Journal rankings · indicator year 2020
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Field ranking · 2020
Arts and Humanities journal rankings 2020
513 ranked journals · Field in Social Sciences
Arts and Humanities has 513 ranked journals in 2020. The median OJR fell 0.07 on 2019 to 0.94, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.79. The top three are Research on Language and Social Interaction, Modern Language Journal, and Journal of Second Language Writing.
Ranks and citation indicators: 2020. 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 2017–2019, the window the 2020 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 Arts and Humanities (13)
Up to Social Sciences513 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 2019. This is OpenJournalRank’s own count, not Clarivate’s Journal Impact Factor. | Citable documents (articles, reviews and conference papers) published in 2017–2019, the window the 2020 OJR is computed on. A journal needs at least 30 to be ranked. | Share of the journal’s 2017–2019 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 2011 to 2020. | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Research on Language and Social InteractionTaylor & Francis · United States | 12.87Q1 | 9.37 5.41 up from 2019 | 69 | 67% | — | ||
2Modern Language JournalWiley · United States | 9.73Q1 | 6.95 1.37 up from 2019 | 159 | 25% | $3,800 | ||
3Journal of Second Language WritingElsevier BV · United States | 9.22Q1 | 5.16 1.93 up from 2019 | 114 | 9% | $3,830 | ||
4Classroom DiscourseTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 6.86Q1 | 4.11 0.79 up from 2019 | 63 | 23% | — | ||
5Language TeachingCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 6.76Q1 | 4.73 0.05 up from 2019 | 119 | 30% | $3,550 | ||
6Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language EducationJohn Benjamins Publishing Company · Netherlands | 5.83Q1 | 1.50 0.23 up from 2019 | 45 | 19% | — | ||
7Studies in Second Language Learning and TeachingOADepartment of English Studies Faculty of Pedagogy and Fine Arts Adam Mickiewicz University · Poland | 5.65Q1 | 4.10 0.72 up from 2019 | 93 | 100% | — | ||
8Language Culture and CurriculumRoutledge · United Kingdom | 5.44Q1 | 3.04 1.33 up from 2019 | 73 | 35% | — | ||
9Foreign Language AnnalsWiley · United States | 5.32Q1 | 4.09 1.16 up from 2019 | 160 | 14% | $3,570 | ||
10Journal of English for Academic PurposesElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 5.25Q1 | 3.32 0.43 up from 2019 | 184 | 20% | $3,730 | ||
11Language and EducationTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 5.23Q1 | 2.63 0.70 up from 2019 | 96 | 20% | — | ||
12English for Specific PurposesElsevier BV · United States | 5.11Q1 | 4.41 0.12 down from 2019 | 91 | 14% | $3,590 | ||
13Language Teaching ResearchSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.90Q1 | 3.65 0.58 up from 2019 | 139 | 31% | $3,900 | ||
14SystemElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 4.90Q1 | 3.52 0.62 up from 2019 | 452 | 21% | $3,980 | ||
15Language learning & technologyOAUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa · United States | 4.89Q1 | 4.22 1.05 up from 2019 | 127 | 100% | — | ||
16Journal of Language Aggression and ConflictJohn Benjamins Publishing Company · Netherlands | 4.80Q1 | 3.75 2.42 up from 2019 | 50 | 11% | — | ||
17Functional LinguisticsSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 4.73Q1 | 4.71 3.40 up from 2019 | 33 | 100% | — | ||
18Discourse StudiesSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.72Q1 | 3.30 0.06 up from 2019 | 105 | 13% | $3,650 | ||
19Language & CommunicationElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 4.61Q1 | 3.24 1.47 up from 2019 | 140 | 29% | $3,030 | ||
20Language AwarenessTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 4.54Q1 | 2.74 1.27 up from 2019 | 61 | 17% | — | ||
21Written CommunicationSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.53Q1 | 4.08 0.39 up from 2019 | 56 | 12% | $3,650 | ||
22Journal of Literacy ResearchSAGE Publishing · United States | 4.49Q1 | 3.38 0.02 down from 2019 | 76 | 14% | $3,650 | ||
23Journal of Politeness ResearchDe Gruyter Mouton · Germany | 4.40Q1 | 3.04 1.35 up from 2019 | 38 | 23% | $0 listed | ||
24Research in the Teaching of EnglishRoutledge · United States | 4.26Q1 | 1.35 1.05 down from 2019 | 83 | 0% | — | ||
25European Journal of Language PolicyLiverpool University Press · United Kingdom | 4.24Q1 | 1.96 0.81 up from 2019 | 36 | 6% | — | ||
26Computer Assisted Language LearningRoutledge · United Kingdom | 4.21Q1 | 4.89 0.45 down from 2019 | 207 | 17% | — | ||
27Language TestingSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 4.10Q1 | 3.57 0.87 down from 2019 | 68 | 28% | $3,900 | ||
28Journal of SemanticsOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 4.04Q1 | 5.00 2.60 up from 2019 | 69 | 40% | $5,137 | ||
