Journal rankings · indicator year 2018
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Domain ranking · 2018
Social Sciences journal rankings 2018
6,251 ranked journals · Domain
Social Sciences has 6,251 ranked journals in 2018. Its median journal scores above the world average: OJR 1.16 against 1.00, down 0.02 on 2017. A journal needs OJR 2.19 to reach Q1. The top three are Journal of Economic Growth, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, and The Journal of Economic Perspectives.
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.
Fields in Social Sciences (6)
Up to All journals6,251 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 Quarterly Journal of EconomicsOxford University Press · United States | 19.35Q1 | 15.89 3.70 up from 2017 | 155 | 47% | $7,619 | ||
3The Journal of Economic PerspectivesOAAmerican Economic Association · United States | 17.41Q1 | 11.97 2.58 up from 2017 | 146 | 100% | — | ||
4Academy of Management AnnalsRoutledge · United States | 16.12Q1 | 16.66 5.37 up from 2017 | 102 | 25% | — | ||
5Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language EducationJohn Benjamins Publishing Company · Netherlands | 15.86Q1 | 3.48 2.32 up from 2017 | 45 | 10% | — | ||
6The Internet and Higher EducationElsevier BV · United States | 15.77Q1 | 8.24 2.12 down from 2017 | 96 | 21% | $4,120 | ||
7American Journal of Political ScienceWiley · United States | 15.64Q1 | 6.78 2.18 up from 2017 | 159 | 26% | $4,100 | ||
8Journal of democracyJohns Hopkins University Press · United States | 15.26Q1 | 5.87 2.72 up from 2017 | 220 | 6% | — | ||
9Annual Review of Applied LinguisticsCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 14.64Q1 | 5.09 2.94 down from 2017 | 49 | 43% | $3,550 | ||
10International Journal of Research & Method in EducationRoutledge · United Kingdom | 14.51Q1 | 1.45 7.81 down from 2017 | 99 | 27% | — | ||
11American Sociological ReviewSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 13.97Q1 | 9.40 1.33 up from 2017 | 146 | 36% | $3,900 | ||
12Comparative Political StudiesSAGE Publishing · United States | 13.01Q1 | 6.28 3.10 up from 2017 | 204 | 34% | $3,900 | ||
13IMF staff discussion noteInternational Monetary Fund | 11.79Q1 | 8.93 0.39 up from 2017 | 39 | 88% | — | ||
14Educational ResearcherSAGE Publishing · United States | 11.58Q1 | 5.83 1.30 down from 2017 | 157 | 4% | $2,500 | ||
15Journal of MarketingSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 11.52Q1 | 10.87 0.27 up from 2017 | 139 | 26% | $5,400 | ||
16Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social MediaOAPublisher not listed | 11.30Q1 | 4.82 1.82 up from 2017 | 126 | 100% | — | ||
17Educational Evaluation and Policy AnalysisSAGE Publishing · United States | 11.29Q1 | 5.77 1.47 up from 2017 | 90 | 19% | $2,500 | ||
18American Political Science ReviewCambridge University Press · United States | 11.26Q1 | 5.20 0.93 up from 2017 | 196 | 33% | $3,550 | ||
19Journal of European Public PolicyRoutledge · United Kingdom | 10.98Q1 | 5.38 0.96 up from 2017 | 310 | 57% | — | ||
20Sociology of EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 10.97Q1 | 4.05 0.19 up from 2017 | 62 | 24% | $3,650 | ||
21Government Information QuarterlyElsevier BV · United States | 10.39Q1 | 6.98 0.10 up from 2017 | 203 | 40% | $4,360 | ||
22Psychological InquiryTaylor & Francis · United States | 10.33Q1 | 3.90 9.29 down from 2017 | 40 | 32% | — | ||
23Harvard Educational ReviewHarvard University Press · United States | 10.07Q1 | 4.97 1.39 up from 2017 | 113 | 22% | — | ||
24European Journal of Political ResearchOAWiley · United Kingdom | 10.02Q1 | 4.15 0.24 up from 2017 | 171 | 56% | $3,550 | ||
25American Economic Journal Applied EconomicsAmerican Economic Association · United States | 10.00Q1 | 6.44 2.01 down from 2017 | 114 | 61% | — | ||
26Language Culture and CurriculumRoutledge · United Kingdom | 9.93Q1 | 1.83 0.97 down from 2017 | 67 | 30% | — | ||
27Journal of International Business StudiesPalgrave Macmillan · United Kingdom | 9.88Q1 | 8.75 1.58 up from 2017 | 178 | 48% | $4,790 | ||
28International SecurityThe MIT Press · United States | 9.80Q1 | 4.77 0.19 up from 2017 | 77 | 28% | — | ||
29Entrepreneurship Theory and PracticeSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.71Q1 | 7.78 1.60 up from 2017 | 134 | 40% | $3,900 | ||
30Personality and Social Psychology ReviewSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.70Q1 | 13.88 1.30 up from 2017 | 46 | 19% | $3,900 | ||
