Journal rankings · indicator year 2018
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2018
Library and Information Sciences journal rankings 2018
42 ranked journals · Subfield in Social Sciences
Library and Information Sciences has 42 ranked journals in 2018. The median OJR fell 0.15 on 2017 to 0.95, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.67. The top three are Communications in Information Literacy, The Library Quarterly, and College & Research Libraries.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2018. 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 2015–2017, the window the 2018 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 2017. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2015–2017, the window the 2018 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2015–2017 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 2009 to 2018. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Communications in Information LiteracyOACommunications in Information Literacy · United States | 3.53Q1 | 1.75 0.21 up from 2017 | 58 | 100% | — | ||
2The Library QuarterlyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 3.03Q1 | 2.02 0.68 up from 2017 | 80 | 14% | — | ||
3College & Research LibrariesOAAssociation of College and Research Libraries · United States | 3.00Q1 | 1.69 0.71 down from 2017 | 207 | 100% | — | ||
4The Journal of Academic LibrarianshipElsevier BV · United States | 2.77Q1 | 2.06 0.16 up from 2017 | 293 | 15% | $3,990 | ||
5portal Libraries and the AcademyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 2.45Q1 | 1.28 0.12 down from 2017 | 165 | 13% | — | ||
6Library ReviewEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.41Q1 | 2.13 0.80 up from 2017 | 150 | 0% | — | ||
7Reference Services ReviewEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 2.38Q1 | 1.45 0.25 up from 2017 | 121 | 21% | — | ||
8New Review of Academic LibrarianshipTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.86Q1 | 1.46 0.12 up from 2017 | 87 | 32% | — | ||
9Journal of Information LiteracyOAChartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals · United Kingdom | 1.76Q1 | 1.14 0.27 up from 2017 | 74 | 100% | — | ||
10Journal of Library AdministrationTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.72Q1 | 1.06 0.12 up from 2017 | 190 | 11% | — | ||
11IFLA JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.67Q1 | 1.48 0.25 up from 2017 | 88 | 18% | $3,650 | ||
12Journal of Librarianship and Information ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.58Q2 | 0.99 0.07 up from 2017 | 144 | 44% | $3,650 | ||
13Library trendsJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 1.49Q2 | 0.87 0.03 down from 2017 | 118 | 100% | — | ||
14College & Undergraduate LibrariesTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.48Q2 | 0.82 0.09 up from 2017 | 112 | 22% | — | ||
15Library ManagementEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.48Q2 | 1.16 0.35 up from 2017 | 186 | 13% | — | ||
16Australian Academic & Research LibrariesRoutledge · Australia | 1.43Q2 | 0.63 0.13 down from 2017 | 107 | — | — | ||
17Performance Measurement and MetricsEmerald Publishing Limited · United Kingdom | 1.39Q2 | 1.02 0.07 up from 2017 | 70 | 13% | — | ||
18Journal of Education for Library and Information ScienceUniversity of Toronto Press | 1.30Q2 | 0.83 0.31 up from 2017 | 174 | 10% | — | ||
19Behavioral & Social Sciences LibrarianTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.18Q2 | 0.35 0.50 down from 2017 | 55 | — | — | ||
20Public Library QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.15Q2 | 0.80 0.40 up from 2017 | 95 | 14% | — | ||
21Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance LearningTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.01Q2 | 0.75 0.32 up from 2017 | 89 | 15% | — | ||
22Partnership The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and ResearchOAThe Partnership · Canada | 0.90Q3 | 0.31 0.23 down from 2017 | 73 | 100% | — | ||
23Journal of Access ServicesTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.83Q3 | 0.85 0.44 up from 2017 | 57 | 15% | — | ||
24Reference & User Services QuarterlyAmerican Library Association · United States | 0.78Q3 | 0.78 0.60 up from 2017 | 262 | 87% | — | ||
