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
Neuroscience journal rankings 2020
332 ranked journals · Field in Life Sciences
Neuroscience has 332 ranked journals in 2020. The median OJR fell 0.06 on 2019 to 1.01, above the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.47. The top three are Nature Neuroscience, Current Directions in Psychological Science, and Nature Human Behaviour.
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 Neuroscience (8)
Up to Life Sciences332 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Nature NeuroscienceNature Portfolio · United States | 7.10Q1 | 22.74 3.64 up from 2019 | 682 | 70% | $12,690 | ||
2Current Directions in Psychological ScienceSAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 5.62Q1 | 10.57 2.33 up from 2019 | 259 | 62% | $3,900 | ||
3Nature Human BehaviourNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 5.59Q1 | 8.64 0.44 up from 2019 | 681 | 55% | $12,690 | ||
4Psychological ScienceSAGE Publishing · United States | 4.88Q1 | 10.50 3.33 up from 2019 | 544 | 43% | $3,900 | ||
5Psychological ReviewAmerican Psychological Association · United States | 4.64Q1 | 10.03 0.96 up from 2019 | 130 | 57% | — | ||
6NeuronCell Press · United States | 4.23Q1 | 13.44 0.67 up from 2019 | 1,560 | 98% | $10,400 | ||
7Progress in NeurobiologyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 3.70Q1 | 10.50 0.95 up from 2019 | 188 | 57% | $5,190 | ||
8Journal of Pineal ResearchWiley · Denmark | 3.63Q1 | 11.00 3.70 down from 2019 | 224 | 43% | $5,000 | ||
9Developmental Cognitive NeuroscienceOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 3.48Q1 | 8.73 2.79 up from 2019 | 311 | 100% | $3,650 | ||
10Molecular PsychiatrySpringer Nature · United Kingdom | 3.38Q1 | 11.67 1.37 up from 2019 | 784 | 77% | $5,490 | ||
11npj Science of LearningOANature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 3.37Q1 | 5.88 0.88 up from 2019 | 58 | 100% | $2,690 | ||
12Behavior Research MethodsSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 3.09Q1 | 7.03 2.29 up from 2019 | 453 | 98% | $3,990 | ||
13Frontiers in NeuroendocrinologyElsevier BV · United States | 3.06Q1 | 11.12 1.75 up from 2019 | 135 | 43% | $4,800 | ||
14Annual Review of PsychologyAnnual Reviews · United States | 2.99Q1 | 26.31 7.39 up from 2019 | 80 | 61% | — | ||
15Molecular AutismOABioMed Central · United Kingdom | 2.92Q1 | 9.07 1.52 up from 2019 | 184 | 100% | $3,990 | ||
16Journal of NeuroinflammationOABioMed Central · United Kingdom | 2.76Q1 | 9.27 2.34 up from 2019 | 879 | 100% | $4,090 | ||
17Nature reviews. NeuroscienceNature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 2.70Q1 | 14.82 1.90 up from 2019 | 450 | 24% | — | ||
18Biological PsychiatryElsevier BV · United States | 2.59Q1 | 6.75 0.35 up from 2019 | 972 | 16% | $5,489 | ||
19Neurobiology of StressOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.57Q1 | 8.25 2.52 up from 2019 | 125 | 100% | $4,050 | ||
20Brain InformaticsOASpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 2.56Q1 | 8.13 2.54 up from 2019 | 39 | 100% | $1,090 | ||
21Neuroscience & Biobehavioral ReviewsElsevier BV · United States | 2.55Q1 | 9.54 0.27 down from 2019 | 922 | 54% | $4,860 | ||
22Journal of Experimental Psychology GeneralAmerican Psychological Association | 2.48Q1 | 5.82 1.15 up from 2019 | 462 | 41% | — | ||
23International Journal of Tryptophan ResearchOASAGE Publishing · United States | 2.44Q1 | 7.00 3.13 down from 2019 | 34 | 100% | $4,400 | ||
24Current BiologyElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 2.44Q1 | 6.80 0.45 up from 2019 | 2,693 | 98% | $7,030 | ||
25Psychonomic Bulletin & ReviewSpringer Science+Business Media · United States | 2.42Q1 | 5.01 1.18 down from 2019 | 461 | 99% | $3,790 | ||
26Translational PsychiatryOASpringer Nature · United States | 2.37Q1 | 7.80 0.92 up from 2019 | 903 | 100% | $5,290 | ||
27Cognitive PsychologyElsevier BV · United States | 2.34Q1 | 5.61 0.04 down from 2019 | 94 | 33% | $3,570 | ||
28CognitionElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.34Q1 | 5.29 0.42 up from 2019 | 744 | 58% | $3,910 | ||
29Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Cognitive ScienceWiley · United States | 2.30Q1 | 4.76 0.27 up from 2019 | 71 | 30% | $4,150 | ||
30NeuropsychopharmacologySpringer Nature · United States | 2.30Q1 | 6.92 1.10 up from 2019 | 856 | 98% | $5,290 | ||
