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
Water Science and Technology journal rankings 2020
101 ranked journals · Subfield in Environmental Science
Water Science and Technology has 101 ranked journals in 2020. The median OJR rose 0.06 on 2019 to 0.66, below the world average of 1.00; Q1 starts at OJR 1.23. The top three are npj Clean Water, Water Resources and Industry, and Hydrology and earth system sciences.
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 Environmental Science (11)
101 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1npj Clean WaterOANature Portfolio · United Kingdom | 3.80Q1 | 12.33 6.41 up from 2019 | 46 | 100% | $3,890 | ||
2Water Resources and IndustryOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.39Q1 | 6.76 0.91 up from 2019 | 43 | 100% | $3,613 | ||
3Hydrology and earth system sciencesOACopernicus Publications · Germany | 2.34Q1 | 6.77 0.36 up from 2019 | 1,008 | 100% | $1,725 | ||
4DesalinationElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.23Q1 | 9.80 1.82 up from 2019 | 1,065 | 23% | $4,580 | ||
5Sustainable Environment ResearchOABioMed Central · China | 2.17Q1 | 5.80 0.91 down from 2019 | 126 | 100% | $1,990 | ||
6Journal of Membrane ScienceElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.17Q1 | 8.89 1.11 up from 2019 | 2,741 | 23% | $4,890 | ||
7Journal of Hydrology Regional StudiesOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 2.13Q1 | 5.51 0.97 up from 2019 | 222 | 100% | $2,600 | ||
8ResourcesOAMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute · Switzerland | 2.11Q1 | 4.88 1.03 up from 2019 | 333 | 100% | $1,930 | ||
9Water Resources ResearchOAWiley · United States | 2.07Q1 | 6.29 0.94 up from 2019 | 1,776 | 54% | $3,000 | ||
10Journal of Hydrology XOAElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.88Q1 | 5.32 2.32 up from 2019 | 38 | 100% | $2,300 | ||
11Separation and Purification TechnologyElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.87Q1 | 7.61 1.37 up from 2019 | 2,950 | 17% | $4,060 | ||
12Water ScienceOATaylor & Francis · Egypt | 1.79Q1 | 3.34 0.34 up from 2019 | 60 | 100% | — | ||
13World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2019Publisher not listed | 1.78Q1 | 0.61no 2019 value | 197 | — | — | — | |
14Separation and Purification ReviewsTaylor & Francis · United States | 1.74Q1 | 5.63 1.05 up from 2019 | 61 | 13% | — | ||
15Journal of Water Process EngineeringElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.66Q1 | 7.00 2.86 up from 2019 | 782 | 12% | $3,350 | ||
16Applied Water ScienceOASpringer Nature · Germany | 1.57Q1 | 5.12 2.29 up from 2019 | 585 | 100% | $2,490 | ||
17Journal of environmental chemical engineeringElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.53Q1 | 6.46 1.38 up from 2019 | 2,238 | 14% | $3,350 | ||
18Aquacultural EngineeringElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.43Q1 | 3.79 0.46 up from 2019 | 145 | 33% | $3,500 | ||
19Minerals EngineeringElsevier BV · United Kingdom | 1.41Q1 | 4.88 0.59 up from 2019 | 977 | 13% | $4,220 | ||
20MembranesOAMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute · Switzerland | 1.40Q1 | 5.04 0.65 up from 2019 | 380 | 100% | $2,654 | ||
21Environmental Nanotechnology Monitoring & ManagementElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.40Q1 | 5.50 1.20 up from 2019 | 207 | 6% | $3,650 | ||
22Environmental Technology ReviewsTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.34Q1 | 4.79 1.64 up from 2019 | 31 | 0% | — | ||
23Environmental Science Water Research & TechnologyRoyal Society of Chemistry · United Kingdom | 1.31Q1 | 4.50 0.80 up from 2019 | 509 | 30% | — | ||
24International Journal of Mineral ProcessingElsevier BV · Netherlands | 1.29Q1 | —no 2019 value | 124 | — | $2,500 | ||
25Hydrological Sciences JournalTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 1.29Q1 | 4.17 1.35 up from 2019 | 445 | 64% | — | ||
26Hydrological ProcessesWiley · United Kingdom | 1.23Q1 | 3.63 0.14 up from 2019 | 894 | 36% | $5,230 | ||
27WaterOAMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute · Switzerland | 1.22Q2 | 3.83 0.56 up from 2019 | 5,625 | 100% | $3,137 | ||
28Adsorption Science & TechnologyOASAGE Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.21Q2 | 4.34 1.42 up from 2019 | 206 | 100% | $1,500 | ||
29Water Conservation Science and EngineeringSpringer Science+Business Media · Singapore | 1.21Q2 | 2.76 0.94 up from 2019 | 61 | 20% | $3,290 | ||
30JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources AssociationWiley · United States | 1.17Q2 | 3.23 0.86 up from 2019 | 328 | 36% | $3,200 | ||
31SeparationsOAMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute · Switzerland | 1.14Q2 | 3.60 1.11 up from 2019 | 150 | 100% | $3,137 | ||
32Water Intelligence OnlineUWA Publishing | 1.04Q2 | 1.63 0.27 down from 2019 | 50 | — | — | ||
33Journal of Water Reuse and DesalinationOAIWA Publishing · United Kingdom | 1.03Q2 | 3.22 1.00 up from 2019 | 88 | 100% | $2,150 | ||
34HydrologyOAMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute · Switzerland | 1.01Q2 | 2.86 0.29 up from 2019 | 224 | 100% | $2,172 | ||
35World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2018Publisher not listed | 0.93Q2 | 0.37 0.13 up from 2019 | 199 | — | — | ||
36International Journal of Environmental Science and TechnologySpringer Science+Business Media · Iran | 0.86Q2 | 3.15 1.09 up from 2019 | 1,360 | 15% | $3,490 | ||
37Air Soil and Water ResearchOASAGE Publishing · United States | 0.85Q2 | 3.45 1.99 up from 2019 | 45 | 100% | $2,650 | ||
38Environmental Engineering ResearchOAKorean Society of Environmental Engineering · South Korea | 0.85Q2 | 3.00 1.22 up from 2019 | 284 | 100% | — | ||
39International Journal of River Basin ManagementTaylor & Francis | 0.82Q2 | 2.02 0.12 up from 2019 | 183 | 12% | — | ||
40Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental IntegrationSpringer Science+Business Media · Switzerland | 0.81Q2 | 1.95 0.40 down from 2019 | 108 | 19% | $2,290 | ||
41International Journal of Environmental ResearchSpringer Science+Business Media · Iran | 0.81Q2 | 2.90 0.44 up from 2019 | 238 | 12% | $3,790 | ||
42Journal of Chemical Technology & BiotechnologyWiley · United Kingdom | 0.80Q2 | 3.15 0.21 up from 2019 | 1,077 | 15% | $4,100 | ||
43Environmental ProcessesSpringer Science+Business Media · Switzerland | 0.80Q2 | 2.29 0.17 up from 2019 | 205 | 14% | $2,390 | ||
44Journal of Contemporary Water Research & EducationWiley · United States | 0.80Q2 | 1.16 0.20 down from 2019 | 77 | 56% | $3,000 | ||
45Australasian Journal of Water ResourcesTaylor & Francis · Australia | 0.76Q2 | 2.21 0.58 up from 2019 | 43 | 24% | — | ||
45International Journal of Energy and Water ResourcesSpringer Science+Business Media · Iran | 0.76Q2 | 2.17 0.29 up from 2019 | 50 | 10% | $3,190 | ||
47Sustainable Water Resources ManagementSpringer Science+Business Media · Switzerland | 0.74Q2 | 1.77 0.25 up from 2019 | 273 | 8% | $3,190 | ||
48Journal of Hydrologic EngineeringAmerican Society of Civil Engineers · United States | 0.71Q2 | 2.24 0.19 up from 2019 | 350 | 16% | — | ||
49Canadian Water Resources Journal / Revue canadienne des ressources hydriquesTaylor & Francis · Canada | 0.69Q2 | 1.79 0.17 up from 2019 | 82 | 11% | — | ||
50Environmental TechnologyTaylor & Francis · United Kingdom | 0.68Q2 | 2.48 0.31 up from 2019 | 1,314 | 8% | — |
Subfields of Environmental Science, with Water Science and Technology highlighted.
- Ecology276
- Global and Planetary Change218
- Water Science and Technology101
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis86
- Pollution61
- Nature and Landscape Conservation56
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law48
- Environmental Engineering43
- Waste Management and Disposal21
- Environmental Chemistry9
- Ecological Modeling7
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.
33 additional Water Science and Technology 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
- 101
- Window papers (baseline)
- 75,349 +10.1% from indicator year 2017
- Median OJR
- 0.656 +11.3% from indicator year 2017
- Rising journals (2025)
- 6
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 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 39 | 41 | 43 | 46 | 47 | 49 | 52 | 58 | 66 | 67 | 72 | 82 | 87 | 95 | 101 | 103 | 97 | 101 | 101 | 103 | 104 | 103 | 103 | |
| Window papers (baseline) | 14,781 | 17,791 | 20,498 | 23,486 | 25,734 | 28,549 | 32,247 | 36,403 | 40,771 | 44,936 | 50,005 | 54,989 | 59,878 | 63,966 | 68,372 | 71,167 | 71,057 | 68,448 | 68,167 | 70,866 | 75,349 | 79,702 | 82,811 | 85,893 | 88,063 | 92,086 | |
| Median OJR | 0.596 | 0.603 | 0.650 | 0.663 | 0.62 | 0.651 | 0.684 | 0.514 | 0.50 | 0.45 | 0.47 | 0.512 | 0.645 | 0.590 | 0.53 | 0.54 | 0.61 | 0.589 | 0.57 | 0.597 | 0.656 | 0.677 | 0.654 | 0.664 | 0.70 | 0.75 |
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.