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
Social Psychology journal rankings 2018
193 ranked journals · Subfield in Psychology
Social Psychology has 193 ranked journals in 2018. The median OJR fell 0.08 on 2017 to 1.01, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.56. The top three are Perspectives on Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Journal of Counseling Psychology.
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 Psychology (7)
193 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Perspectives on Psychological ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.76Q1 | 12.05 0.28 up from 2017 | 260 | 22% | $3,900 | ||
2Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 7.05Q1 | 8.23 0.27 down from 2017 | 349 | 23% | — | ||
3Journal of Counseling PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 4.13Q1 | 5.58 0.20 up from 2017 | 190 | 15% | — | ||
4Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological SciencesRoyal Society · United Kingdom | 3.54Q1 | 7.27 0.03 up from 2017 | 1,182 | 97% | — | ||
5Social Psychology of EducationSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 3.07Q1 | 2.66 0.44 up from 2017 | 143 | 27% | $3,290 | ||
6Review of General PsychologySAGE Publishing · United States | 3.07Q1 | 4.67 1.25 up from 2017 | 109 | 21% | $3,900 | ||
7Emotion ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 2.71Q1 | 4.12 0.16 up from 2017 | 168 | 35% | $3,900 | ||
8Human Factors The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics SocietySAGE Publishing · United States | 2.68Q1 | 4.24 0.58 up from 2017 | 242 | 28% | $1,500 | ||
9The Journal of Positive PsychologyRoutledge | 2.64Q1 | 3.64 0.29 up from 2017 | 198 | 27% | — | ||
10Journal of Counseling & DevelopmentWiley · United States | 2.58Q1 | 2.41 0.63 down from 2017 | 151 | 15% | $2,900 | ||
11IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine SystemsInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers · United States | 2.55Q1 | 3.43 0.11 up from 2017 | 314 | 37% | $2,645 | ||
12Transgender HealthMary Ann Liebert, Inc. · United States | 2.49Q1 | 4.91 2.35 up from 2017 | 58 | 100% | — | ||
13Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender DiversityAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 2.45Q1 | 2.69 0.51 down from 2017 | 161 | 27% | — | ||
14Journal of Multicultural Counseling and DevelopmentWiley · United States | 2.41Q1 | 3.00 1.05 up from 2017 | 65 | 21% | $2,900 | ||
15Psychology Public Policy and LawAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 2.40Q1 | 2.68 0.50 up from 2017 | 121 | 48% | — | ||
16Hormones and BehaviorElsevier BV · United States | 2.37Q1 | 4.38 0.19 down from 2017 | 486 | 44% | $3,640 | ||
17Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and BehaviourElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 2.37Q1 | 3.33 0.54 up from 2017 | 474 | 33% | $2,780 | ||
18LGBT HealthMary Ann Liebert, Inc. · United States | 2.34Q1 | 3.95 0.74 up from 2017 | 185 | 73% | — | ||
19Aggressive BehaviorWiley · United States | 2.32Q1 | 2.68 0.24 down from 2017 | 155 | 31% | $3,600 | ||
20International Journal of Social RoboticsSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 2.29Q1 | 3.40 0.18 down from 2017 | 169 | 41% | $4,190 | ||
21Journal of School ViolenceTaylor & Francis · United States | 2.20Q1 | 2.05 0.89 up from 2017 | 79 | 22% | — | ||
22International Journal of Mental Health SystemsOABioMed Central · United Kingdom | 2.17Q1 | 2.87 0.09 up from 2017 | 181 | 100% | $3,590 | ||
23Applied ErgonomicsElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 2.17Q1 | 3.70 0.79 up from 2017 | 626 | 33% | $3,400 | ||
24Humor - International Journal of Humor ResearchDe Gruyter Mouton · Germany | 2.12Q1 | 2.42 1.27 up from 2017 | 123 | 18% | $2,712 | ||
25American Journal of PrimatologyWiley · United States | 2.12Q1 | 2.53 0.08 up from 2017 | 328 | 38% | $4,330 | ||
26Business and Professional Communication QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United States | 2.06Q1 | 1.60 0.64 up from 2017 | 73 | 18% | $3,650 | ||
27Journal of Cross-Cultural PsychologySAGE Publishing · United States | 2.04Q1 | 2.49 0.45 up from 2017 | 275 | 31% | $3,650 | ||
28Journal of Happiness StudiesSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 1.99Q1 | 2.32 0.46 up from 2017 | 339 | 27% | $3,490 | ||
