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
Paleontology journal rankings 2020
76 ranked journals · Subfield in Earth and Planetary Sciences
Paleontology has 76 ranked journals in 2020. The median journal has an OJR of 0.83, below the world average of 1.00, unchanged on 2019; Q1 starts at OJR 1.13. The top three are Journal of Archaeological Research, Cambridge Archaeological Journal, and Journal of World Prehistory.
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 Earth and Planetary Sciences (8)
76 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1Journal of Archaeological ResearchSpringer Nature · Netherlands | 4.41Q1 | 8.45 3.06 up from 2019 | 36 | 38% | $3,190 | ||
2Cambridge Archaeological JournalCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 4.01Q1 | 1.86 1.59 down from 2019 | 149 | 52% | $3,550 | ||
3Journal of World PrehistorySpringer Nature · United States | 3.48Q1 | 4.88 0.12 down from 2019 | 37 | 73% | $3,290 | ||
4Journal of Field ArchaeologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 2.41Q1 | 2.93 0.89 up from 2019 | 133 | 54% | — | ||
5Journal of Anthropological ArchaeologyElsevier BV · United States | 2.36Q1 | 3.15 0.44 up from 2019 | 178 | 41% | $3,370 | ||
6Ancient MesoamericaCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.99Q1 | 3.01 2.25 up from 2019 | 120 | 26% | $3,550 | ||
7GeobiologyWiley · United Kingdom | 1.79Q1 | 4.82 0.50 up from 2019 | 133 | 50% | $4,880 | ||
8Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural History · United States | 1.74Q1 | 4.43 2.27 up from 2019 | 32 | 100% | — | ||
9PalaeontologyWiley · United Kingdom | 1.67Q1 | 3.99 0.33 up from 2019 | 194 | 54% | $5,000 | ||
10European Journal of ArchaeologyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.66Q1 | 1.66 0.42 down from 2019 | 108 | 41% | $3,550 | ||
11Archaeological Research in AsiaElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.62Q1 | 1.93 0.13 up from 2019 | 114 | 30% | $2,750 | ||
12AntiquityCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.61Q1 | 1.80 0.23 up from 2019 | 715 | 48% | $3,550 | ||
13Newsletters on StratigraphyGebrüder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung · Germany | 1.58Q1 | 2.88 0.80 down from 2019 | 71 | 47% | — | ||
14Vegetation History and ArchaeobotanySpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 1.43Q1 | 2.73 0.10 down from 2019 | 158 | 48% | $3,790 | ||
15American AntiquityCambridge University Press · United States | 1.34Q1 | 1.90 0.56 down from 2019 | 161 | 25% | $3,550 | ||
16Journal of PalaeogeographyOAElsevier BV · China | 1.33Q1 | 2.79 0.55 down from 2019 | 76 | 100% | $1,500 | ||
17Journal of Archaeological Science ReportsElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.29Q1 | 1.98 0.23 up from 2019 | 1,349 | 45% | $2,910 | ||
18Zoological Journal of the Linnean SocietyOxford University Press · United Kingdom | 1.27Q1 | 3.03 0.14 down from 2019 | 414 | 64% | $3,541 | ||
19Open ArchaeologyOADe Gruyter Open · Poland | 1.13Q1 | 1.23 0.50 down from 2019 | 86 | 100% | $848 | ||
20Netherlands Journal of Geosciences – Geologie en MijnbouwCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.13Q2 | 2.52 0.70 up from 2019 | 73 | 100% | $1,725 | ||
21Journal of Systematic PalaeontologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.09Q2 | 2.17 0.85 down from 2019 | 185 | 30% | — | ||
22Journal of AnatomyWiley · United Kingdom | 1.05Q2 | 2.82 0.44 up from 2019 | 493 | 90% | $4,050 | ||
23PaleobiologyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 1.04Q2 | 2.31 0.14 down from 2019 | 140 | 65% | $3,550 | ||
24The Anatomical RecordWiley · United States | 0.98Q2 | 2.63 0.12 up from 2019 | 695 | 64% | $4,430 | ||
25Proceedings of the Prehistoric SocietyCambridge University Press · United Kingdom | 0.96Q2 | 1.56 1.77 down from 2019 | 48 | 43% | $3,550 | ||
26Latin American AntiquityCambridge University Press · United States | 0.95Q2 | 1.10 0.28 up from 2019 | 165 | 25% | $3,550 | ||