29Linguistic TypologyOADe Gruyter · Germany | 3.94Q1 | 2.74 1.92 up from 2019 | 65 | 49% | $0 listed | ||
30Natural Language & Linguistic TheorySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 3.81Q1 | 3.28 0.90 up from 2019 | 98 | 43% | $3,090 | ||
31Journal of PragmaticsElsevier BV · Netherlands | 3.76Q1 | 3.06 0.62 up from 2019 | 527 | 29% | $3,260 | ||
| 3.70Q1 | 0.55 1.16 down from 2019 | 31 | 100% | — | |||
33Literacy in Composition StudiesOAUnited States | 3.67Q1 | 3.79 3.24 up from 2019 | 38 | 100% | — | ||
34International Journal of Heritage StudiesTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 3.62Q1 | 1.86 0.16 up from 2019 | 263 | 40% | — | ||
35DiachronicaJohn Benjamins Publishing Company · Netherlands | 3.58Q1 | 2.30 0.18 up from 2019 | 60 | 32% | — | ||
36Update Applications of Research in Music EducationSAGE Publishing · United States | 3.51Q1 | 0.93 0.12 up from 2019 | 62 | 29% | $3,400 | ||
37Studia LinguisticaWiley · United States | 3.51Q1 | 2.33 0.92 up from 2019 | 54 | 15% | $2,900 | ||
38Semantics and PragmaticsOALinguistic Society of America · United States | 3.50Q1 | 3.41 1.16 up from 2019 | 55 | 100% | — | ||
39Innovation in Language Learning and TeachingTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 3.40Q1 | 2.33 1.01 up from 2019 | 81 | 15% | — | ||
40Discourse Context & MediaElsevier BV · Netherlands | 3.38Q1 | 2.72 0.21 up from 2019 | 197 | 20% | $3,770 | ||
41Arts & HealthTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 3.38Q1 | 2.98 1.43 up from 2019 | 65 | 45% | — | ||
42MorphologySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 3.37Q1 | 5.54 4.57 up from 2019 | 42 | 60% | $3,090 | ||
43Narrative InquiryJohn Benjamins Publishing Company · Netherlands | 3.25Q1 | 2.83 1.49 up from 2019 | 56 | 18% | — | ||
44Linguistic InquiryThe MIT Press · United States | 3.22Q1 | 3.12 0.51 up from 2019 | 138 | 24% | — | ||
45CALICO JournalEquinox Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.20Q1 | 1.95 0.68 down from 2019 | 82 | 34% | — | ||
46Journal of Cultural EconomicsSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 3.13Q1 | 2.07 0.04 down from 2019 | 76 | 28% | $3,290 | ||
47Language Learning JournalTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 3.09Q1 | 2.29 0.64 up from 2019 | 135 | 39% | — | ||
48Arts Education Policy ReviewTaylor & Francis · United States | 3.09Q1 | 1.38 0.52 down from 2019 | 63 | 8% | — | ||
49Catalan Journal of LinguisticsOAAutonomous University of Barcelona · Spain | 3.09Q1 | 1.58 0.35 down from 2019 | 33 | 100% | — | ||
50ELT JournalOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 3.08Q1 | 2.06 0.05 up from 2019 | 199 | 22% | $5,481 |
Citations made in 2020. Corpus-wide, 86.1% of core-journal articles and reviews published that year have at least one matched reference; the share varies by journal and field.
157 additional Arts and Humanities journals with metrics are unranked under this release’s eligibility rules: a journal needs at least 30 citable documents in 2017–2019, 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: 2020. Publication window: 2017–2019. How these summaries are calculated
- Ranked journals
- 513
- Window papers (baseline)
- 570,365 +8.8% from indicator year 2017
- Median OJR
- 0.9405 +1.0% from indicator year 2017
- Rising journals (2025)
- 11Comparison-group list (11)
Window papers are the baseline paper population: citable papers (articles, reviews and conference papers) from 2017–2019 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 | 240 | 255 | 265 | 272 | 275 | 288 | 310 | 316 | 329 | 335 | 345 | 360 | 377 | 403 | 422 | 443 | 460 | 472 | 497 | 507 | 513 | 518 | 535 | 537 | 539 | 536 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 221,321 | 279,847 | 294,456 | 312,227 | 279,317 | 298,100 | 312,834 | 331,747 | 353,197 | 379,622 | 406,003 | 431,868 | 450,451 | 464,727 | 474,562 | 488,100 | 509,856 | 524,369 | 538,902 | 557,204 | 570,365 | 583,919 | 578,750 | 571,888 | 560,239 | 567,751 | |
| Median OJR | 0.57 | 0.60 | 0.68 | 0.66 | 0.64 | 0.71 | 0.794 | 0.789 | 0.8877 | 0.893 | 0.885 | 0.8879 | 0.90 | 0.939 | 0.92 | 0.840 | 0.91 | 0.93 | 0.9408 | 1.01 | 0.9405 | 0.88 | 0.82 | 0.835 | 0.81 | 0.77 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 5.7% | 196 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 0.249 per 1,000 | 200 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -1.5% | 491 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 52.7% | 536 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,090 | 181 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 15.7% | 453 journals |
| Review share | Median: 0.0% | 536 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 0.78 | 532 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 64.8% | 536 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 60.7% | 534 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.