Journal rankings · indicator year 2020
Choose a field to open its ranking, or a journal to find its row in its subfield’s list.
Subfield ranking · 2020
Astronomy and Astrophysics journal rankings 2020
119 ranked journals · Subfield in Physics and Astronomy
Astronomy and Astrophysics has 119 ranked journals in 2020. The median journal has an OJR of 0.59, below the world average of 1.00, up 0.05 on 2019; Q1 starts at OJR 1.24. The top three are Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Space Science Reviews, and The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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 of Physics and Astronomy (8)
119 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Reviews in Mineralogy and GeochemistryMineralogical Society of America · United States | 4.02Q1 | 5.10 6.32 down from 2019 | 68 | — | — | ||
2Space Science ReviewsSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 3.91Q1 | 9.53 2.30 up from 2019 | 273 | 73% | $5,290 | ||
3The Astrophysical Journal LettersOAIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 3.74Q1 | 9.09 1.02 down from 2019 | 1,769 | 99% | $2,400 | ||
4The Astrophysical Journal Supplement SeriesOAInstitute of Physics · United Kingdom | 3.41Q1 | 8.80 0.39 up from 2019 | 641 | 99% | $4,499 | ||
5Nature AstronomyNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 2.54Q1 | 6.71 2.37 up from 2019 | 877 | 52% | $12,690 | ||
6The Astronomical JournalOAInstitute of Physics · United States | 2.19Q1 | 6.85 0.10 up from 2019 | 1,613 | 98% | $4,499 | ||
7Fortschritte der PhysikWiley · Germany | 2.17Q1 | 5.13 1.58 down from 2019 | 178 | 73% | $3,460 | ||
8Publications of the Astronomical Society of AustraliaCambridge University Press · Australia | 2.17Q1 | 5.08 0.28 down from 2019 | 169 | 98% | $3,550 | ||
9Publications of the Astronomical Society of the PacificInstitute of Physics · United Kingdom | 2.12Q1 | 5.63 1.15 up from 2019 | 426 | 93% | $3,325 | ||
10Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter WavePublisher not listed | 2.08Q1 | 0.96 0.01 down from 2019 | 195 | — | — | ||
11Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society LettersOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 2.03Q1 | 5.32 0.36 up from 2019 | 629 | 95% | $1,451 | ||
12Annual Review of Astronomy and AstrophysicsAnnual Reviews · United States | 1.97Q1 | 30.85 3.28 down from 2019 | 46 | 83% | — | ||
13AstrobiologyMary Ann Liebert, Inc. · United States | 1.93Q1 | 5.17 0.25 down from 2019 | 313 | 53% | — | ||
14New Astronomy ReviewsElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.91Q1 | 4.19 0.06 down from 2019 | 30 | 74% | $4,350 | ||
15Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Ultraviolet to Gamma RayPublisher not listed | 1.87Q1 | 0.91 0.60 down from 2019 | 186 | — | — | ||
16Publications of the Astronomical Society of JapanOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 1.85Q1 | 3.35 1.23 down from 2019 | 495 | 82% | $2,398 | ||
17Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle PhysicsInstitute of Physics · United Kingdom | 1.76Q1 | 5.74 0.48 up from 2019 | 2,001 | 97% | $3,290 | ||
18The Astrophysical JournalOAIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.72Q1 | 5.93 0.02 up from 2019 | 9,197 | 99% | $4,499 | ||
19Astronomy and AstrophysicsOAEDP Sciences · France | 1.71Q1 | 6.17 0.52 up from 2019 | 5,586 | 99% | $1,865 | ||
20Physics of the Dark UniverseElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.70Q1 | 4.04 0.28 up from 2019 | 214 | 65% | $3,660 | ||
21Journal of Geophysical Research PlanetsWiley · United States | 1.51Q1 | 4.06 0.08 down from 2019 | 516 | 63% | $4,070 | ||
22Space WeatherOAAmerican Geophysical Union · United States | 1.50Q1 | 4.44 0.34 up from 2019 | 388 | 100% | $3,000 | ||
23Earth and Space ScienceOAAmerican Geophysical Union · United States | 1.46Q1 | 3.59 0.79 up from 2019 | 297 | 100% | $2,650 | ||
24Classical and Quantum GravityIOP Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.43Q1 | 3.71 0.46 up from 2019 | 1,214 | 90% | $3,325 | ||
25Frontiers in Astronomy and Space SciencesOAFrontiers Media · Switzerland | 1.41Q1 | 4.34 2.13 up from 2019 | 190 | 100% | $2,353 | ||
26IcarusElsevier BV · United States | 1.36Q1 | 3.87 0.22 up from 2019 | 1,227 | 58% | $3,810 | ||
27Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical SocietyOAOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 1.35Q1 | 5.45 0.11 up from 2019 | 10,388 | 94% | $3,046 | ||
28Advances in Space ResearchElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.29Q1 | 2.44 0.09 down from 2019 | 1,536 | 30% | $2,780 | ||