25School Libraries WorldwideInternational Association of School Librarianship · Canada | 0.76Q3 | 0.37 0.21 down from 2017 | 58 | — | — | ||
26Public & Access Services QuarterlyTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.73Q3 | 0.51 0.06 up from 2017 | 92 | 2% | — | ||
27Journal of Business & Finance LibrarianshipTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.73Q3 | 0.76 0.37 up from 2017 | 76 | 5% | — | ||
28The Australian Library JournalTaylor & Francis · Australia | 0.71Q3 | 0.33 0.20 down from 2017 | 177 | — | — | ||
29Journal of the Australian Library and Information AssociationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.71Q3 | 0.28no 2017 value | 57 | 94% | — | — | |
30The International Information & Library ReviewTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.67Q3 | 0.52 0.14 up from 2017 | 104 | 11% | — | ||
31LibriOADe Gruyter · Germany | 0.60Q3 | 0.57 0.27 down from 2017 | 76 | 20% | $0 listed | ||
32Library Leadership & ManagementOAUnited States | 0.57Q3 | 0.26 0.04 down from 2017 | 96 | 100% | — | ||
33Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher EducationOAUniversity of Bergen · Norway | 0.52Q4 | 0.14 0.20 down from 2017 | 37 | 100% | — | ||
34Evidence Based Library and Information PracticeOAUniversity of Alberta · Canada | 0.43Q4 | 0.45 0.15 up from 2017 | 300 | 100% | — | ||
35Community & Junior College LibrariesTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.39Q4 | 0.17 0.21 down from 2017 | 36 | — | — | ||
36College & Research Libraries NewsOAAssociation of College and Research Libraries · United States | 0.34Q4 | 0.24 0.05 down from 2017 | 535 | 100% | — | ||
37Library and Information ResearchOALibrary and Information Research Group · United Kingdom | 0.32Q4 | 0.29 0.06 up from 2017 | 50 | 100% | — | ||
38Children and LibrariesOAAmerican Library Association · United States | 0.21Q4 | 0.12 0.04 down from 2017 | 158 | 96% | — | ||
39SLIS ConnectingOAUniversity of Southern Mississippi · United States | 0.15Q4 | 0.00 0.07 down from 2017 | 58 | 100% | — | ||
40Maine policy reviewOAUnited States | 0.10Q4 | 0.20 0.13 up from 2017 | 123 | 97% | — | ||
41The Southeastern LibrarianOAUnited States | 0.10Q4 | 0.05 0.06 down from 2017 | 172 | 100% | — | ||
42Journal of New LibrarianshipOAUniversity of Colorado Boulder · United States | 0.06Q4 | 0.03 0.03 up from 2017 | 31 | 100% | — |
Subfields of Social Sciences, with Library and Information Sciences highlighted.
- Sociology and Political Science1,315
- Education714
- Political Science and International Relations321
- Communication74
- Gender Studies61
- Health52
- Safety Research51
- Public Administration50
- Urban Studies49
- Law47
- Linguistics and Language47
- Transportation47
- Library and Information Sciences42
- Demography40
- Anthropology38
- Geography, Planning and Development29
- Cultural Studies9
- Development4
- General Social Sciences3
- Human Factors and Ergonomics1
- Archeology0
- Life-span and Life-course Studies0
Journals
Citations made in 2018. Corpus-wide, 81.5% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
13 additional Library and Information Sciences journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2015–2017, 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: 2018. Publication window: 2015–2017. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 42
- Window papers (baseline)
- 4,955 -10.2% from indicator year 2015
- Median OJR
- 0.954 -19.5% from indicator year 2015
- Rising journals (2025)
- 0
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2015–2017 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 | 26 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 34 | 36 | 36 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 44 | 43 | 41 | 42 | 44 | 41 | 41 | 42 | 41 | 40 | 38 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 2,623 | 2,730 | 3,048 | 3,403 | 3,671 | 3,772 | 3,878 | 4,238 | 4,743 | 5,234 | 5,613 | 5,920 | 6,171 | 6,083 | 5,893 | 5,519 | 5,326 | 5,069 | 4,955 | 4,770 | 4,650 | 4,610 | 4,529 | 4,380 | 4,109 | 4,152 | |
| Median OJR | 0.63 | 0.678 | 0.77 | 0.87 | 0.74 | 0.680 | 0.96 | 0.946 | 0.953 | 0.83 | 0.9227 | 1.28 | 1.29 | 1.39 | 1.1000 | 1.19 | 1.08 | 1.1002 | 0.954 | 0.9228 | 0.995 | 0.88 | 0.94 | 0.75 | 0.86 | 0.79 |
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.