31Trends in Cognitive SciencesElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 2.29Q1 | 14.44 1.74 up from 2019 | 394 | 58% | $7,030 | ||
32NeuroImageOAElsevier BV · United States | 2.29Q1 | 6.59 0.19 up from 2019 | 2,722 | 100% | $3,540 | ||
33Journal of CognitionOAUbiquity Press · United Kingdom | 2.29Q1 | 6.15 0.82 up from 2019 | 78 | 100% | $1,240 | ||
34Annals of the New York Academy of SciencesWiley · United States | 2.22Q1 | 6.17 0.69 up from 2019 | 782 | 47% | $5,080 | ||
35Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain SciencesSAGE Publishing · United States | 2.16Q1 | 3.29 1.10 up from 2019 | 77 | 52% | $3,400 | ||
36Neuroscience of ConsciousnessOAUniversity of Oxford · United Kingdom | 2.02Q1 | 5.33 1.28 up from 2019 | 56 | 100% | $2,544 | ||
37NeuroImage ClinicalOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.01Q1 | 4.96 0.10 down from 2019 | 1,253 | 100% | $3,490 | ||
38Topics in Cognitive ScienceWiley · United States | 1.98Q1 | 3.73 0.43 up from 2019 | 220 | 74% | $3,470 | ||
39Journal of NeuroscienceSociety for Neuroscience · United States | 1.97Q1 | 6.39 0.65 up from 2019 | 2,727 | 99% | — | ||
40GliaWiley · United States | 1.97Q1 | 6.71 0.69 up from 2019 | 546 | 52% | $5,450 | ||
41Human Brain MappingOAWiley · United States | 1.95Q1 | 5.33 0.51 up from 2019 | 1,191 | 100% | $3,520 | ||
42Social Cognitive and Affective NeuroscienceOAUniversity of Oxford · United Kingdom | 1.91Q1 | 4.44 0.01 up from 2019 | 373 | 100% | $2,379 | ||
43Journal of Memory and LanguageElsevier BV · United States | 1.90Q1 | 3.58 1.46 down from 2019 | 195 | 52% | $4,670 | ||
44British Journal of PsychologyWiley · United Kingdom | 1.86Q1 | 4.81 0.72 up from 2019 | 159 | 49% | $3,800 | ||
45Tissue BarriersTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.85Q1 | 5.64 0.72 up from 2019 | 54 | 100% | — | ||
46Frontiers in Cellular NeuroscienceOAFrontiers Media · Switzerland | 1.84Q1 | 6.34 1.50 up from 2019 | 1,503 | 100% | $3,801 | ||
47Brain Behavior and ImmunityElsevier BV · United States | 1.84Q1 | 6.06 0.07 down from 2019 | 884 | 67% | $5,680 | ||
48Fluids and Barriers of the CNSOABioMed Central · United Kingdom | 1.84Q1 | 8.62 2.96 up from 2019 | 99 | 100% | $3,390 | ||
49Cognitive Research Principles and ImplicationsOASpringer Nature · Switzerland | 1.83Q1 | 4.70 0.15 up from 2019 | 150 | 100% | $1,990 | ||
50Frontiers in NeuroscienceOAFrontiers Media · Switzerland | 1.82Q1 | 5.65 0.82 up from 2019 | 3,100 | 100% | $3,801 |
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.
91 additional Neuroscience 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
- 332
- Window papers (baseline)
- 193,371 +4.8% from indicator year 2017
- Median OJR
- 1.01 -6.4% from indicator year 2017
- Rising journals (2025)
- 30Comparison-group list (30)
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 | 196 | 201 | 210 | 220 | 223 | 230 | 231 | 238 | 242 | 248 | 266 | 276 | 290 | 292 | 295 | 306 | 314 | 319 | 321 | 328 | 332 | 344 | 352 | 356 | 360 | 355 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 92,779 | 97,762 | 100,667 | 104,810 | 108,324 | 115,003 | 120,244 | 126,308 | 131,531 | 143,118 | 150,842 | 164,012 | 167,583 | 173,307 | 175,900 | 181,549 | 185,572 | 184,543 | 184,806 | 187,130 | 193,371 | 201,253 | 210,793 | 215,142 | 216,969 | 218,119 | |
| Median OJR | 0.79 | 0.84 | 0.889 | 0.91 | 0.924 | 0.998 | 1.04 | 0.9996 | 1.024 | 1.094 | 1.146 | 1.136 | 1.16 | 1.150 | 1.141 | 1.086 | 1.083 | 1.076 | 1.022 | 1.06 | 1.01 | 0.93 | 0.918 | 0.90 | 0.890 | 0.86 |
| Measure | Category statistic | Eligible population |
|---|---|---|
| Journal self-citation share | Median: 3.2% | 293 journals |
| Retracted papers per 1,000 | Pooled rate: 0.951 per 1,000 | 257 journals |
| Output growth | Median: -9.4% | 327 journals |
| Open access share | Median: 68.0% | 355 journals |
| Listed APC (USD) | Median including $0 listed prices: $3,555 | 226 ranked journals with a known listed price, including $0 listed prices |
| International collaboration share | Median: 27.0% | 344 journals |
| Review share | Median: 1.4% | 355 journals |
| Articles-only OJR | Median: 0.86 | 349 journals |
| Uncited share | Median: 27.2% | 355 journals |
| Citation concentration | Median: 43.1% | 355 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.