcher.
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 in Social Sciences (22)
Up to Social Sciences2,851 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Review of Research in EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 24.85Q1 | 4.92 1.60 down from 2015 | 36 | 8% | $2,500 | ||
2Journal of Interactive MarketingSAGE Publishing · United States | 17.72Q1 | 9.19 0.64 down from 2015 | 55 | 26% | $5,400 | ||
3Educational ResearcherSAGE Publishing · United States | 15.98Q1 | 9.75 2.43 up from 2015 | 145 | 16% | $2,500 | ||
4American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 15.10Q1 | 5.24 0.86 down from 2015 | 244 | 27% | $4,100 | ||
5MIS QuarterlyMIS Quarterly · United States | 15.04Q1 | 9.67 1.86 down from 2015 | 184 | 25% | — | ||
6American Educational Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 14.29Q1 | 6.83 1.51 up from 2015 | 111 | 23% | $2,500 | ||
7The Internet and Higher EducationElsevier BV · United States | 13.82Q1 | 8.42 1.34 up from 2015 | 87 | 23% | $4,120 | ||
8Journal of Teacher EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 12.96Q1 | 4.59 0.20 up from 2015 | 131 | 17% | $3,900 | ||
9Educational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSAGE Publishing · United States | 12.48Q1 | 5.51 2.21 up from 2015 | 88 | 27% | $2,500 | ||
10Big Data & SocietyOASAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 12.16Q1 | 8.35 0.77 down from 2015 | 71 | 100% | $2,000 | ||
11American Sociological ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 12.14Q1 | 6.76 0.33 down from 2015 | 148 | 27% | $3,900 | ||
12Government Information QuarterlyElsevier BV · United States | 12.04Q1 | 5.91 0.28 down from 2015 | 202 | 30% | $4,360 | ||
13CriminologyWiley · United Kingdom | 11.94Q1 | 7.33 0.87 down from 2015 | 87 | 36% | $3,570 | ||
14Educational PsychologistRoutledge · United States | 11.76Q1 | 10.18 1.98 down from 2015 | 56 | 22% | — | ||
| 11.74Q1 | 4.76 4.40 up from 2015 | 46 | 100% | — | |||
16Journal of Law and CourtsUniversity of Chicago Press | 11.37Q1 | 1.38 0.25 down from 2015 | 40 | 16% | $3,550 | ||
17Journal of Economic GrowthSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 11.08Q1 | 6.58 2.40 up from 2015 | 33 | 38% | $4,290 | ||
18Journal of Computer-Mediated CommunicationOAWiley · United States | 10.99Q1 | 6.50 0.60 down from 2015 | 133 | 80% | $0 listed | ||
19American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 10.94Q1 | 3.69 0.69 down from 2015 | 172 | 35% | $3,550 | ||
20Review of Educational ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 10.89Q1 | 8.00 2.22 down from 2015 | 74 | 19% | $2,500 | ||
21International SecurityThe MIT Press · United States | 10.86Q1 | 3.35 0.37 down from 2015 | 75 | 13% | — | ||
22The Future of ChildrenPrinceton School of Public and International Affairs · United States | 10.75Q1 | 4.69 2.07 down from 2015 | 47 | 14% | — | ||
23Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social MediaOAPublisher not listed | 10.50Q1 | 5.78 1.51 up from 2015 | 82 | 100% | — | ||
24Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 10.35Q1 | 3.71 0.28 up from 2015 | 292 | 51% | — | ||
25European Journal of International RelationsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.25Q1 | 3.07 0.53 down from 2015 | 122 | 45% | $3,900 | ||
26International Journal of Information ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 9.97Q1 | 6.54 0.41 up from 2015 | 248 | 28% | $3,990 | ||
27Tourism ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 9.96Q1 | 5.85 0.88 up from 2015 | 595 | 28% | $4,690 | ||
28American Journal of SociologyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 9.80Q1 | 4.28 0.10 down from 2015 | 122 | 9% | — | ||
29Progress in Human GeographySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.54Q1 | 4.95 0.39 down from 2015 | 196 | 30% | $3,900 | ||
30Sociology of EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.46Q1 | 4.73 2.15 up from 2015 | 59 | 25% | $3,650 | ||
31Comparative Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.13Q1 | 3.35 0.28 down from 2015 | 168 | 27% | $3,900 | ||
32European Journal of Political ResearchOAWiley · United Kingdom | 9.06Q1 | 2.80 0.84 down from 2015 | 117 | 43% | $3,550 | ||
33Work Aging and RetirementOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 9.00Q1 | 5.46 1.11 down from 2015 | 37 | 38% | $4,177 | ||
34Progress in PlanningElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 9.00Q1 | 4.76 1.80 up from 2015 | 36 | 27% | $4,250 | ||
35Educational Administration QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 8.98Q1 | 3.21 0.09 down from 2015 | 69 | 15% | $3,900 | ||
36South European Society & PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.94Q1 | 4.00 1.11 up from 2015 | 85 | 37% | — | ||
37Journal of Education PolicyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.93Q1 | 2.92 0.46 down from 2015 | 169 | 39% | — | ||
38Information & ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 8.45Q1 | 5.54 0.54 up from 2015 | 256 | 23% | $4,540 | ||
39West European PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.45Q1 | 3.11 0.84 up from 2015 | 311 | 41% | — | ||
40Personality and Social Psychology ReviewSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.20Q1 | 11.83 0.85 up from 2015 | 68 | 42% | $3,900 | ||
41Journal of Travel ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.16Q1 | 4.39 0.49 up from 2015 | 217 | 26% | $3,900 | ||
42Research in Higher EducationSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 8.15Q1 | 2.80 0.41 up from 2015 | 126 | 9% | $2,990 | ||
43Administrative Science QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.09Q1 | 4.82 0.35 up from 2015 | 125 | 22% | $3,900 | ||
44Internet ResearchEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 8.08Q1 | 4.95 0.85 down from 2015 | 100 | 13% | — | ||
45Information and OrganizationElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 8.06Q1 | 3.87 0.07 down from 2015 | 41 | 29% | $3,590 | ||
46International Journal of Research & Method in EducationRoutledge · United Kingdom | 7.98Q1 | 6.35 5.18 up from 2015 | 91 | 27% | — | ||
47Journal of Research in Crime and DelinquencySAGE Publishing · United States | 7.88Q1 | 4.52 0.62 up from 2015 | 83 | 30% | $3,650 | ||
48Journal of Peace ResearchSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 7.86Q1 | 3.76 0.13 down from 2015 | 187 | 11% | $3,900 | ||
49Socio-Economic ReviewOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 7.86Q1 | 4.49 1.08 up from 2015 | 105 | 50% | $3,718 | ||
50Harvard Educational ReviewHarvard University Press · United States | 7.80Q1 | 5.46 3.48 up from 2015 | 139 | 21% | — |
Subfields of Social Sciences, compared.
- 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.
815 additional Social Sciences 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
- 2,851
- Window papers (baseline)
- 1,483,492 +18.0% from indicator year 2013
- Median OJR
- 1.353 -1.7% from indicator year 2013
- Rising journals (2025)
- 134Comparison-group list (134)
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 | 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.