29Group Dynamics Theory Research and PracticeAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 1.98Q1 | 1.89 0.53 down from 2017 | 56 | 28% | — | ||
30Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision MakingSAGE Publishing · United States | 1.97Q1 | 2.35 0.04 up from 2017 | 94 | 10% | $1,500 | ||
31Sexuality Research and Social PolicySpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 1.90Q1 | 2.39 0.10 up from 2017 | 131 | 41% | $2,990 | ||
32Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical PsychologyAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 1.90Q1 | 1.14 0.04 down from 2017 | 72 | 7% | — | ||
33International Journal of Human-Computer InteractionTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.86Q1 | 2.25 0.04 down from 2017 | 261 | 20% | — | ||
34Psicologí a EducativaOAPublisher not listed | 1.84Q1 | 3.32 0.94 up from 2017 | 47 | 100% | — | ||
35Communication QuarterlyRoutledge · United States | 1.83Q1 | 1.55 0.17 up from 2017 | 114 | 11% | — | ||
36Attachment & Human DevelopmentTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.80Q1 | 2.56 0.28 down from 2017 | 110 | 54% | — | ||
37Leisure SciencesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.80Q1 | 2.25 0.52 up from 2017 | 120 | 25% | — | ||
38International Journal of TransgenderismTaylor & Francis · Germany | 1.77Q1 | 3.35 0.27 up from 2017 | 88 | 58% | — | ||
39Journal of Leisure ResearchTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.75Q1 | 1.32 0.38 down from 2017 | 61 | 22% | — | ||
40Journal of Social and Personal RelationshipsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.74Q1 | 2.01 0.46 up from 2017 | 209 | 19% | $3,650 | ||
41Motivation ScienceAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 1.73Q1 | 2.36 0.11 down from 2017 | 75 | 20% | — | ||
42International Journal of PrimatologySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 1.71Q1 | 3.50 1.85 up from 2017 | 183 | 38% | $3,890 | ||
43The Journal of PsychologyTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.71Q1 | 2.00 0.49 up from 2017 | 118 | 23% | — | ||
44Journal of LGBT YouthTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.69Q1 | 2.06 0.19 up from 2017 | 77 | 14% | — | ||
45ErgonomicsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.68Q1 | 2.61 0.35 up from 2017 | 496 | 26% | — | ||
46Cross-Cultural ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 1.64Q1 | 1.69 0.22 up from 2017 | 67 | 35% | $3,650 | ||
47Couple and Family Psychology Research and PracticeAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 1.57Q1 | 1.43 0.32 down from 2017 | 57 | 41% | — | ||
48Journal of Human-Robot InteractionUnited States | 1.56Q1 | 2.77 1.15 up from 2017 | 46 | — | — | ||
49New Ideas in PsychologyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.56Q1 | 2.19 0.69 up from 2017 | 95 | 18% | $3,600 | ||
50Integrative Psychological and Behavioral ScienceSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 1.54Q2 | 1.29 0.87 down from 2017 | 118 | 21% | $3,390 |
Subfields of Psychology, with Social Psychology highlighted.
- Clinical Psychology575
- Social Psychology193
- Developmental and Educational Psychology117
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology99
- Applied Psychology11
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology4
- General Psychology1
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.
55 additional Social Psychology 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
- 193
- Window papers (baseline)
- 97,395 +14.1% from indicator year 2015
- Median OJR
- 1.01 -9.8% from indicator year 2015
- Rising journals (2025)
- 6
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 | 101 | 109 | 116 | 119 | 121 | 122 | 124 | 127 | 136 | 140 | 151 | 156 | 159 | 163 | 173 | 184 | 183 | 188 | 193 | 191 | 199 | 197 | 201 | 196 | 188 | 190 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 28,066 | 30,845 | 33,076 | 35,905 | 37,696 | 40,350 | 42,722 | 46,442 | 50,784 | 56,475 | 61,672 | 67,696 | 72,356 | 76,793 | 80,841 | 85,396 | 90,662 | 94,142 | 97,395 | 100,160 | 105,268 | 112,687 | 120,908 | 126,957 | 130,021 | 137,461 | |
| Median OJR | 0.57 | 0.56 | 0.54 | 0.61 | 0.670 | 0.6778 | 0.673 | 0.64 | 0.6780 | 0.8596 | 0.8604 | 0.95 | 1.003 | 1.10 | 1.04 | 1.12 | 1.07 | 1.09 | 1.01 | 1.03 | 0.99 | 0.921 | 0.922 | 0.923 | 0.925 | 0.90 |
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.