29Journal of Space Weather and Space ClimateOAEDP Open · France | 1.26Q1 | 3.63 0.26 up from 2019 | 140 | 100% | $1,413 | ||
30Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical AstronomySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 1.24Q1 | 1.81 0.14 down from 2019 | 185 | 68% | $3,190 | ||
31Journal of High Energy AstrophysicsElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.06Q2 | 3.25 0.07 up from 2019 | 33 | 100% | $2,520 | ||
32Molecular astrophysicsElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.03Q2 | 2.10 0.54 down from 2019 | 36 | 25% | $2,060 | ||
33Space PolicyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 0.97Q2 | 2.30 1.11 up from 2019 | 107 | 12% | $3,400 | ||
34Solar PhysicsSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.97Q2 | 2.78 0.02 down from 2019 | 504 | 57% | $4,190 | ||
35Annales GeophysicaeOACopernicus Publications · Germany | 0.93Q2 | 2.41 0.44 up from 2019 | 329 | 100% | $1,186 | ||
36General Relativity and GravitationSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.92Q2 | 2.53 0.44 up from 2019 | 462 | 77% | $2,290 | ||
37International Journal of Modern Physics DWorld Scientific · Singapore | 0.92Q2 | 2.52 0.39 up from 2019 | 754 | 72% | — | ||
38Experimental AstronomySpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.90Q2 | 2.36 0.72 up from 2019 | 123 | 69% | $2,590 | ||
39Radio ScienceWiley · United States | 0.86Q2 | 1.88 0.17 up from 2019 | 352 | 30% | $3,700 | ||
40Chinese Journal of PhysicsElsevier BV · Taiwan | 0.86Q2 | 3.41 0.47 up from 2019 | 899 | 11% | $2,000 | ||
41Journal of Geophysical Research Space PhysicsWiley · United States | 0.86Q2 | 3.08 0.15 down from 2019 | 2,202 | 51% | $4,070 | ||
42Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial PhysicsElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 0.85Q2 | 2.17 0.27 up from 2019 | 601 | 30% | $2,770 | ||
43Planetary and Space ScienceElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 0.84Q2 | 2.09 0.06 up from 2019 | 533 | 38% | $3,680 | ||
44Astronomy and ComputingElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.84Q2 | 1.91 0.05 down from 2019 | 143 | 49% | $2,260 | ||
45UniverseOAMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute · Switzerland | 0.83Q2 | 2.25 0.53 up from 2019 | 462 | 100% | $1,930 | ||
46Origins of Life and Evolution of BiospheresSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.77Q2 | 2.09 0.06 up from 2019 | 56 | 58% | $1,520 | ||
47Meteoritics and Planetary ScienceWiley · United States | 0.77Q2 | 2.05 0.04 down from 2019 | 538 | 45% | $3,300 | ||
48International Journal of AstrobiologyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 0.76Q2 | 2.15 0.36 up from 2019 | 134 | 51% | $3,550 | ||
49Advances in AstronomyOAHindawi Publishing Corporation · United Kingdom | 0.73Q2 | 1.21 0.79 down from 2019 | 54 | 100% | $1,130 | ||
50Journal of Astronomical InstrumentationWorld Scientific · Singapore | 0.73Q2 | 1.65 0.31 up from 2019 | 80 | 38% | — |
Subfields of Physics and Astronomy, with Astronomy and Astrophysics highlighted.
- Astronomy and Astrophysics119
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics105
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics74
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics43
- Radiation29
- Condensed Matter Physics9
- Instrumentation1
- Acoustics and Ultrasonics0
Journals
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.
27 additional Astronomy and Astrophysics 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
- 119
- Window papers (baseline)
- 101,729 +0.7% from indicator year 2017
- Median OJR
- 0.585 +20.4% from indicator year 2017
- Rising journals (2025)
- 7
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 | 62 | 63 | 62 | 68 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 76 | 78 | 78 | 82 | 91 | 94 | 99 | 102 | 102 | 107 | 106 | 108 | 116 | 119 | 117 | 111 | 110 | 109 | 107 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 49,871 | 52,213 | 55,700 | 60,437 | 65,920 | 70,690 | 73,394 | 77,611 | 78,966 | 83,523 | 84,714 | 89,298 | 90,669 | 93,523 | 93,711 | 96,932 | 98,375 | 101,058 | 100,696 | 101,399 | 101,729 | 100,324 | 97,739 | 94,651 | 92,261 | 91,149 | |
| Median OJR | 0.385 | 0.41 | 0.526 | 0.386 | 0.44 | 0.455 | 0.529 | 0.52 | 0.48 | 0.567 | 0.525 | 0.505 | 0.50 | 0.38 | 0.36 | 0.451 | 0.454 | 0.49 | 0.513 | 0.54 | 0.585 | 0.616 | 0.56 | 0.617 | 0.565 | 0.590 |
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.