27Comptes Rendus PalevolOAMuséum national d'histoire naturelle · France | 0.95Q2 | 1.48 0.02 down from 2019 | 186 | 100% | — | ||
28Historical BiologyTaylor & Francis · Switzerland | 0.94Q2 | 1.68 0.11 down from 2019 | 438 | 16% | — | ||
29Environmental ArchaeologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.92Q2 | 1.61 0.36 down from 2019 | 131 | 26% | — | ||
30Papers in PalaeontologyWiley · United States | 0.91Q2 | 2.22 0.52 down from 2019 | 113 | 45% | $4,480 | ||
31Journal of Mammalian EvolutionSpringer Science+Business Media · Netherlands | 0.91Q2 | 2.36 0.31 up from 2019 | 115 | 64% | $3,790 | ||
32Acta Palaeontologica PolonicaOAInstitute of Paleobiology · Poland | 0.91Q2 | 2.07 0.07 up from 2019 | 173 | 100% | $23 | ||
33Journal of Vertebrate PaleontologyTaylor & Francis · United States | 0.91Q2 | 2.09 0.41 down from 2019 | 336 | 24% | — | ||
34Palaeontologia ElectronicaOAUnited States | 0.89Q2 | 1.68 0.01 up from 2019 | 208 | 100% | — | ||
35LethaiaOAWiley · Norway | 0.87Q2 | 1.93 0.66 down from 2019 | 134 | 38% | $3,300 | ||
36PalaeoworldElsevier BV · Netherlands | 0.87Q2 | 2.15 0.29 up from 2019 | 151 | 9% | $3,000 | ||
37PalaiosSociety for Sedimentary Geology · United States | 0.85Q2 | 1.91 0.05 down from 2019 | 162 | 15% | — | ||
38RadiocarbonCambridge University Press · United States | 0.84Q2 | 1.55 0.55 down from 2019 | 445 | 50% | $2,487 | ||
39Fossil recordOAWiley · Germany | 0.82Q3 | 1.76 0.59 down from 2019 | 49 | 100% | $1,240 | ||
40FaciesSpringer Science+Business Media · Germany | 0.81Q3 | 1.70 0.13 down from 2019 | 112 | 29% | $2,490 | ||
41GeodiversitasOAMuséum national d'histoire naturelle · France | 0.80Q3 | 1.75 0.03 down from 2019 | 74 | 100% | — | ||
42Bulletin of GeosciencesOACzechia | 0.80Q3 | 1.49 0.07 down from 2019 | 86 | 100% | — | ||
43GeobiosElsevier BV · France | 0.78Q3 | 1.53 0.14 down from 2019 | 116 | 42% | $3,030 | ||
44Norwegian Archaeological ReviewRoutledge · Norway | 0.73Q3 | 1.50 0.39 down from 2019 | 52 | 29% | — | ||
45Journal of MorphologyWiley · United States | 0.72Q3 | 1.64 0.05 down from 2019 | 381 | 32% | $4,220 | ||
46Journal of Iberian GeologySpringer International Publishing · Spain | 0.72Q3 | 1.96 0.46 up from 2019 | 115 | 15% | $3,190 | ||
47Subterranean BiologyOAPensoft Publishers · France | 0.72Q3 | 1.51 0.14 up from 2019 | 65 | 100% | — | ||
48Cretaceous ResearchElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 0.71Q3 | 2.01 0.26 down from 2019 | 806 | 25% | $3,560 | ||
49Ichnos/Ichnos : an international journal for plant and animal tracesTaylor & Francis · Switzerland | 0.70Q3 | 1.16 0.07 down from 2019 | 69 | 19% | — | ||
50Swiss Journal of PalaeontologyOASpringer Nature · Switzerland | 0.69Q3 | 1.26 0.06 up from 2019 | 70 | 100% | $1,340 |
Subfields of Earth and Planetary Sciences, with Paleontology highlighted.
- Geophysics144
- Atmospheric Science87
- Paleontology76
- Oceanography54
- Earth-Surface Processes18
- Geology10
- Geochemistry and Petrology8
- Space and Planetary Science4
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.
17 additional Paleontology 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
- 76
- Window papers (baseline)
- 19,946 +7.3% from indicator year 2017
- Median OJR
- 0.831 -4.8% from indicator year 2017
- Rising journals (2025)
- 5
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 | 53 | 53 | 54 | 53 | 53 | 51 | 53 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 66 | 66 | 69 | 71 | 71 | 70 | 73 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 78 | 78 | 77 | 73 | 77 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 7,057 | 7,924 | 8,570 | 9,199 | 9,500 | 9,801 | 10,405 | 10,925 | 11,640 | 12,204 | 12,986 | 13,788 | 14,602 | 15,085 | 15,876 | 16,591 | 17,958 | 18,584 | 19,596 | 19,477 | 19,946 | 19,760 | 20,309 | 19,925 | 19,964 | 19,466 | |
| Median OJR | 0.75 | 0.61 | 0.619 | 0.63 | 0.620 | 0.708 | 0.660 | 0.65 | 0.69 | 0.715 | 0.7325 | 0.735 | 0.80 | 0.81 | 0.829 | 0.90 | 0.93 | 0.87 | 0.79 | 0.832 | 0.831 | 0.78 | 0.7318 | 0.68 | 0.657 | 0.64 |
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.