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
Urban Studies journal rankings 2016
42 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Urban Studies has 42 ranked journals in 2016. The median OJR fell 0.25 on 2015 to 1.63, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 3.29. The top three are Progress in Planning, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, and Planning Theory.
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)
42 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Progress in PlanningElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 9.00Q1 | 4.76 1.80 up from 2015 | 36 | 27% | $4,250 | ||
2International Journal of Urban and Regional ResearchWiley · United Kingdom | 5.63Q1 | 1.94 0.75 down from 2015 | 399 | 23% | $4,150 | ||
3Planning TheorySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 5.29Q1 | 2.93 1.18 up from 2015 | 79 | 27% | $3,650 | ||
4Urban StudiesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 5.15Q1 | 2.61no change | 673 | 26% | $3,900 | ||
5CityTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.73Q1 | 2.54 1.00 up from 2015 | 220 | 27% | — | ||
6Cultural TrendsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.44Q1 | 1.60 0.05 up from 2015 | 93 | 43% | — | ||
7European Planning StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.38Q1 | 2.38 0.89 up from 2015 | 294 | 33% | — | ||
8Environment and UrbanizationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.91Q1 | 2.54 0.68 down from 2015 | 131 | 68% | $3,650 | ||
9City Culture and SocietyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 3.44Q1 | 1.22 0.07 down from 2015 | 88 | 18% | $3,470 | ||
10International Journal of Cultural PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 3.43Q1 | 1.31 0.27 up from 2015 | 140 | 23% | — | ||
11Urban GeographyTaylor & Francis · United States | 3.29Q1 | 1.55 0.27 down from 2015 | 263 | 27% | — | ||
12Journal of Urban AffairsTaylor & Francis · United States | 3.00Q2 | 1.21 0.10 down from 2015 | 240 | 9% | — | ||
13Planning Practice and ResearchTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.81Q2 | 1.45 0.25 down from 2015 | 93 | 40% | — | ||
14Planning Theory & PracticeRoutledge · United Kingdom | 2.67Q2 | 1.53 0.06 up from 2015 | 104 | 36% | — | ||
15Urban Policy and ResearchTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.62Q2 | 1.55 0.05 down from 2015 | 103 | 23% | — | ||
16Urban Research & PracticeTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.58Q2 | 1.62 0.64 up from 2015 | 78 | 24% | — | ||
17Journal of Urban DesignTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.34Q2 | 1.47 0.32 up from 2015 | 106 | 23% | — | ||
18Home CulturesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.95Q2 | 0.82 0.42 up from 2015 | 53 | 30% | — | ||
19Journal of Urbanism International Research on Placemaking and Urban SustainabilityTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.90Q2 | 1.28 0.43 up from 2015 | 85 | 40% | — | ||
20International Planning StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.70Q2 | 0.80 0.09 down from 2015 | 76 | 24% | — | ||
21Town Planning ReviewLiverpool University Press · United Kingdom | 1.68Q2 | 0.82 0.16 down from 2015 | 153 | 28% | — | ||
22International Journal of Urban Sustainable DevelopmentOATaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.58Q3 | 0.92 0.08 down from 2015 | 51 | 100% | $1,270 | ||
23City Territory and ArchitectureOASpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 1.47Q3 | 0.83 0.25 up from 2015 | 30 | 100% | $1,140 | ||
24Planning PerspectivesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.47Q3 | 0.43 0.10 down from 2015 | 232 | 14% | — | ||
25Creative Industries JournalTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.38Q3 | 0.64 0.43 up from 2015 | 40 | 27% | — | ||
26Built EnvironmentAlexandrine Press · United Kingdom | 1.30Q3 | 0.44 0.06 down from 2015 | 125 | 11% | — | ||
27Canadian journal of nonprofit and social economy researchOACanadian Institute for Studies in Publishing · Canada | 1.08Q3 | 0.32 0.32 down from 2015 | 42 | 100% | — | ||
28The Journal of Arts Management Law and SocietyRoutledge · United States | 0.91Q3 | 0.59 0.16 up from 2015 | 61 | 24% | — | ||
29Revue de la régulationOAUMR ESPACE et UMR LISST · France | 0.81Q3 | 0.35 0.35 down from 2015 | 147 | 100% | — | ||
30urbe Revista Brasileira de Gestão UrbanaOAEditora Universitária Champagnat · Brazil | 0.72Q3 | 0.32 0.04 down from 2015 | 82 | 100% | — | ||
31ACE Arquitectura Ciudad y EntornoOAUniversitat Politècnica de Catalunya · Spain | 0.71Q3 | 0.34 0.23 up from 2015 | 70 | 100% | $215 | ||
| 0.59Q3 | 0.46 0.46 up from 2015 | 57 | 0% | — | |||
33ArtifactOAIntellect · United Kingdom | 0.55Q4 | 0.38 0.16 up from 2015 | 34 | 100% | — | ||
| 0.53Q4 | 0.29 0.01 up from 2015 | 116 | 100% | — | |||
35Journal of Urban Cultural StudiesIntellect · United Kingdom | 0.46Q4 | 0.15 0.05 down from 2015 | 54 | 12% | — | ||
36Interventions économiquesOAAssociation d'Economie Politique · Canada | 0.46Q4 | 0.11 0.12 down from 2015 | 111 | 100% | — | ||
37disP - The Planning ReviewTaylor & Francis · Switzerland | 0.45Q4 | 0.29 0.22 down from 2015 | 201 | 15% | — | ||
38METU Journal of the Faculty of ArchitectureOAMiddle East Technical University · Türkiye | 0.41Q4 | 0.13 0.08 down from 2015 | 70 | 100% | — | ||
39CiudadesOAUniversity of Valladolid · Spain | 0.17Q4 | 0.10 0.08 up from 2015 | 91 | 100% | — | ||
40Espaço AbertoOAFederal University of Rio de Janeiro · Brazil | 0.12Q4 | 0.03 0.02 down from 2015 | 59 | 100% | — | ||
41The International Journal of the Constructed EnvironmentPublisher not listed | 0.09Q4 | 0.05 0.02 up from 2015 | 91 | 9% | — | ||
42Creative Industries FacultyPublisher not listed | 0.08Q4 | 0.05 0.06 down from 2015 | 33 | 0% | — |
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Urban Studies 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.
17 additional Urban Studies 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
- 42
- Window papers (baseline)
- 43,576 +19.7% from indicator year 2013
- Median OJR
- 1.63 +8.2% from indicator year 2013
- Rising journals (2025)
- 1
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 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 25 | 28 | 28 | 32 | 33 | 36 | 39 | 38 | 40 | 42 | 45 | 49 | 48 | 52 | 51 | 50 | 52 | 54 | 54 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 9,544 | 10,546 | 11,877 | 13,661 | 14,897 | 16,530 | 18,459 | 20,675 | 23,074 | 25,732 | 29,123 | 31,719 | 34,195 | 36,417 | 38,956 | 41,579 | 43,576 | 45,247 | 45,810 | 46,256 | 46,762 | 48,167 | 49,005 | 47,868 | 45,852 | 46,221 | |
| Median OJR | 1.322 | 1.24 | 1.41 | 1.320 | 1.497 | 1.83 | 1.95 | 1.74 | 1.77 | 2.07 | 2.14 | 2.29 | 2.04 | 1.505 | 1.80 | 1.88 | 1.63 | 1.55 | 1.42 | 1.29 | 1.35 | 1.08 | 1.17 | 0.88 | 0.84 | 0.98 |
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.