Journal rankings · indicator year 2017
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Field ranking · 2017
Social Sciences journal rankings 2017
2,959 ranked journals · Field in Social Sciences
Social Sciences has 2,959 ranked journals in 2017. Its median journal scores above the world average: OJR 1.35 against 1.00, down 0.01 on 2016. A journal needs OJR 2.51 to reach Q1. The top three are Journal of Economic Growth, American Journal of Political Science, and Journal of Interactive Marketing.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2017. 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 2014–2016, the window the 2017 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 Sciences2,959 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 2016. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2014–2016, the window the 2017 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2014–2016 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 2008 to 2017. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Journal of Economic GrowthSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 17.82Q1 | 13.08 6.50 up from 2016 | 32 | 58% | $4,290 | ||
2American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 15.79Q1 | 4.60 0.64 down from 2016 | 197 | 23% | $4,100 | ||
3Journal of Interactive MarketingSAGE Publishing · United States | 15.33Q1 | 5.52 3.68 down from 2016 | 66 | 29% | $5,400 | ||
4Educational ResearcherSAGE Publishing · United States | 13.67Q1 | 7.13 2.62 down from 2016 | 141 | 15% | $2,500 | ||
5Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social MediaOAPublisher not listed | 13.57Q1 | 3.00 2.78 down from 2016 | 83 | 100% | — | ||
6American Sociological ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 13.34Q1 | 8.07 1.31 up from 2016 | 149 | 37% | $3,900 | ||
7The Internet and Higher EducationElsevier BV · United States | 13.28Q1 | 10.35 1.93 up from 2016 | 97 | 31% | $4,120 | ||
8Government Information QuarterlyElsevier BV · United States | 12.19Q1 | 6.88 0.97 up from 2016 | 228 | 31% | $4,360 | ||
9MIS QuarterlyMIS Quarterly · United States | 11.98Q1 | 8.95 0.72 down from 2016 | 179 | 14% | — | ||
10South European Society & PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 11.84Q1 | 2.95 1.05 down from 2016 | 96 | 44% | — | ||
11Educational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSAGE Publishing · United States | 11.63Q1 | 4.30 1.21 down from 2016 | 94 | 10% | $2,500 | ||
12Harvard Educational ReviewHarvard University Press · United States | 10.72Q1 | 3.58 1.88 down from 2016 | 112 | 23% | — | ||
13Big Data & SocietyOASAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 10.44Q1 | 4.94 3.41 down from 2016 | 132 | 100% | $2,000 | ||
14International SecurityThe MIT Press · United States | 10.37Q1 | 4.58 1.24 up from 2016 | 75 | 19% | — | ||
15European Journal of Political ResearchOAWiley · United Kingdom | 10.35Q1 | 3.91 1.12 up from 2016 | 138 | 42% | $3,550 | ||
16Tourism ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 10.22Q1 | 6.09 0.23 up from 2016 | 645 | 30% | $4,690 | ||
17American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 10.14Q1 | 4.27 0.58 up from 2016 | 178 | 36% | $3,550 | ||
18Sociology of EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 10.05Q1 | 3.86 0.87 down from 2016 | 60 | 14% | $3,650 | ||
19International Journal of Information ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 10.04Q1 | 6.59 0.05 up from 2016 | 298 | 21% | $3,990 | ||
20International Journal of Research & Method in EducationRoutledge · United Kingdom | 10.02Q1 | 9.26 2.91 up from 2016 | 103 | 40% | — | ||
21Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 9.87Q1 | 4.42 0.70 up from 2016 | 293 | 52% | — | ||
22American Journal of SociologyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 9.83Q1 | 5.48 1.20 up from 2016 | 125 | 8% | — | ||
23QMiP BulletinBritish Psychological Society | 9.80Q1 | 7.27 3.23 up from 2016 | 78 | 23% | — | ||
24Annual Review of Applied LinguisticsCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 9.80Q1 | 8.03 3.07 up from 2016 | 45 | 32% | $3,550 | ||
25Review of Educational ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.75Q1 | 11.73 3.73 up from 2016 | 82 | 19% | $2,500 | ||