31American Educational Research JournalSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 9.69Q1 | 5.12 0.69 up from 2017 | 168 | 12% | $2,500 | ||
32Review of Educational ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.62Q1 | 14.58 2.86 up from 2017 | 84 | 27% | $2,500 | ||
33Academy of Management JournalAcademy of Management · United States | 9.59Q1 | 8.54 1.27 up from 2017 | 276 | 32% | — | ||
34Journal of RetailingElsevier BV · United States | 9.57Q1 | 4.83 2.87 down from 2017 | 131 | 19% | $3,030 | ||
35Journal of Interactive MarketingSAGE Publishing · United States | 9.54Q1 | 7.33 1.81 up from 2017 | 86 | 26% | $5,400 | ||
36Journal of the Academy of Marketing ScienceSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 9.47Q1 | 6.67 3.16 down from 2017 | 147 | 34% | $4,790 | ||
37American Journal of SociologyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 9.44Q1 | 6.27 0.80 up from 2017 | 138 | 11% | — | ||
38Journal of Accounting ResearchWiley · United Kingdom | 9.43Q1 | 6.20 0.35 up from 2017 | 98 | 35% | $4,420 | ||
39Tourism ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 9.43Q1 | 7.10 1.02 up from 2017 | 651 | 28% | $4,690 | ||
40The Journal of Human ResourcesUniversity of Wisconsin Press · United States | 9.27Q1 | 2.91 4.20 down from 2017 | 148 | 25% | — | ||
41MIS QuarterlyMIS Quarterly · United States | 9.20Q1 | 6.23 2.72 down from 2017 | 195 | 39% | — | ||
42Journal of Computer-Mediated CommunicationOAWiley · United States | 9.16Q1 | 9.44 3.14 up from 2017 | 78 | 71% | $0 listed | ||
43West European PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 9.14Q1 | 3.63 0.58 up from 2017 | 266 | 59% | — | ||
44Academy of Management ReviewAcademy of Management · United States | 8.99Q1 | 5.75 1.99 down from 2017 | 134 | 19% | — | ||
45Journal of Political EconomyUniversity of Chicago Press · United States | 8.86Q1 | 7.39 0.69 up from 2017 | 198 | 40% | — | ||
46European Union PoliticsSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.84Q1 | 4.19 1.16 up from 2017 | 95 | 53% | $3,650 | ||
47Review of Research in EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 8.84Q1 | 4.93 2.43 up from 2017 | 56 | 7% | $2,500 | ||
48American EthnologistWiley · United States | 8.83Q1 | 5.15 1.19 up from 2017 | 145 | 11% | $3,400 | ||
49Progress in Human GeographySAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 8.82Q1 | 5.44 0.25 up from 2017 | 205 | 36% | $3,900 | ||
50South European Society & PoliticsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 8.78Q1 | 3.88 0.93 up from 2017 | 80 | 40% | — |
Fields of Social Sciences, compared.
- Social Sciences2,994
- Psychology1,000
- Economics, Econometrics and Finance837
- Business, Management and Accounting732
- Arts and Humanities497
- Decision Sciences191
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.
1,725 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
- 6,251
- Window papers (baseline)
- 3,209,329 +11.8% from indicator year 2015
- Median OJR
- 1.165 -3.3% from indicator year 2015
- Rising journals (2025)
- 301
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 | 2,933 | 3,074 | 3,257 | 3,421 | 3,551 | 3,684 | 3,847 | 4,034 | 4,222 | 4,411 | 4,638 | 4,858 | 5,103 | 5,326 | 5,550 | 5,769 | 5,975 | 6,155 | 6,251 | 6,310 | 6,367 | 6,458 | 6,516 | 6,519 | 6,456 | 6,382 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 973,082 | 1,101,576 | 1,187,966 | 1,289,835 | 1,324,068 | 1,431,668 | 1,541,994 | 1,678,086 | 1,825,065 | 1,985,403 | 2,148,912 | 2,303,999 | 2,468,040 | 2,603,480 | 2,734,303 | 2,869,634 | 3,018,278 | 3,128,445 | 3,209,329 | 3,319,936 | 3,489,326 | 3,755,807 | 4,010,665 | 4,149,019 | 4,247,103 | 4,426,831 | |
| Median OJR | 0.81 | 0.86 | 0.88 | 0.92 | 0.96 | 1.0001 | 1.063 | 1.14 | 1.196 | 1.22 | 1.242 | 1.25 | 1.26 | 1.241 | 1.236 | 1.204 | 1.179 | 1.181 | 1.165 | 1.183 | 1.158 | 1.09 | 1.067 | 1.057 | 1.065 | 1.08 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 4.6% | 4,027 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 1.605 per 1,000 | 3,404 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -2.2% | 5,924 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 56.3% | 6,382 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,390 | 2,626 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 20.9% | 5,817 journals |
| Review share | Median: 0.0% | 6,382 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 1.12 | 6,330 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 42.6% | 6,382 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 49.1% | 6,369 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.