Journal rankings · indicator year 2018
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Field ranking · 2018
Social Sciences journal rankings 2018
2,994 ranked journals · Field in Social Sciences
Social Sciences has 2,994 ranked journals in 2018. Its median journal scores above the world average: OJR 1.31 against 1.00, down 0.04 on 2017. A journal needs OJR 2.51 to reach Q1. The top three are Journal of Economic Growth, The Internet and Higher Education, and American Journal of Political Science.
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 in Social Sciences (22)
Up to Social Sciences2,994 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Journal of Economic GrowthSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 21.02Q1 | 7.44 5.64 down from 2017 | 36 | 22% | $4,290 | ||
2The Internet and Higher EducationElsevier BV · United States | 15.77Q1 | 8.24 2.12 down from 2017 | 96 | 21% | $4,120 | ||
3American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 15.64Q1 | 6.78 2.18 up from 2017 | 159 | 26% | $4,100 | ||
4Journal of democracyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 15.26Q1 | 5.87 2.72 up from 2017 | 220 | 6% | — | ||
5Annual Review of Applied LinguisticsCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 14.64Q1 | 5.09 2.94 down from 2017 | 49 | 43% | $3,550 | ||
6International Journal of Research & Method in EducationRoutledge · United Kingdom | 14.51Q1 | 1.45 7.81 down from 2017 | 99 | 27% | — | ||
7American Sociological ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 13.97Q1 | 9.40 1.33 up from 2017 | 146 | 36% | $3,900 | ||
8Comparative Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United States | 13.01Q1 | 6.28 3.10 up from 2017 | 204 | 34% | $3,900 | ||
9Educational ResearcherSAGE Publishing · United States | 11.58Q1 | 5.83 1.30 down from 2017 | 157 | 4% | $2,500 | ||
10Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social MediaOAPublisher not listed | 11.30Q1 | 4.82 1.82 up from 2017 | 126 | 100% | — | ||
11Educational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSAGE Publishing · United States | 11.29Q1 | 5.77 1.47 up from 2017 | 90 | 19% | $2,500 | ||
12American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 11.26Q1 | 5.20 0.93 up from 2017 | 196 | 33% | $3,550 | ||
13Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 10.98Q1 | 5.38 0.96 up from 2017 | 310 | 57% | — | ||
14Sociology of EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 10.97Q1 | 4.05 0.19 up from 2017 | 62 | 24% | $3,650 | ||
15Government Information QuarterlyElsevier BV · United States | 10.39Q1 | 6.98 0.10 up from 2017 | 203 | 40% | $4,360 | ||
16Psychological InquiryTaylor & Francis · United States | 10.33Q1 | 3.90 9.29 down from 2017 | 40 | 32% | — | ||
17Harvard Educational ReviewHarvard University Press · United States | 10.07Q1 | 4.97 1.39 up from 2017 | 113 | 22% | — | ||
18European Journal of Political ResearchOAWiley · United Kingdom | 10.02Q1 | 4.15 0.24 up from 2017 | 171 | 56% | $3,550 | ||
19International SecurityThe MIT Press · United States | 9.80Q1 | 4.77 0.19 up from 2017 | 77 | 28% | — | ||
20Personality and Social Psychology ReviewSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.70Q1 | 13.88 1.30 up from 2017 | 46 | 19% | $3,900 | ||
21American Educational Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.69Q1 | 5.12 0.69 up from 2017 | 168 | 12% | $2,500 | ||
22Review of Educational ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.62Q1 | 14.58 2.86 up from 2017 | 84 | 27% | $2,500 | ||
23Journal of Interactive MarketingSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.54Q1 | 7.33 1.81 up from 2017 | 86 | 26% | $5,400 | ||
24American Journal of SociologyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 9.44Q1 | 6.27 0.80 up from 2017 | 138 | 11% | — | ||
25Tourism ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 9.43Q1 | 7.10 1.02 up from 2017 | 651 | 28% | $4,690 | ||
26MIS QuarterlyMIS Quarterly · United States | 9.20Q1 | 6.23 2.72 down from 2017 | 195 | 39% | — | ||
27Journal of Computer-Mediated CommunicationOAWiley · United States | 9.16Q1 | 9.44 3.14 up from 2017 | 78 | 71% | $0 listed | ||
28West European PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 9.14Q1 | 3.63 0.58 up from 2017 | 266 | 59% | — | ||
29European Union PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.84Q1 | 4.19 1.16 up from 2017 | 95 | 53% | $3,650 | ||
30Review of Research in EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.84Q1 | 4.93 2.43 up from 2017 | 56 | 7% | $2,500 | ||
31American EthnologistWiley · United States | 8.83Q1 | 5.15 1.19 up from 2017 | 145 | 11% | $3,400 | ||
32Progress in Human GeographySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.82Q1 | 5.44 0.25 up from 2017 | 205 | 36% | $3,900 | ||
33South European Society & PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.78Q1 | 3.88 0.93 up from 2017 | 80 | 40% | — | ||
34The Journal of PoliticsUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 8.43Q1 | 4.40 1.60 up from 2017 | 319 | 13% | — | ||
35International Journal of Information ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 8.40Q1 | 9.00 2.42 up from 2017 | 334 | 27% | $3,990 | ||
36Post-Soviet AffairsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.33Q1 | 3.42 0.26 down from 2017 | 60 | 37% | — | ||
37CriminologyWiley · United Kingdom | 8.30Q1 | 5.46 0.32 down from 2017 | 96 | 27% | $3,570 | ||
38Global Environmental ChangeElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 8.29Q1 | 12.26 2.39 up from 2017 | 377 | 61% | $6,440 | ||
39European Law JournalWiley · United Kingdom | 8.17Q1 | 3.03 0.92 up from 2017 | 115 | 36% | $3,570 | ||
40Journal of Travel ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 7.95Q1 | 5.01 0.77 up from 2017 | 203 | 24% | $3,900 | ||
41Big Data & SocietyOASAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 7.90Q1 | 8.19 3.25 up from 2017 | 145 | 100% | $2,000 | ||
42Computers & EducationElsevier BV · United States | 7.84Q1 | 8.82 2.18 up from 2017 | 538 | 28% | $5,190 | ||
43World PoliticsCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 7.68Q1 | 3.40 0.58 up from 2017 | 91 | 53% | — | ||
44Administrative Science QuarterlySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 7.62Q1 | 5.65 0.18 down from 2017 | 121 | 35% | $3,900 | ||
45Information & ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 7.52Q1 | 6.82 2.31 up from 2017 | 256 | 25% | $4,540 | ||
46Journal of CommunicationOxford University Press · United States | 7.48Q1 | 5.15 0.50 up from 2017 | 196 | 26% | $4,235 | ||
47Research in Organizational BehaviorElsevier BV · Netherlands | 7.35Q1 | 7.45 1.64 up from 2017 | 32 | 36% | $2,340 | ||
48Journal of Education PolicyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 7.34Q1 | 3.46 0.47 down from 2017 | 176 | 30% | — | ||
49Comparative Migration StudiesOASpringer Nature · Netherlands | 7.31Q1 | 4.88 2.69 up from 2017 | 58 | 100% | $1,490 | ||
50Political BehaviorSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 7.27Q1 | 3.50 1.20 up from 2017 | 138 | 25% | $2,990 |
Subfields of Social Sciences, compared.
- 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.
800 additional Social 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
- 2,994
- Window papers (baseline)
- 1,600,611 +14.3% from indicator year 2015
- Median OJR
- 1.31 -3.4% from indicator year 2015
- Rising journals (2025)
- 134Comparison-group list (134)
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 | 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.