26Progress in Human GeographySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.71Q1 | 5.19 0.24 up from 2016 | 205 | 30% | $3,900 | ||
27Journal of Teacher EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.68Q1 | 3.33 1.27 down from 2016 | 128 | 21% | $3,900 | ||
28American Educational Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.61Q1 | 4.43 2.40 down from 2016 | 128 | 8% | $2,500 | ||
29West European PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 9.53Q1 | 3.04 0.07 down from 2016 | 273 | 46% | — | ||
30CriminologyWiley · United Kingdom | 9.32Q1 | 5.78 1.55 down from 2016 | 84 | 12% | $3,570 | ||
31Journal of Computer-Mediated CommunicationOAWiley · United States | 9.18Q1 | 6.30 0.20 down from 2016 | 111 | 61% | $0 listed | ||
32Journal of Education PolicyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 9.17Q1 | 3.93 1.01 up from 2016 | 160 | 30% | — | ||
33Journal of CommunicationOxford University Press · United States | 9.00Q1 | 4.65 1.62 down from 2016 | 197 | 14% | $4,235 | ||
34Comparative Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.95Q1 | 3.18 0.17 down from 2016 | 189 | 33% | $3,900 | ||
35Personality and Social Psychology ReviewSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.88Q1 | 12.58 0.75 up from 2016 | 59 | 38% | $3,900 | ||
36Global Environmental ChangeElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 8.86Q1 | 9.87 0.25 up from 2016 | 419 | 60% | $6,440 | ||
37Security DialogueSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.81Q1 | 4.14 0.34 up from 2016 | 106 | 48% | $3,650 | ||
38Administrative Science QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.77Q1 | 5.83 1.01 up from 2016 | 119 | 22% | $3,900 | ||
39Research in Organizational BehaviorElsevier BV · Netherlands | 8.45Q1 | 5.82 1.82 up from 2016 | 34 | 36% | $2,340 | ||
40Journal of democracyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 8.45Q1 | 3.15 1.10 up from 2016 | 218 | 11% | — | ||
41Educational Administration QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 8.37Q1 | 4.10 0.90 up from 2016 | 64 | 19% | $3,900 | ||
42Psychological InquiryTaylor & Francis · United States | 8.31Q1 | 13.19 6.47 up from 2016 | 49 | 30% | — | ||
43European Journal of Information SystemsPalgrave Macmillan · United Kingdom | 8.26Q1 | 4.30 0.06 down from 2016 | 79 | 40% | — | ||
44Post-Soviet AffairsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.22Q1 | 3.68 1.04 up from 2016 | 68 | 19% | — | ||
45Journal of the Economic Science AssociationSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 8.16Q1 | 7.06 0.96 up from 2016 | 31 | 64% | $3,550 | ||
46Work Aging and RetirementOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 8.10Q1 | 5.01 0.44 down from 2016 | 75 | 45% | $4,177 | ||
47Socio-Economic ReviewOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 8.10Q1 | 3.25 1.24 down from 2016 | 135 | 36% | $3,718 | ||
48American EthnologistWiley · United States | 7.84Q1 | 3.96 0.78 up from 2016 | 144 | 7% | $3,400 | ||
49Communication TheoryWiley · United States | 7.79Q1 | 4.22 0.60 up from 2016 | 84 | 4% | $4,235 | ||
50Computers & EducationElsevier BV · United States | 7.79Q1 | 6.64 0.86 up from 2016 | 595 | 30% | $5,190 |
Subfields of Social Sciences, compared.
- Sociology and Political Science1,300
- Education698
- Political Science and International Relations318
- Communication71
- Gender Studies63
- Health53
- Safety Research52
- Public Administration51
- Transportation48
- Linguistics and Language47
- Law46
- Urban Studies45
- Anthropology41
- Library and Information Sciences41
- Demography40
- Geography, Planning and Development28
- Cultural Studies9
- Development4
- General Social Sciences3
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
Citations made in 2017. Corpus-wide, 77.7% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
779 additional Social Sciences journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2014–2016, 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: 2017. Publication window: 2014–2016. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 2,959
- Window papers (baseline)
- 1,554,301 +17.4% from indicator year 2014
- Median OJR
- 1.346 -0.7% from indicator year 2014
- Rising journals (2025)
- 134Comparison-group list (134)
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2014–2016 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.